BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND ORCHARD 635 
bollworms or corn earworms were found 
in 10 stomachs and codling moth pupae 
in 11. Beetles constitute over 11 per 
cent of the food. The vegetable food is 
practically contained in three items— 
grain, fruit and weed seeds Grain, 
mostly oats, amounts to 54 per cent; 
fruit, largely cherries, four per cent; and 
weed seeds, not quite nine per cent. The 
grain is probably mostly wild, volunteer 
or waste, so that the bird does most dam- 
age by eating fruit. 
Bullock’s Oriole 
I[cterus bullockt 
Length, about eight inches. Our only 
oriole with top of head and throat black 
and cheeks orange. 
Range 
Breeds from South Dakota, Nebraska 
and Kansas to the Pacific ocean and 
from Southern Canada to Northern Mex- 
ico; winters in Mexico. 
Habits and Economie Status 
In the West this bird takes the place 
occupied in the East by the Baltimore 
oriole. In food, nesting habits, and song 
the birds are similar. Both are migratory 
and remain on their summer range only 
some five or six months. They take 
kindly to orchards, gardens, and the 
vicinity of farm buildings and often live 
in villages and city parks. Their diet is 
largely made up of insects that infest 
orchards and gardens. When fruit trees 
are in bloom they are constantly busy 
among the blossoms and save many of 
them from destruction. In the food of 
Bullock’s oriole beetles amount to 35 per 
cent and nearly all are harmful. Many 
of these are weevils, some of which live 
upon acorns and other nuts. Ants and 
wasps amount to 15 per cent of the diet. 
The black olive scale was found in 45 of 
the 162 stomachs examined. Caterpillars, 
with a few moths and pupae, are the 
largest item of food and amount to over 
41 per cent. Among these were codling 
moth larvae. The vegetable food is prac- 
tically all fruit (19 per cent) and in 
cherry season consists largely of that 
fruit. Eating small fruits is the bird’s 
worst trait, but it will do harm in this 
way only when very numerous. 
Meadowlarks 
Sturnella magna and NSturnella neglecta 
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 differ- 
ing 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 nearby 
water, furnish the conditions best suited 
to the meadowlark’s taste. The song of 
the Western bird is loud, clear and melo- 
dious. 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 a game bird. Both the 
bollweevil, 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, accounted 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. Grass- 
hoppers 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. 
Red- Winged Blackbird 
Agelaius phoeniceus 
Length, about nine and one-half inches. 
Range 
Breeds in Mexico and North America 
south of the Barren Grounds; winters in 
southern half of United States and south 
to Costa Rica. 
Habits and Economic Status 
The prairies of the upper Mississippi 
valley, with their numerous sloughs and 
ponds, furnish ideal nesting places for 
