BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



Sparrow. Like other sparrows they chirp and twitter 

 from time to time, but the full chorus of a flock in winter 

 is a sound worth going far to hear." ^ 



Dr. Judd says: "The tree sparrow breeds in Labrador 

 and the Hudson Bay region and westward to Alaska. In 

 the fall the birds come down from the north in immense 

 throngs and spread over the United States as far south as 

 South Carolina, Kansas, and Arizona. During the winter, 

 in company with j uncos, white-throats, white-crowns, and 

 fox sparrows, they give life to the hedgerows, tangled 

 thickets, and weed patches. . . . The food of the tree 

 sparrow during its stay in the United States is almost en- 

 tirely made up of seeds. The bird shows an essential 

 difference from its associates, however, in its large con- 

 sumption of grass seed, fully half of its food consisting of 

 this element. . . . Nearly two-thirds of the vegetable food 

 that is not grass seed is derived from such plants as rag- 

 weed, amaranth, lamb's quarters, . . . and a variety of 

 seeds such as wild sunflower, goldenrod, chickweed, purs- 

 lane, wood sorrel, violet, and sheep sorrel." ^ 



Professor Beal says that the oily seeds of such plants 

 as ragweed cause the little bodies of tree sparrows to be 

 encased in "a layer of fat constituting a set of under-flan- 

 nels from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in thickness 

 all over the bird's body." They are so warmly dressed 

 that it is no wonder they are happy, cheerful, and active. 

 A sight of them in a beautiful, snowy meadow is enough 

 to repay one for the trouble of a quest. 



1 From "Useful Birds and Thesir Protection," by E. H. Forbush. 



2 Bulletin No. 15, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Biological Survey. 



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