THE FINCHES AND SPARROWS. 135 



sparrows, and can readily be distinguished from its relatives 

 by the white lateral tail-feathers shown when it flies. It is 

 widely distributed and partially migratory. It frequents 

 grass-lands and cultivated fields, in the Western States often 

 making its nest in corn-fields. Two or three broods are 

 reared each season, with from four to six young in each 

 brood. The food of a number of New Hampshire nestlings 

 consisted of spiders and larvae of various kinds. The diet of 

 thirty-seven Wisconsin adults was studied by King : of these 

 '' thirty-one had eaten various small weed seeds ; five, four 

 grasshoppers ; one, eight grasshoppers' eggs ; four, ten larvae ; 

 fourteen, twenty-seven small beetles ; three, eight moths ; 

 one, three flies ; one, three land-snails ; one, two kernels of 

 wheat ; and one, a kernel of rye." 



The examination of one hundred and thirty stomachs of 

 this species at the United States Department of Agriculture 

 showed that two-thirds of the food of the year is of vegetable 

 matter, the rest being largely insects and spiders. In winter 

 the food consists chiefly of the seeds of weedy plants, espe- 

 cially ragweed, amaranth, lamb's-quarters, and purslane. In 

 summer the birds eat chiefly insects, especially grasshoppers, 

 beetles, cutworms, army-worms, and other sorts. In July 

 grasshoppers form nearly half the sparrows' food. 



The Tree-Sparrow, which comes down from the far North, 

 usually towards the end of October and remains with us 

 until April, not only serves to enliven winter, but at the same 

 time does much good by destroying great quantities of weed 

 seed. The good work laid down by the chipping, field, 

 vesper, savanna, and the other sparrows, less hardy than this 

 boreal species, is quickly taken up and continued until their 

 return. In New Hampshire the date of the chipping-sparrow's 

 departure is almost precisely that of the tree-sparrow's arrival, 

 and vice versa. 



In the Northern States, except along the coast, the snow is 

 so deep that but few seeds eaten by fliis sparrow arc left 



