EASTERN SONG SPARROW 1507 



1962). S. A. Altmann (1956) has reported mobbing of mounted 

 specimens of both screech and great horned owls, and F. Hamerstrom 

 (1957) witnessed mobbing of a tame red-tailed hawk. Forbush 

 (1929) mentions nest defense against snakes and turtles; he does not 

 indicate what turtles may be involved, but box turtles of the middle 

 west (Terrapene o. ornata), at least, have been known to eat birds 

 and their eggs (Legler, 1960). 



A curious case in which a garter snake {Thamnophis s. sirtalis) 

 disgorged an adult song sparrow is reported by Carpenter (1951), 

 who suggests that the bird must have been found dead and then 

 eaten. Mahan (1956) discovered a milk snake (Lampropeltis tri- 

 angulum) eating song sparrow eggs in a nest 15 inches above the 

 ground. 



A number of external parasites taken from song sparrows east of 

 the Mississippi River, most of them within the range of melodia, 

 have been reported by Harold S. Peters (1936). These include the 

 Mallophaga Degeeriella vulgata (Kell.), Machaerilaemus maestum 

 (Kell. and Chap.), Menacanthus incerta (Kell.), Philopterus sub- 

 jlavescens (Geof.), Ricinus melospizae (McGregor); the bloodsucking 

 hippoboscid flies Ornithoica confluenta Say, and Ornithomyia anchi- 

 neuria Speiser (syn. . jringillina) \ the mites Analgopsis sp., Liponys- 

 sus sylviarum (C. and F.), Trombicula bisignata Ewing, Trombicula 

 cavicola Ewing; and the ticks Haemaphysalis leporispalustris Packard, 

 Ixodes brunneus Koch, and Ixodes sp. Herman (1937) gives further 

 data on the hippoboscids parasitizing song sparrows, as does Boyd 

 (1951); the latter would apparently refer the records of Ornithoica 

 confluenta to Ornithoica vicina, as the parasite of song sparrows. 



Nestling song sparrows are among the many species victimized by 

 the maggots of blow flies (Calliphoridae). Johnson (1932) found 

 larval Protocalliphora splendida (Macq.) in a nest, and George 

 and Mitchell (1948) report Apaulina metallica (Townsend) (syn. 

 Protocalliphora metallica) . 



Blood protozoa found in song sparrows (Herman, 1944) include a 

 number of species of the genera Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, Plas- 

 modium, Toxoplasma, and Trypanosoma. 



Cats, other predatory mammals, and man are often responsible for 

 song sparrow deaths; and the physical environment takes its toll in 

 starvation (Forbush, 1929) and in the flooding of ground nests. 



Song sparrows are among the birds whose feet occasionally exhibit 

 large, rough, wart-like swellings. H. and J. R. Michener (1936) 

 have described the appearance and effect of this disease, which they 

 also imply may affect the wings and heads of song sparrows, and 

 which they regard as mildly contagious and epidemic. Their obser- 

 vations were made in California. The disease runs its course between 



