No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. ' 333 



purslane, chickweed, knotweed, and black bindweed. Twenty- 

 six per cent of the grass seed is crab-grass and pigeon-grass, 

 chiefly the former, the rest consisting of timothy, orchard grass, 

 and other grasses. The seeds of crab-grass, whenever they can 

 be obtained, form the most important part of the diet. During 

 the last of August there were collected a dozen Chipping Spar- 

 rows that were feeding in a flock amid some crab-grass and other 

 weeds which were getting the upper hand in a small garden, about 

 an acre in extent; and it was found that the stomach of every 

 one of the birds was crammed full of the seeds of crab-grass." 



Regarding the Field Sparrow Dr. Judd says : " The labora- 

 tory investigation includes 175 stomachs collected during every 

 month of the year, from 15 states and the District of Columbia, 

 chiefly in New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia 

 in the East, and Kansas and Wyoming in the West. Of the total 

 food they contained 41 per cent was animal matter and 59 per 

 cent vegetable matter. Of the animal material, weevils form 2 

 per cent ; leaf beetles, 2 per cent ; ground, tiger, click, and May 

 beetles, collectively, 9 per cent ; caterpillars, 4 per cent ; grass- 

 hoppers, 6 per cent ; leaf-hoppers, true bugs, saw-flies, ants, flies, 

 and spiders, taken together, 14 per cent ; and parasitic wasps, 

 4 per cent. This last item is the principal point wherein the Field 

 Sparrow differs in food habits from the Chipping Sparrow — a 

 difference that is not to the advantage of the record of the species 

 from an economic standpoint, since, as has been shown, these 

 wasps are dangerous parasites of many caterpillars. Of the 

 vegetable food 51 per cent consists of the seed of grasses, for 

 the most part such species as crab-grass and other panicums, 

 pigeon-grass, broom sedge, poverty grass (Aristida) , and sheathed 

 rush grass. Seeds of such weeds as chickweed, lamb's-quarters, 

 gromwell, amaranth, purslane, spurge, wood sorrel, and knot- 

 weed amount to 4 per cent. The percentage of timothy is insig- 

 nificant, but that of oats is comparatively large, as they consti- 

 tute 4 per cent of the food." (Judd, " The Relation of Sparrows 

 to Agriculture.") 



The Slate-colored Junco (Junco hyemaUs hyemalis), some- 

 times called the Black Snowbird, is another of our winter birds 

 that industriously collect weed seed from field and garden. " The 

 food habits of the Junco are such as commend it highly to the 



