(Reprinted from the Yearbook of the U. 8. Department of Agriculture for 1895.] 
THE MEADOW LARK AND BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
By F. E, L. Brat, 
Assistant Ornithologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
The oriole family includes the true orioles, the blackbirds, and the 
meadow larks. The different members of the tribe differ greatly 
among themselves in form, plumage, and habits. While the true 
orioles are strictly arboreal, hanging their nests among the most inac- 
cessible twigs of tall trees, the meadow larks are mainly terrestrial, 
placing their humble domiciles on the ground or even stinken a little 
below the surface. Between these extremes come the blackbirds, some 
of which, as the redwing, breed among reeds and in low bushes, while 
others, as the crow blackbird, nest chiefly in the tops of trees. As 
might be expected, the feeding habits of these birds differ greatly. 
. The oriole seeks its food almost exclusively in trees, while the 
meadow lark is a ground feeder. Consequently, the kinds of insects 
eaten are not the same. The oriole feeds largely on caterpillars and 
wasps, which live among leaves and flowers; the meadow lark, on the 
other hand, eats grasshoppers and other ground insects. After a 
careful consideration of their food, one can hardly fail to be impressed 
with the fact that both of these birds must be eminently useful to the 
farmer. 
In the case of the meadow lark, insects constitute a large percentage 
of the food, and even in the winter months, when the ground is covered 
with snow, they form a very important element. The great bulk of 
these are grasshoppers, insects whose ravages have been notorious 
from earliest times and whose devastations in the Mississippi Valley 
are still fresh in the minds of the farmers of that region. The number 
eaten is so enormous as to entitle the meadow lark to rank among the 
most efficient of our native birds as a grasshopper destroyer. Nor are 
the other components of its insect food less important except in quan- 
tity. Some of the most injurious beetles form a considerable percent- 
age of the stomach contents, while the useful species do not appear 
so often as might be expected from the terrestrial habits of the bird. 
The other insects eaten—ants, bugs, caterpillars, and beetle larvee— 
are almost all destructive, and their consumption by birds is a decided 
benefit to man. 
The oriole, although differing radically from the meadow lark 
in food and manner of life, is not the less beneficial from an eco- 
nomic point of view. It is a most potent factor in the destruction 
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