. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. MEADOW LARK AND BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 427 found in the stomachs is not really food, and was taken in such small quantities that it may be disregarded. As April is represented by only two stomachs, and November by one, the results for these months can not be considered as final. Excluding November, the largest amount of insect food was eaten in May, when it formed 92 per cent of the food, and the smallest in April and July, when it formed 70 per cent. The single November stomach contf^ined 98 per cent of insects. The most important item of the insect food is
. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. MEADOW LARK AND BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 427 found in the stomachs is not really food, and was taken in such small quantities that it may be disregarded. As April is represented by only two stomachs, and November by one, the results for these months can not be considered as final. Excluding November, the largest amount of insect food was eaten in May, when it formed 92 per cent of the food, and the smallest in April and July, when it formed 70 per cent. The single November stomach contf^ined 98 per cent of insects. The most important item of the insect food is caterpillars, which aggregate more than 34 per cent of the whole. Contrai^y to what might have been expected, the Connecticut stomach taken in Novem- ber contained 81 per cent of these insects. This accords with what has been noted by many observers in the field, that the oriole spends a. Pig. 111.—Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula). great deal of time searching among leaves and branches, where such insects abound. An average of 25 per cent of caterpillars was found in the two stomachs taken in April, and this percentage continued without much variation until July, when it dropped to 12, July being the month when most fruit was eaten. After July the percentage of caterpillars eaten increases rapidly. Beetles of various families and species rank next to caterpillars in abundance. Those most eaten are the click, or snapping, beetles {Ela- teridce), insects having very hard shells, which would seem to render them undersirable for food. Although eaten during May, June, and July only, click beetles constitute 9 per cent of the food for these months or per cent for each of the six months under Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles), 184
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