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 tins 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 tins 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 



