WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 1377 



After the young have left the nest and are for the most part inde- 

 pendent, vegetable matter becomes the major source of food once 

 again. 



The manner in which white-throats feed varies to some extent. Of 

 the method of feeding on the ground, Skinner (1928) writes, "White- 

 throats depend largely upon scratching to uncover food. * * * they 

 give a triple scuffle with spread feet, and a quick jump backward to 

 throw out the dirt behind them. At times these birds will scratch 

 for as much as an hour without a pause beyond that necessary to pick 

 up the food." When searching for insects in trees, the birds hop along 

 a branch picking up insects, then move to another limb to repeat the 

 performance. In Algonquin Park Mrs. Lainevool saw an adult 

 white-throat chase and capture an adult dragonfly. Lowther also 

 noted aerial feeding during the spruce budworm outbreak in New- 

 Brunswick in 1953 and 1954. At the time the adult moths were 

 emerging from their chrysalises, white-throats were often seen chasing 

 and capturing them in flight. 



The birds eat only the pulpy parts of such fruits as grapes, blue- 

 berries, and bunchberries and do not swallow the skins and large seeds. 

 The bird picks up the fruit with its bill, squashes it and manipulates 

 the skin back and forth between the mandibles until all the contents 

 are squeezed out before dropping it. The coarse husks of grains are 

 also rejected, as are the hard parts of some adult insects, such as the 

 wings of beetles and dragonflies. Large insect larvae are handled in a 

 similar manner, probably to soften the outer cuticle, but the food is 

 swallowed whole. 



Field marks. — The white-throat is a rather large sparrow, with its 

 back striped in reddish and dark brown; crown striped either black and 

 white or black, brown and tan; throat patch white or dirty white, well 

 defined from the gray or gray-tan of the throat and upper breast. 

 The two most distinguishing features of this sparrow are the white 

 throat patch and the yellow superciliary line in front of the eye. 

 Young birds are usually, but not ahvays, somewhat duller than the 

 adults. 



Voice. — The song of the white-throated sparrow is not likely to be 

 confused with that of any other bird in its range. It consists of pure 

 whistled notes, generally steady in pitch, and arranged in a definite 

 pattern. As Elon H. Eaton (1914) states, "In New England, it has 

 been likened to the words 'Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody' or 

 'Sow wheat Peeverly, Peeverly, Peeverly,' but farther north he is 

 supposed to say, 'Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada.' " These para- 

 phrases, repeated in so many books, indicate one pattern of the song 

 which, as we shall see, is no longer the commonest one. 



