IPSWICH SPARROW 667 



vegetable matter, and 34.9 percent gravel and sand; 24 of these showed 

 no animal food or only a trace. The increase of gravel to grind the 

 higher proportion of seeds is notable. 



The animal matter eaten by the Sable Island birds consisted of 

 beetles and larvae representing scarabaeids (Aphodius fimentarium 

 identified), carabids, elaterids, cicindelids, and weevils; caterpillars, 

 as well as pupae and pupae cases; grasshoppers; ants (including one 

 pupa) and other hymenoptera; hemiptera; diptera; spiders (also 

 eggs and cocoons); snails; also seeds, herbage, and unrecognizable 

 material except seeds or granules of Myrica cervfera, Cornus canadensis, 

 Ixumex acetosella, and Vaccinium. The winter diet consisted largely 

 of the seeds of grasses, including Chenopodium sp.?, Eragrostis sp.?, 

 Polygonum articulatum, and rye, and other unidentifiable plants. 

 The animal food in winter included beetles, among them scarabaeids 

 and weevils; caterpillars and their cocoons; hymenoptera, including 

 some ants; diptera; spiders' cocoons; and snails. 



W. Earl Godfrey sends in food data on three museum specimens 

 from Sable Island collected by W. E. Saunders. The stomach of one 

 female taken May 22, 1901, contained small beetles, that of a male 

 on the same date contained 85 percent seeds and 15 percent beetles, 

 while the stomach of the thu*d, a female taken on May 15, contained 

 a few insects but mostly seeds. 



William Dutcher (1886) remarks of birds received Apr. 1, 1885, 

 with stomachs filled with small black insects and claims this to be the 

 first instance of anything but vegetable food found among bii'ds 

 examined. 



Charles W. Townsend watched Ipswich sparrows foraging along 

 the seaweed drifts thrown up on a Massachusetts beach Apr. 3, 1910, 

 and actually saw birds jump into the air for insects; beetles and small 

 flies were the chief forms present. George M. Sutton, with Roger T. 

 Peterson on an Audubon field trip, saw an Ipswich sparrow at Moriches, 

 Long Island, on Oct. 17, 1948, feeding on sand grass {Triplasis 

 purpurea) . 



No doubt the Ipswich sparrows would fare badly without beach 

 grass (Ammophila arenaria) with its elevated panicles that stand well 

 up out of the snow during severe weather. Some winters ago a sleet 

 storm encased every branch, weed stalk, and blade of beach grass on 

 Long Island in a casing of crystal-clear ice. The top-heavy seed 

 panicles hung over within 5 or 6 inches of the ice-coated sand and only 

 an occasional underside escaped the glazing. Alternately jumping 

 and sliding on the ice, the sparrows had difiiculty finding husfe to 

 pluck which were not encased in ice. 



During open winters Ipswich sparrows used to fly out of the dunes 

 and feed on the grassy strips that formerly bordered the ocean parkway 



