﻿Common Birds in Relation to Agriculture. 507 



The vegetable food consists of grain, weed, and other 

 hard seeds. Grain in general amounts to 14, and weed 

 and other seeds to 12 per cent. The grain, principally 

 corn, is mostly eaten in winter and early spring, and must 

 be therefore simply waste kernels ; only a trifle is 

 consumed in summer and autumn, when it is most 

 plentiful. No trace of sprouting grain was discovered. 

 Clover seed was found in only six stomachs, and but little 

 in each. Seeds of weeds, principally ragweed, barn grass, 

 and smartweed, are eaten from November to April, 

 inclusive, but during the rest of the year are replaced by 

 insects. 



Briefly stated, more than half of the meadow lark's 

 food consists of harmful insects ; its vegetable food is 

 composed either of noxious weeds or waste grain, and the 

 remainder is made up of useful beetles or neutral insects 

 and spiders. A strong point in the bird's favor is that, 

 although naturally an insect eater, it is able to subsist on 

 vegetable food, and consequently is not forced to migrate 

 in cold weather any farther than is necessary to find 

 ground free from snow. This explains why it remains for 

 the most part in the United States during winter, and 

 moves northward as soon as the snow disappears from its 

 usual haunts. 



There is one danger to which the meadow lark is 

 exposed. As its flesh is highly esteemed, the bird is 

 often shot for the table, but it is entitled to all possible 

 protection, and to slaughter it for game is the least 

 profitable way to utilize a valuable species. 



THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



(Icterus galhula. ) 



Brilliancy of plumage, sweetness of song, and food 

 habits to which no exception can be taken are some of the 

 striking characteristics of the Baltimore oriole. In 

 summer this species is found throughout the northern 



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