46 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
in 21 stomachs, taken in four months: January, February, June, and 
July. The irregularity in eating grain would seem to indicate that it 
is not a favorite food. The midsummer records may be explained on 
the ground that these are the harvest months in California. But it is 
not supposable that wheat could be obtained in January and Febru- 
ary and not in December or March. The greatest amount was eaten 
in February, 74 percent, but only 5 stomachs were taken in this 
month, and probably a greater number would have given a lower per- 
centage. The average for the year is 9 percent. Of all the grains, 
however, oats are the favorite with the horned larks, as they are with 
so many other seed-eating birds. They were eaten much more regu- 
larly than wheat and in greater quantities. They were found in 142 
stomachs, and November gives the highest record, 77 percent, while 
June has the lowest, a little over 8 percent. The average for the year 
is 31 percent. If all these oats were taken from the farmer’s crop it 
might be a serious tax, but evidently only a few of them are so ob- 
tained. Those eaten in March may have been from newly sown 
fields, and those in June and July from the ripening crop, but the rest 
must have been waste grain gleaned from the fields, Moreover, Cal- 
ifornia is covered with wild and volunteer oats, which, ripening at 
other times than the cultivated ones, furnish an inexhaustible supply 
of food for many birds. It is certain that most of the oats eaten by 
the California horned larks are either waste or volunteer grain, and 
have no economic value. 
The particular food of horned larks is the seeds of weeds and grasses. 
These aggregate 51 percent of the annual diet, being eaten in every 
month, and constitute a respectable percentage of the food in each. 
The month of least consumption is January, when they amount to over 
19 percent; August shows the maximum quantity, nearly 99 percent, 
but as only 4 stomachs were taken in this month, probably ample 
material would reduce this high percentage. It is by the consump- 
tion of weed seed that the horned lark makes amends for doing a little 
damage to grain. The quantity of seeds of noxious weeds destroyed 
annually by this species throughout the country is very great. Fruit 
does not appear in the stomachs of horned larks. The bird asks noth- 
ing of the orchardist—not even the shelter of his trees. 
SUMMARY. 
In the final analysis of the food habits of the horned lark there is 
but one tenable ground of complaint, namely, that it does some dam- 
age to newly sown grain. This can be largely remedied by harrowing 
in immediately after sowing, and can be wholly prevented by drilling. 
The bird’s insect diet is practically all in its favor, and in eating weed 
seed it confers a decided benefit on the farmer. It should be ranked 
