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In 1881 Mr. F. E. L. Beal made an estimate of the amount of weed seed eaten 

 by the common Tree Sparrow during the winter months in the State of Iowa. As 

 the conditions in that state so far as the Tree Sparrow is concerned are similar to our 

 own, I give the estimate to show the value of birds of this class as weed destro3'ers 

 Mr. Beal says : "Upon the basis of one-fourth of an ounce of seed eaten daily by each 

 bird and supposing that the birds averaged ten to each square mile and that they 

 remain in their winter range two hundred days, we shall have a total of 1,750,000 

 pounds or 875 tons of weed seed consumed by this one species in a single season." 



Personal experience has shown me that Mr. Beat's estimate of the amount of 

 weed seed eaten each day by birds such as the Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow and Snow 

 Bird is correct; for I have had many of our finches and sparrows in captivity for long 

 periods and have carefully measured the quantity of seed they consumed, in all cases 

 it was about a quarter of an ounce daily, and I feel assured that birds at liberty in 

 cold weather would certainly require more than that. Most farmers can make a 

 guess at the number of the seeds of the common weeds that would be required to 

 weigh a quarter of an ounce and that will give an idea of the good service a flock of 

 gray birds or snow birds are rendering him while they are frequenting his fields. 



SPARROWS, FINCHES, ETC. 



This is a very large family, represented in Ontario by thirty-four species. Want 

 of space prohibits my calling attention to the food habits of each of these in detail. 

 It will, however, be sufficient for the purpose of this paper to refer particularly to 

 those only which in some manner are specially beneficial or injurious to the crops 

 usually cultivated for profit. All these birds are insect eaters in the summer months, 

 and their young while in the nest are fed entirely on insects ; but in the autumn, 

 winter and early spring the mature birds subsist principally on the seeds of wild 

 plants and forest trees. 



Native Sparrows. Among the most familiar birds that spend the summer on 

 and a;bout the farm are the native Sparrows, commonly known as Grey Birds. The 

 most abundant of these are the Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, 

 and Field Sparrow. The first three are to be found everywhere; the Field Sparrow 

 is more locally distributed, but is sufficiently abundant to be of economic value 

 where it occurs. These are all of the so-called seed eating class, but the seeds eaten 

 by them are the seeds of plants that can well be dispensed with. I have but rarely 

 found any cultivated grains among their stomach contents, the only ones being a 

 few oats in the fall. All through the summer a large part of the food of the adults 

 consists of insects, and the young are fed entirely upon them until they leave the 

 nest. As these birds raise two and sometimes three broods each season this means a 

 vast number of insects taken from the crops. Small insects of all kinds are eaten, 

 but the birds seem to show a preference for beetles, and a great partiality for the pea 

 weevil or peabug. These appear about the peas when they are in blossom, and I have 

 often watched the Chipping Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow and Song Sparrow, together 

 with the much abused House Sparrow, busily engaged in capturing these beetles 

 about the pea vines, and specimens taken by me at this time had their crops and 

 stomachs filled with them. 



When the breeding season is over these Sparrows gather into flocks and may 

 be found in large numbers in the weed patches too often left about the farm. Here 

 they are doing service not less valuable than that rendered by their destruction of 

 insect pests in the summer, and which has only to be observed to be appreciated. 



