898 EEPOBT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



The insects were ground species, such as beetles, bugs, grasshoppers 

 and caterpillars, some flies, some wasps, and spiders. Crickets and 

 grasshoppers constitute 29 per cent, of the entire year's food, great 

 numbers being eaten in August, when these insects are most numerous. 

 Beetles come next, being nearly 21 per cent. They may become very 

 valuable in combating new enemies of the meadow, such as the rapidly 

 spreading clover root lorer, and clover leaf weevil. The vegetable food 

 is grain., weed and other seeds. Grain amounts to 14 per cent., and, 

 being eaten in winter and spring, is probably principally waste grains. 

 Only six birds had eaten clover seeds (See also Beal, Year Book of U. 

 S. Dept. of Agr. for 1895, p. 419, et seq., and Farmers' Bulletin No. 

 54, same Dept., May, 1897, p. 21). 



It will thus be seen that the Meadow Lark is almost entirely bene- 

 ficial. Care should be taken to protect it, not only from the shooter, 

 who wants something to practice upon, but also from unnecessary de- 

 struction in any form. The mower, particularly in meadows of red 

 clover, when first cut, destroys many nests, eggs and young. 



115 GENUS ICTERUS BEISSON. 



a 1 . Tail graduated, its length about equal to wing; bill slender, curved downward 

 at tip; adult male, chestnut and black. Subgenus PENDULINUS Vieillot. 



I. spurius (Linn.). 192 



a 2 . Tail nearly even, much shorter than wing; bill not curved downward ; male, 

 orange and black; female, duller. Subgenus YPHANTES Vieillot. 



I. galbula (Linn.). 193 



Subgenus PENDULINUS Vieillot. 



*192. (506). Icterus spurius (LINN.). 



Orchard Oriole. 



Adult Male. Black; lower back, rump, lesser wing coverts, and all 

 under parts from throat, deep chestnut; a whitish bar across the tips 

 of the greater wing coverts; bill and feet, blue-black; tail, graduated. 

 Adult Female. Smaller; above, grayish olive-green; wings, dusky; 

 tips of the coverts, and edges of the inner quills, whitish; below, yel- 

 lowish. Young, first year: Similar to female, but browner above. 

 Young, second year: Similar to last, but with black mask, and some- 

 times showing patches of chestnut. 



JLength, 6.00-7.25; wing, 2.90-3.25; tail, 2.65-3.20. 



RANGE. America, from Colombia over eastern United States to 

 Massachusetts, Ontario, Michigan and North Dakota, casually to New 

 Brunswick. Breeds from Gulf of Mexico and Eio Grande, north. 

 Winters south of United States. 



