BLACKBIRD, ORIOLE, AND MEADOWLARK FAMILY. 67 
for the year. In the East the grasshopper season is limited to five 
months at most, but in California these insects can always be found. 
This makes it all the more surprising that California meadowlarks 
do not eat them more freely, but it is noteworthy that nearly every 
species of terrestrial bird in the East eats a larger percentage of these 
insects than does the related species on the Pacific coast. The 
actual percentage of grasshoppers proper eaten by the western 
meadowlark is even less than the above figures indicate, for the record 
includes quite a number of crickets, both the black and the brown 
or wood crickets (Stenopelmatus). One stomach contained 12 wood 
crickets. Crane flies (Tipulide), spiders, sowbugs (Oniscus), and a 
few snails make up the rest of the animal food, nearly 6 percent. 
More than half of this item consists of the crane flies (daddy longlegs) 
found in one stomach taken in April, in which they amounted to 45 
percent of the stomach’s contents. 
The following insects were identified in the stomachs of the western 
meadowlark: 
COLEOPTERA. 
\ 
Calosoma externum. Eurymetopon cylindricum. 
Trina longula. Blapstinus dilatatus. 
Silpha ramosa. Rhigopsis effracta. 
Dolopius lateralis. Sitones hispidulus. 
Taphrocerus gracilis. 
ORTHOPTERA. 
Stenopelmatus sp. 
Vegetable food —The vegetable food of the western meadowlark 
may be arranged under three heads: Fruit, grain, and weed seed. 
In one stomach taken in November was found something which was 
doubtfully identified as fruit pulp, but no other stomach contained 
a trace of fruit, and this bird has rarely been accused of eating fruit. 
From August to March inclusive, grain is one of the most impor- 
tant articles of food. The average monthly consumption for the 
year is 27.5 percent, but for the eight months just indicated the 
average is 41 percent. In the other four months, that is, from April 
to July inclusive, which include the ripening and harvesting of the 
crop, no grain except a little corn was eaten. Grain of some kind 
was found in 60 of the 91 stomachs, and 4 were entirely filled with it. 
Corn is eaten only occasionally, and amounts to but 1 percent of the 
food. It was all taken in May and June. Wheat was eaten from 
October to January, inclusive. It amounts to over 11 percent for 
those months, but to less than 4 percent for the whole year. As is 
usual with grain eating birds, oats are the favorite kind. They were 
eaten from August to March’ inclusive, and average nearly 33 percent 
for those eight months, and for the year a little less than 22 percent. 
The greatest quantity, nearly 57 percent, was eaten in January, but 
