﻿506 Canadian Record of Science. 



Of the various insects eaten, crickets and grasshoppers 

 are the most important, constituting 29 per cent, of 

 the entire year's food and 69 per cent, of the food in 

 August. It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon this 

 point, but it can readily be seen what an ef!'ect a number 

 of these birds must have on a field of grass in the height 

 of the grasshopper season. Of the 238 stomachs collected 

 at all seasons of the year, 178, or more than two-thirds, 

 contained remains of grasshoppers, and one was filled 

 with fragments of 37 of these insects. This seems to 

 show conclusively that grasshoppers are preferred and are 

 eaten whenever they can be procured. The great number 

 taken in August is especially noticeable. This is 

 essentially the grasshopper month, i.e., the month when 

 grasshoppers reach their maximum abundance ; and the 

 stomach examination has shown that a large number of 

 birds resort to this diet in August, no matter what may be 

 the food during the rest of the year. ' 



Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most impor- 

 tant item of the meadow lark's food, amounting to nearly 

 21 per cent., of which about one- third are predaceous 

 ground beetles. The others are all harmful species, and 

 when it is considered that the bird feeds exclusively on 

 the ground, it seems remarkable that so few useful 

 ground beetles are eaten. Many of them have a disgusting 

 odor, and possibly this may occasionally save them from 

 destruction by birds, especially when other food is 

 abundant. Caterpillars, too, form a very constant element, 

 and in May constitute over 28 per cent, of the whole food. 

 May is the month when the dreaded cutworm begins 

 its deadly career, and then the bird does some of its best 

 work. Most of these caterpillars are ground feeders, and 

 are overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees ; 

 but the meadow lark finds them and devours them by 

 thousands. The remainder of the insect food is made up 

 of a few ants, wasps, and spiders, with a few bugs, 

 including some chinch bugs. 



