COMMON BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. 19 
Important elements include both the flat-headed and round-headed wood borers, as 
well as numerous weevils, those feeding on pine predominating. Beneficial insects, 
including. predacious ground beetles and bugs, and parasitic hymenopterans comprise 
about 9 per cent of the yearly food. The jay’s liking for snails, which furnish an 
ample supply of animal matter at times when insects are scarce, appears to be akin to 
the southern crow’s preference for crawfish. A few batrachians (toads and frogs), 
lizards, and even fish help out when hunting is not at its best. Of the 184 stomachs 
examined only one contained the egg of a small bird; shells of hen’s eggs occurred in 
18 of these, but as the jay is given to rummaging about rubbish piles, the source of 
some of this material may be thus explained. 
A consideration of its vegetable food discloses evidence unfavorable to the southern 
blue jay. Of cultivated fruit and corn he takes considerably less than the northern 
bird, but on the latter food he lays heavy toll just at the time when the grain is in 
the roasting ear and ripening. In fact, in August, corn closely associated with the 
silk torn from the top of the ear was found in 11 of 15 stomachs, forming over 58 per 
cent of the monthly food. This item was also well represented in stomachs collected 
in July and September. But by far the most popular article of diet of the southern 
4 
} 
B2160-65 
Fig. 10.—Meadowlark. Length, about 10$ inches. 
yearly food, and in January, 
Complaints against the bird 
lead him into trouble with 
jay is mast, which composes nearly 46 per cent of the 
when other food is scarce, runs as high as 84 per cent. 
on this score are few as yet, but this liking for mast may 
owers of cultivated nuts—pecans, for instance. ; 
o While there may be possibilities of the southern jay becoming troublesome rr 
at present he cannot be considered a serious menace to agriculture. His insectiv- 
orous diet during spring and summer, which includes many Sige species, 
more than compensates for the losses inflicted wpon cornfields later in the season, 
or upon isolated orchards of cultivated nuts.—z. R. K. 
MEADOWLARK." 
land throughout the whole 
Alike on eastern meadows, 
e may be heard in spring 
The meadowlark (fig. 10) is a familiar bird of grass 
United States, though less abundant in the Southwest. 
western prairies, and southern savannas, its clear pip 
1 Sturnella magne. 
