No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 329 



investigation of its food habits has shown that, by a curious coin- 

 cidence, the name is fully as appropriate in consideration of its 

 diet. Grasshoppers (Acrididse and Locustidse) form almost one- 

 fourth (23 per cent) of the food of the eight months in which the 

 170 stomachs examined were collected, and 60 per cent of the 

 food in June, in which the greatest quantity of these destructive 

 insects is eaten. The genera Xiphidium, Scudderia, Hippiscus, 

 and Melanoplus are best represented. 



" Among the sparrows of the farm seven are preeminently 

 grasshopper destroyers — the Dickcissel, and the Grasshopper, 

 Lark, Vesper, Chipping, Song, and Field Sparrows; — and from 

 May to August, inclusive, the insect-eating period, consume large 

 quantities of these pests. The examination of stomachs collected 

 during this period shows that grasshoppers form 41 per cent of 

 the food of the Dickcissel, 37 per cent of that of the Grasshopper 

 Sparrow, 31 per cent of that of the Lark Sparrow, 23 per cent of 

 that of the Vesper Sparrow, 21 per cent of that of the Chipping 

 Sparrow, 17 per cent of that of the Song Sparrow, and 13 per 

 cent of that of the Field Sparrow." 



" The vegetable food of the Grasshopper Sparrow is of little 

 importance when compared with that of other species. No fruit 

 was found excepting a few blueberries in one of the stomachs; 

 and grain, chiefly waste, forms only 2 per cent of the food. Of 

 the seeds, wood sorrel (Oxalis) composes 2 per cent of the food; 

 ragweed, 5 per cent; such grasses as pigeon-grass, panic-grass, 

 and a few others less freely eaten, 17 per cent; and various other 

 plants — polygonums, purslane, rib-grass, and the sedges — 11 

 per cent. The entire weed seed element, including the seeds of 

 such grasses as are troublesome on the farm (7 per cent of the 

 total food), amounts to about one-fourth of the food. 



" The Grasshopper Sparrow in particular, and the other 

 species of the genus Ammodramus in general, feed much less on 

 vegetable matter than most other sparrows. Insects form their 

 staple diet, and of these, beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars 

 are the most important. As a destroyer of insect pests the Grass- 

 hopper Sparrow is most efficient. It is not only superior to other 

 members of the same genus, but is even more efficient than such 

 valuable species as the Lark Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, and 

 Dickcissel ; and, both its vegetable and animal food considered, it 



