292 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



The clovers and other forage crops often grown in mead- 

 ows have their special insect enemies that furnish food for 

 many birds. 



The variety of bird life that is found in grasslands is 

 also much smaller than in the case of orchards. Compar- 

 atively few species have adapted themselves to live upon 

 the ground in grasses, but these few 

 are of immense benefit as destroyers 

 of insect pests. 



The most notable meadow and 

 pasture birds are these : the meadow 

 lark, the crow, the various black- 

 CLICK BEETLES birds, the bobolink, the cowbirds, 



the ground sparrows, and the robin. 



While these do not all live exclusively on the ground in 

 grasslands, they find there an important part of their yearly 

 food supply. 



The Meadow Lark is a typical example of these birds. It 

 is an abundant and widely distributed species, living habit- 

 ually in grasslands and finding there practically all its food. 

 Originally a native of the great prairie regions, it has grad- 

 ually spread as forests have been replaced by fields and 

 meadows until it is now found over practically the whole 

 of the United States. 



The food of the Meadow Lark has been carefully studied 

 by many competent investigators. In Illinois Professor 

 Forbes found that at least three quarters of the food during 

 the spring and summer consisted of insects. Cutworms, 

 army worms, and other caterpillars formed more than a 

 quarter of the food supply, while various beetles formed a 

 fifth and grasshoppers more than an eighth. The beetles 

 eaten included June beetles, blister beetles, curculios, 

 click beetles, and plant beetles. Twenty chinch bugs 



