EASTERN FOX SPARROW 1409 



The only instances of anting behavior by the fox sparrow I can find 

 were reported by H. R. Ivor (1941, 1943), who watched them do so 

 in his aviary. 



Field marks. — The fox sparrow is ruddier and considerably larger 

 than any other sparrow in eastern North America, even the white- 

 crowned, from which its heavily streaked breast, foxy red upperparts 

 and bright rufous red tail distinguish it at a glance. When, as so 

 frequently happens, one obtains only a fleeting glimpse of the bird 

 disappearing in the forest undergrowth, he cannot be sure whether 

 he has seen a fox sparrow or a hermit thrush. The hermit's tail is 

 a similar foxy red, but seen well the olive-brown back, thinner bill, 

 and spotted rather than streaked breast are readily diagnostic. 



Enemies. — Thanks largely to the density of its nesting cover, the 

 fox sparrow apparently does not suffer greatty from predation during 

 the breeding season. Weasels and other mustelids probably get a 

 few eggs and nestlings, though there are no records of nesting failures 

 in the eastern race, within whose breeding range the cowbird does 

 not occur. 



Perhaps the greatest single factor inimical to fox sparrows is in- 

 clement weather during migration or on the wintering grounds. 

 Freezing rain that forms a crust on the snow is particularly disastrous. 

 Arthur T. Wayne (1910) gives the following graphic description of 

 such a disaster in South Carolina: 



The great cold wave of February 13 and 14, 1899, destroyed millions of these 

 birds. There was a tremendous migration of Fox Sparrows on Monday, the 13th, 

 following the coast line of the mainland. They apparently came from the north- 

 east, migrating in a southwesterly direction. Thousands tarried in my yard all 

 day long and swarmed in the piazza, fowl-yard, and every place that would afford 

 protection. They would scratch away the snow in order to find a bare place, 

 singing — that is the stronger birds — the whole time, while their companions 

 were freezing by the hundreds. When they were benumbed by the intense cold, 

 Boat-tailed Grackles * * * and Red-winged Blackbirds * * * would peck 

 them at the base of the skull, killing them and eating them. The stronger Fox 

 Sparrows would also eat their dead companions. It was a most pathetic sight. 



Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) add: "There have been similar 

 though smaller invasions of Charleston. A remarkable one occurred 

 between January 13 and 18, 1912. Sprunt's notes for March, 1914, 

 read: 'Hundreds forced into the city by this cold wave. Scores 

 seen along the Battery all day of the 14th.' Astonished at the num- 

 bers of the birds, people attacked them with sticks and small boys 

 had a field day. A smaller concentration was noted on January 25, 

 1922, during a sleet storm in Charleston." 



William Brewster (1906) comments that in Cambridge, Mass., 

 "They were exceptionally scarce for five or six years following the 

 winter of 1894-95 when they perished by thousands, from cold and 



