MEADOW LARK AND BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 427 
found in the stomachs is not really food, and was taken in such small 
quantities that it may be disregarded. As April is represented by 
only two stomachs, and November by one, the results for these months 
can not be considered as final. Excluding November, the largest 
amount of insect food was eaten in May, when it formed 92 per cent 
of the food, and the smallest in April and July, when it formed 70 per 
cent. The single November stomach contained 98 per cent of insects. 
The most important item of the insect food is caterpillars, which 
aggregate more than 34 per cent of the whole. Contrary to what 
might have been expected, the Connecticut stomach taken in Novem- 
ber contained 81 per cent of these insects. This accords with what 
has been noted by many observers in the field, that the oriole spends a 
Fiq. 111.—Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula). 
great deal of time searching among leaves and branches, where such 
insects abound. An average of 25 per cent of caterpillars was found 
in the two stomachs taken in April, and this percentage continued 
without much variation until July, when it dropped to 12, July being 
the month when most fruit was eaten. After July the percentage of 
caterpillars eaten increases rapidly. 
Beetles of various families and species rank next to caterpillars in 
abundance. Those most eaten are the click, or snapping, beetles (Hla- 
teride), insects having very hard shells, which would seem to render 
them undersirable for food. Although eaten during May, June, and 
July only, click beetles constitute 9 per cent of the food for these 
months or 4.5 per cent for each of the six months under consideration, 
