MEADOWLAEK 411 



of the year grain forms a considerable percentage of the food. In the 

 planting season meadowlarks oecasionally do some damage to newly sprout- 

 ing corn and other crops, but this damage seems to be more than offset 

 by the good they do at other seasons of the year by destroying insects. 

 A single meadowlark watched on Sentinel Meadows in Yosemite Valley, 

 October 22, 1915, w^as engaged in catching the grasshoppers which then 

 abounded there. 



The meadowlark 's annual molt occurs in the late summer or early fall. 

 When the new plumage is acquired the black breast band is partially 

 obscured by light-colored feather tippings, but these gradually w^ear off 

 so that as the season advances this black crescent becomes more and more 

 conspicuous. The colors throughout have become brightest by the begin- 

 ning of the nesting season. 



Bullock Oriole. Icterus buUocki (Swainson) 



Field characters. — Smaller than Eobin. Bill moderately slender, sharp pointed. 

 Male : Plumage conspicuously orange, black, and white. Chin and upper surface of body 

 (including wings but not rump), black; rump and whole under surface of body bright 

 orange or yellow; a large patch of white on fore part of wing; tail black centrally, 

 broadly margined with yellow. Female and young: Dull olive brown above; breast 

 yellow, and belly and abdomen whitish ; wings and tail like back. Voice : Song of male : 

 A slightly varying series of syllables, rhythmically accented, like hip' -kip -y-ty -hoy' -hoy, 

 but with a peculiar quality impossible to describe (fide senior author) ; also a mildly 

 harsh cha-cha-cha-cha, etc., in rapid sequence, and a single clear note, Ideek. Female 

 and young give simple harsh blackbird-like notes. 



Occurrence. — Common summer visitant to Lower and Upper Sonoran zones on west 

 side of Sierra Nevada. Kecorded at Snelling and Lagrange, and thence eastward to 

 Mount Bullion, El Portal, and 6 miles east of Coulterville. Also east of the mountains 

 in vicinity of Williams Butte, at least as a transient. In Yosemite Valley one bird 

 was noted on May 15 and several on June 3 and 4, 1920 (C. W. Michael, MS). Frequents 

 blue oaks in foothills, and roadside or orchard trees in lowlands. Non-flocking. 



The Bullock Oriole is perhaps the most brilliantly colored bird in the 

 whole valley and foothill avifauna. The flashes of orange or bright yellow, 

 black and white in mixed pattern, seen momentarily as a male oriole passes 

 in front of a background of arboreal foliage or along a grass covered 

 hillside, quickly catch the eye and fix attention on the bird. Along all 

 the highways leading toward the mountains, and near the roadways through 

 the foothill belt, this species is common and readily observable throughout 

 the summer months. Moreover, when the birds are not actually seen, their 

 mildly harsh notes coming from a planted poplar or other shade tree 

 often give a clue to the location of a pair busy with nesting duties. 



The Bullock Oriole does not remain in this latitude through the winter 

 months when insect forage is scant or wanting. The birds arrive in the 

 Yosemite region in numbers some time in early April. On April 27, 



