Alabama, ipi8. 21 



MEADOWLARKS 



♦©♦ 



THY notes are silenced, and thy plumage mew'd; 

 Say, drooping minstrel, both shall be renew'd. 

 — Voice will return — I cannot choose but sing; 

 Yet liberty alone can plume my wing ; 

 Oh, give me that ! — I will not, cannot fly 

 Within a cage less ample than the sky ; 

 Then shalt thou hear, as if an angel sing. 

 Unseen in air, heaven's music from my tongue ; 

 Oh ! give me that ! — I cannot rest at ease 

 On meaner perches than the forest trees ; 

 There, in thy walk, while evening shadows roll. 

 My song shall melt into thine inmost soul; 

 But, till thou let thy captive bird depart, 

 The sweetness of my strain shall wring thy heart. 



LENGTH, about 10^ inches. Range: Breed generally in the 

 United States, southern Canada, and Mexico to Costa Rica; 

 winter from the Ohio and Potomac Valleys and British Columbia 

 southward. 



Habits and economic status : Our two meadowlarks, though 

 differing much in song, resemble each other closely in plumage and 

 habits. Grassy plains and uplands covered with a thick growth of 

 grass or weeds, with near-by water, furnish the conditions best 

 suited to the meadowlark's taste. The song of the western bird is 

 loud, clear, and melodious. That of its eastern relative is feebler and 

 loses much by comparison. In many localities the meadowlark is 

 classed and shot as a game bird. From the farmer's standpoint 

 this is a mistake, since its value as an insect eater is far greater than 

 as an object of pursuit by the sportsman. Both the boll weevil, the 

 foe of the cotton grower, and the alfalfa weevil are among the 

 beetles it habitually eats. Twenty-five per cent of the diet of this 

 bird is beetles, half of which are predaceous ground beetles, account- 

 ed useful insects, and one-fifth are destructive weevils. Caterpillars 

 form 11 per cent of the food and are eaten in every month in the 

 year. Among these are many cutworms and the well-known army 

 worm. Grasshoppers are favorite food and are eaten in every month 

 and almost every day. The vegetable food (24 per cent of the 

 whole) consists of grain and weed seeds. — Yearbook U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



