EASTERN SAVANNAH SPARROW 685 



Total foods averaged 97 percent seeds and 3 percent insects and spiders. 

 Digilaria seeds formed 70 percent of all foods eaten * * *. Seeds of secondary 

 importance were Ambrosia, Sorghuni., and Eleusine. * * * The seeds of greater 

 use shattered froni the plants later and inore gradually than the ones of lesser use, 

 thus being more steadily available both on the plant and on the ground (although 

 seeds are seldom taken directly from the plant). * * * Feeding was character- 

 istically local at any one period, on some one to four kinds of seeds. * * * Feed- 

 ing was a continuous process, unhurried during most of the day but accelerated 

 early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The crop was filled only once a 

 day, at sunset. 



Behavior. — The most frequently occurring description of Savannah 

 sparrow behavior is that "it runs like a mouse through the grass." 

 This is certainly an apt phrase since it has connotations of color, 

 behavior, and habitat and, in addition, neatly summarizes the 

 Savannah's mien. 



Quay (1957), in his paper on wintering Savannahs, summarizes his 

 observations as foUows: 



The Savannah sparrow was not an easy bird to watch. When disturbed, it 

 ran on the ground more often than it flushed. Croucned low to the ground, head 

 down and stretched forward, it ran quickly and quietly, taking advantage of all 

 cover and resembling a mouse more than a bird. 



When disturbed by a man walking. Savannahs either moved onward on the 

 ground or took flight. Flights were usually' short, 20-70 feet, and practically 

 never carried the bird out of the plot. Flight was quick, erratic and only a few 

 inches above the vegetation. 



Although the Savannah sparrow runs when disturbed, it hops when 

 it feeds, and sometimes scratches like a towhee. Quay (1958) reports 

 that the Savannahs "typically fed on the ground, picking up seeds 

 from the ground like a chicken. The only times they were seen to take 

 seeds directly from plants were when snow and sleet covered the bare 

 ground." However, as the seeds continue to shatter from the plants, 

 the Savannahs soon resume feeding on the surface of the snow. 



Quay (1957) notes: "The Savannah Sparrow proved to be at most 

 only a weakly flocking species. Closely-knit flocks, of the type 

 exhibited by field sparrows or starlings, were never observed, * * * 

 As come upon in the undisturbed state. Savannah Sparrows commonly 

 were found from singly up to loose groups of 20 to 60, Most com- 

 monly, the aggregation numbered fewer than ten birds," Norris 

 (1960) who also worked with the Savannah on its wintering ground 

 drew similar conclusions: "Thus, Savannah Sparrows exhibited a 

 tendency toward being scattered over the fields, and although they 

 were concentrated in some places they were nowhere bound, as it 

 were, into closely knit, easily defined flocks," F, H, Allen reports in 

 a letter to Mr. Bent that a flock of Savannahs seen in Massachusetts 

 in April 1922 "exhibited traits of an imperfectly gregarious species, 

 not rising in a flock and flying together, but rising singly and in small 



