epee ase ee OoNt eBboU Lier lel N 15 
Another of the farmer’s good friends is the meadowlark, a wholesale 
feeder on insects. It eats about all of the principal pests of the field and 
in summer almost 99 percent of its food consists of insects and allied 
forms, being particularly destructive to cutworms, hairy ground caterpillars 
and grasshoppers. Even in winter it prefers insects when it can get them, 
although weed seeds are then freely taken. About one third of its yearly 
food is ragweed and other weeds, of which it consumes very great quantities. 
Grasshoppers form about 29 percent of its yearly food and in the month of 
August it rises to 69 percent. Beetles are second in importance, followed by 
ground caterpillars which are overlooked by most birds that habitually 
frequent trees. It is a very capable assistant to the bob-white in the 
destruction of pests. 
The bobolink, during the time of its stay in the breeding range, is 
another of the great insect feeders, these comprising from 70 to 90 percent 
of its food during the months of May, June and July. At the end of Sep- 
tember, when practically all have left here, its food is about 90 percent 
seeds. This change of diet from cutworms, army worms, weevils, grass- 
hoppers and beetles to one of seeds is the cause of the punishment dealt out 
to it when it passes through the rice fields of the South. There it does much 
damage, but here it must be recognized as one of our beneficial species. 
Both yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos are well known for their 
fondness for all kinds of caterpillars, hairy or spiny. In one investigation 
2,771 caterpillars were found in 121 stomachs, averaging almost 23 each. 
Even the poisonous spined caterpillars of the Io moth are eaten. Mr. F. H. 
Mosher watched one yellow-billed cuckoo eat 41 gypsy caterpillars in 15 
minutes, and another 47 tent caterpillars in six minutes. Black-billed 
cuckoos seem especially voracious, over one hundred tent caterpillars having 
in several cases been taken from a single stomach. Forty-six stomachs 
examined by Prof. F. E. L. Beal of the Biological Survey showed 906 cater- 
pillars, 44 beetles, 96 grasshoppers, 100 sawflies, 30 bugs and 15 spiders. 
One of our most common birds, the crow, is the subject of much contro- 
versy, and the good that it does is usually quite overlooked in the recital of 
its misdeeds. While everyone will readily admit that the crow has his faults 
and does destroy some eggs and young birds, we feel that this is over- 
emphasized and too little credit is given for good deeds. In a study made 
by the Biological Survey many years ago, their report stated that “it is 
clear that the good exceeds the bad, and the crow is a friend rather than 
an enemy of the farmer.” Twenty-three years later, and after another 
investigation, they said, “the attitude of the individual farmer toward the 
crow should be one of toleration.’”’” Crows have voracious appetites and 
destroy insects every month in the year. Dead crows cannot eat cutworms, 
grasshoppers or caterpillars and the farmer may pay dearly in crops 
damaged by insects that living crows would devour. 
These are but a few of the more conspicuous of the insect destroyers, 
and they are ably supported by those that confine their efforts to the trees. 
A friend reports that some trees just outside their windows which had been 
infested with tussock moths were visited for several days during the winter 
