MEADOW LARK AND BALTIMORE ORIOLE. __. 421 
In the laboratory investigation of the food of the meadow lark, 238 
stomachs were examined; these were collected in 24 States, the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and Canada, and represent every month in the 
year. Asummary of the stomach contents for the whole year is as 
follows: Insect food, 71.7 per cent; vegetable food, 26.5; mineral mat- 
ter, 1.8. Excluding the mineral element, which is not food, the record 
stands: Animal matter, 73 per cent; vegetable, 27. In other words, 
nearly three-fourths of the meadow lark’s food for the year, including 
the winter months, consists of insects. ; 
In August and September the meadow lark subsists almost exclu- 
sively on insect food, but this is not surprising, as insects are abund- 
ant at this season. In March, however, insects are not readily found; 
yet the meadow lark finds enough to make 73 per cent of its entire 
food. Similarly in December and January the insect food amounts 
to 39 and 24 per cent, respectively. 
Fia. 110.—Meadow lark (Sturnella magna). 
As an illustration of the meadow lark’s vigilance in searching for 
insects, an instructive lesson may be drawn from the examination of 
the stomachs of 6 birds killed in Virginia when the ground was cov- 
ered with snow. The smallest quantity of insect food in any one of 
the 6 stomachs was 8 per cent of the contents, the largest quantity 
95 per cent, and the average for all 6 more than 47 per cent, or nearly 
half of the total food. The insects consisted of beetles of several 
species, bugs (Hemiptera), grasshoppers, crickets, a few wasps, cater- 
pillars, spiders, and myriapods. Thus it is evident that insects form 
an essential element of the bird’s diet, and are obtained even under 
very adverse circumstances. 
Of the total insect food of the 238 birds examined, grasshoppers, 
locusts (green grasshoppers), and crickets constitute by far the most 
