MEADOWLARKS (Sturaella magna and 

 Stumella neglecta). 



Length, about 10 j inches. 



Range: Breed generally in the United Statee, 

 Bouthern Canada, and Mexico to Costa Rica; 

 winter from the Ohio and Potomac Valleys and 

 British Columbia southward. 



Habitsaud economic status: Our two meadow- 

 larks, though differing much in song, resemble 

 each other closely in plumage and habits. 

 Grassy plains and uplands covered with a thick 

 growth of grass or weeds, with near-by water, 

 rurnisli tlie conditions bestsuited to the meadow- 

 lark's ta«te. The song of the western bird is 

 loud, clear, and melodious. That of its eastern 

 relative is feebler and loses much by compari- 

 son. In many localities the meadowlark is 

 classed and shot as a game bird. From the 

 farmer's standpomt this is a mistake, since its 

 value as an insect eater is far greater than as an 

 object of pursuit by the sportsman. Both the 

 boll weevil, the foe of the cotton grower, and 



the alfalfa weevil are among the beetles it habitually eats. Twenty-five per 

 cent of the diet of this bird is beetles, half of whic^ are predaceous ground 

 beetles, accounted useful insects, and one-fifth are destructive weevils. Cater- 

 pillars form 11 per cent of the food and are eaten in every month in the year. 

 Among these are many cutworius and the well-known army worm. Grasshoppers 

 are favorite food and are eaten in every month and almost every day. The vege- 

 table food (24 per cent of the whole) consista of grain and weed seeds. (See 

 Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agr. 1895, pp. 420-426.) 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (Agelaius phoeniceus). 



Length, about 9^ inches. 



Range: Breeds in Mexico and North America south of the Barren Grounds; 

 winters in southern half of United States and south to Costa Rica. 



Habita and economic status: The prairies of the upper Mississippi Valley, with 

 their numerous sloughs and ponds, furnish ideal nesting places for redwings, and con- 

 sequently this region has become the great breed- 

 ing ground for the species. These prairies pour 

 forth the vast flocks that play havoc with grain- 

 fields. East of the Appalachian Range, marshes 

 on the shores of lakes, rivers, and estuaries are 

 the only available breeding sites and, as these 

 are comparatively few and small, the species is 

 much less abundant than in the West. Red- 

 wings are eminently gregarious, living in flocks 

 and breeding in communities. The food of the 

 redwing consista of 27 per cent animal matter 

 and 73 per cent vegetable. Insecta constitute 

 practically one-fourth o^ the food. Beetles 

 (largely weevils, a most harmful group) amount 

 to 10 per cent. Graashoppers are eaten in every 

 month and amount to about 5 per cent. Cater- 

 pillars (among tliem the injurious army worm) 

 are eaten at all seasons and aji^egate G per cent. 

 Anta, wasps, bugs, flies, dragonflies, and spiders 

 also are eaten. The vegetable food consists of 

 seeds, including grain, of which oata is the fa- 

 vorite, and some small fruita. Wlien in large 

 flocks this bird is capable of doing great harm to 

 grain. (See Biol. Survey Bui. 13, pp. 33-34.) 



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