18 



DETERMINATION OF THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF A BIRD. 



Birds were originally catalogued as injurious or beneficial from cir- 

 cumstantial evidence. If a bird was seen in the grainfield or in the 

 orchard it was forthwith condemned as injurious. The modern method 

 of determination rests on the respective percentage of injurious as 

 against beneficial insects, and the percentage of weed seeds taken by a 

 bird. Too often this method takes too little account of the depredations 

 of the bird and of its general habits and interrelations. A balancing of 

 the sum of all the good done by a bird with the sum of all the evil, 

 appears to most nearly determine its economic value. It is this method 

 that is being used in the investigation. The life histories of each bird 

 under investigation, its depredations, migrations, and food habits are all 

 receiving attention, so that its interrelations may be as well known as 

 its food. 



PROGRESS OF THE WORK. 



Considerable data regarding the depredations, food habits, etc., of the 

 birds under investigation and other birds has been accumulated through 

 field work. Reliable evidence in the form of photographs has been 

 obtained wherever possible. Arrangements have been made to furnish 

 certain high schools in the State with needed material made available 

 by the investigation. 



Through the co-operation of the deputies of the Commission, some 

 forty-five hundred bird stomachs have been collected and preserved and 

 are now awaiting examination. The stomachs of over one thousand 

 birds have been examined in the laboratory. Over eight hundred and 

 thirty of them have been those of meadowlarks. Many of the insects 

 and weed seeds found in the stomachs have been identified. Reference 

 collections of insects and weed seeds have been started. Certain inter- 

 esting scientific data concerning distribution, variation, malformation, 

 and parasitism has come to light in the laboratory work. A considerable 

 amount of correspondence has been carried on, and a circular letter 

 regarding the meadowlark has been sent to ranchers throughout the 

 State. 



The attempt has been made to keep the people of the State in touch 

 with the work by means of newspaper articles.. Each field investigation 

 has been advertised in the local newspapers and full reports publishe^l 

 and circulated. Notes on the progress in the examination of stomachs 

 have also been published. Up to date the following reports have been 

 published : 



"Is the Meadowlark the Farmer's Friend?" Pacific Rural Press. 



Letter written by H. C. Bryant, assistant in charge of Bird Investigation, to the 

 editor of the San Bernardino Sun. California Fish and Game Commission, 

 Bull. No. 1, pp. 13-14. 



"The Relation of Birds to an Insect Outbreak in Northern California During 

 the Spring and Summer of 1911." The Condor, 13, 195-208. 



"The Economic Status of the Meadowlark in California." The Monthly Bul- 

 letin of the State Horticultural Commission, 1, No. 6, pp. 226-231. 



"The Lewis Woodpecker a Destroyer of Almonds." The Monthly Bulletin of 

 the State Horticultural Commission, 1, No. 8, pp. 363-366. 



