The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-07-04
BENEFICIAL BIRDS;
THE MEADOWLARK
(By Wilmer Stone, Sc. D., Curator,
Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia


The meadowlark or oldfeld lark is
one of the most familiar birds of the
open country of the South. We see
them flying up from the fields where
ever we go and hear their call which
resembles the words, "Cant See Me-"
The lark has had bad name among
farmers in some parts of the country
and is charged with pulling up the
sprouting grain. For many years
the bird has been under observation
by the experts Of the U. S. Depart
ment Of Agriculture and various
State Agricultural Experiment Sta
tions, and these charges have been
carefully and impartially investigated.
The result is that while the birds
do pull up some grain the immense
good that they do in destroying grass
hoppers an dother destructive insects
far more than offsets the damage To
destroy these birds would be like cut
ting off ones nose to spite his face,
we would be worse off than we were
before!
1t is very difficult task to get the
average person to consider the eco
nomic value of a bird impartially. We
see it destroy some fruit or seeds on
one or two days, or perhaps during
a few minutes only, and we condemn
1T at once; while as matter of fact
it may be engaged during the rest
of the day or the rest of the year in
hunting out cutworms or minute in
sects of all sorts which we cannot see
and we do not trouble ourselves to
find Que just what the bird is really
doln gat such time. This is where
the careful Investigations of experts,
who study the birds at all times,
come in, and if we are wise we shall
give their findings the most careful
consideration.
Let us see how the Meadow Lark's
case stands. They find that where
there are grass or pasture fields the
birds prefer them to cultivated ground
and spend their time picking up
beetles, grasshoppers and grass or
weed seeds. Where there are no
fgrass fields, and grain fields or other
cultivated grounds are handy, they
pull up some sprouting seers but only
just when they are sprouting-not
later, so that the period of damage
it at the most not more than two
weeks.
Now on the other side of the ledger
we find that of 238 stomachs ex-
amined at Washington collected from
all parts of the country, 73 per cent
of the contents was composed of in
sects-beetles, bugs, grasshoppers and
catcrpillars; while 27 per cent was
vegetable matter more than half of
which consisted of seeds of noxious
weeds and wild grasses. Let US look
again at the insect food of the
meadowlark and see just what kind
of bugs it eats. In the Southern
States one of the most favorite NOR
sells is the Southern corn-root worm,
the beetle which produces these
worms lays its eggs in the ground
close to the roots Of the corn and as
soon as they hatch the little worms
bore right into the corn stalk, some
times 25 per cent or so per cent of
the crop is destroyed by these pests
Many of the larks that we see in the
corn fields are digging out these egg
laying beetles and saving our corn
instead of destroying it. Another
insect which is favorite article Of
food with the lark is the cotton-boll
Wccvll. One quarter of all the lark
stomachs collected in the cotton dis
trlcts contained these insects some
individuals containing as many as 27
individuals at the time they were
shot. One can easily calculate how
many wcevils this would mean in the
course of season. Grasshoppcrs are
the main reliance Of the lark and this
bird is one of the chief agencies in
the cast, which keeps thcso destruct-
I'VE insects flom wiping out the entire
crops of grain, grass truck and every
thing else as is often done in the
west. Careful estimates show That a
single meadowlark will dcvour 1900
grasshoppcrs in month and as we
know approximately how much grass
grasshopper will cat per day it has
boen further demonstrated that the
value of the grass or other fodder
saved by the larks in township of
thlrty-six square miles, during the
grasshoppcr season amounts to no
less than $24 per month.
The meadowlark is able to live per-
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