198 



Conservation Reader 



.t" 



J ^^41 . 



A young meadow lark. 



Finlcy 6° Bohlman 



they really do eat. The contents show that more than 

 half of the food of the meadow lark is made up of harmful 

 insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, Jerusalem 

 crickets, cutworms, caterpillars, wireworms, bugs, bees, 

 ants, wasps, flies, spiders, and many others. These birds 

 also eat large quantities of the seeds of weeds and at times 

 damage the grain fields. The good that they do, however, 

 far outweighs the evil. 



Woodpeckers belong to another class of birds that are 

 very useful to us. How often have we heard them ham- 

 mering upon a dead tree as they drill holes in search of 

 the worms and beetles that are hidden under the bark 

 or in the heart of the wood. It has long been the habit of 



