424 YEARBOOK OF THE U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
to all who have eaten raspberries from the vines. Those who have 
by accident tasted the bugs will never forget the flavor and will 
wonder that any bird habitually eats such highly seasoned food. 
Most of these bugs are eaten in March, when they constitute 14 per 
cent of the food of the month. While some of them are harmful as 
well as disgusting, others do much good by devouring other insects, 
so that the destruction of the various members of this family is not 
an unmixed benefit. It is important to note that one stomach con- 
tained three specimens of the notorious chinch bug, an insect whose 
ravages in our wheat and corn fields have cost the country millions 
of dollars. 
‘Caterpillars, or the larve of butterflies and moths, form a very 
considerable part of the food of the meadow lark, but the adults are 
rarely eaten, only three small moths having been found in the 238 
stomachs. Caterpillars were present in every month except Febru- 
ary, and even the stomachs taken in December contained 4 per cent 
of this food, while the average for the year is nearly 8 per cent. 
From the terrestrial habits of the meadow lark, it is evident that the 
caterpillars eaten must be species that live on or near the ground 
and feed on grass or other low plants. To this category belong the 
various species of cutworms. A number of these were identified in 
the stomachs, and no doubt many more were eaten, but they are so 
fragile and so soon reduced to fragments by the stomach’s action that 
specific identification is always difficult and often impossible. 
The larve or young of beetles were found in every month except 
February, and formed more than 3 per cent of the food of the year. 
They increased to 11 per cent in May, and were sufficiently numerous 
to be important throughout the season except in August, September, 
and October, when they amounted to less than 1 per cent. 
Ants form a fairly constant element of the meadow lark’s diet, 
averaging a little less than 3 per cent for the year. None were found 
in January, but in April they formed 4 per cent of the food. They 
decreased during the succeeding months, but increased suddenly to 
over 16 per cent in September, after which they again fell to an insig- 
nificant figure. Other Iymenoptera (wasps, ete.) average about 
14 per cent for the year, and are only important in June and July, 
when they amount to 6 and 4 per cent, respectively. Spiders and 
myriapods (thousand-legs) seem to be eaten quite freely, and aggre- 
gate nearly 5 per cent of the food. The largest number (8 per cent) 
are eaten in March and December, but the percentage falls off 
during the winter and in midsummer. Besides the insects already 
mentioned, several were found representing other orders. Flies 
(Diptera) were contained in a few stomachs, a dragon fly (Odonata) 
in one, an earwig (Forficulide) in one, and a common cattle tick 
(Ixodes) in one. Snails, or fragments of their shells, were found in 
Seven stomachs, sow bugs (Oniscus) in two, a small crustacean in one, 
