In the 238 stomachs examined, animal food (practically all insects) constituted 73 per cent of the contents and vegetable matter 27 per cent. As would naturally be supposed, the insects were ground species, such as beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, with a few flies, wasps, and spiders. A number of the stomachs were taken from birds that had been killed when the ground was covered with snow, but still they contained a large percentage of insects, showing the bird's skill in finding proper food under adverse circumstances. Of the various insects eaten, crickets and grasshoppers are the most important, constituting 29 per cent of the entire year's food and 69 per cent of the food in August. It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon this point, but it can readily be seen what an effect a number of these birds must have on a field of grass in the height of the grasshopper season. Of the 238 stomachs collected at all seasons of the year, 178, or more than two-thirds, contained remains of grasshoppers, and one was filled with fragments at 37 of those insects. This seems to show conclusively that grasshoppers are preferred and are eaten whenever they can be procured. The great number taken in August is especially noticeable. This is essentially the grasshopper month, i. e., the month when grasshoppers reach their maximum abundance; and the stomach examination has shown that a large number of birds resort to this diet in August, no matter what may be the food during the rest of the year. [Illustration: Fig. 11.--Meadow lark.] Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most important item of the meadow lark's food, amounting to nearly 21 per cent, of which about one-third are predaceous ground beetles. The others are all harmful species, and when it is considered that the bird feeds exclusively on the ground, it seems remarkable that so few useful ground beetles are eaten. Many of them have a disgusting odor, and possibly this may occasionally save them from destruction by birds, especially when other food is abundant. Caterpillars, too, form a very constant element, and in May constitute over 28 per cent of the whole food. May is the month when the dreaded cutworm begins its deadly career, and then the bird does some of its best work. Most of these caterpillars are ground feeders, and are overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees; but the meadow lark finds them and devours them by thousands. The remainder of the insect food is made up of a few ants, wasps, and spiders, with a few bugs, including some cinch bugs.