804 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paet 2 



damages the feathers. Subsequent winter plumages acquired by 

 complete molts prior to migration in late August and September are 

 essentially the same as the first winter plumage, though the colors 

 average richer. 



The occurrence of two complete molts in the sharp-tailed sparrow 

 can perhaps be correlated with the excessive and rapid abrasion of the 

 feathers by the coarse grasses in which they live. The seaside 

 sparrow, which has only a postnuptial molt, feeds more in the open 

 as do the Savannah, Ipswich, grasshopper, Le Conte's, and Henslow's 

 sparrows, which have a complete postnuptial and a partial prenuptial 

 molt. Certainly the sharp-tails get mud on their plumage as I have 

 watched them bathe from a partially submerged piece of driftwood 

 after extracting a morsel of food from a deeper layer in the mud. 



Food. — S. D. Judd (1901) reported that 51 stomachs of the sharp- 

 tailed sparrow taken between May and October showed 81 percent 

 animal matter and 19 percent vegetable matter. C. S. Robbins 

 (in litt.) reported that additional birds collected in Delaware in June 

 and September 1938 showed 100 percent animal food. Birds I 

 collected in June and July in Massachusetts varied between 80 percent 

 and 90 percent animal material. My studies of the contents of 250 

 stomachs representing all five subspecies supplied by the Fish and 

 WUdlife Service further confirm this preponderance of animal food, 

 greater than for any other sparrow, during the warmer months. 

 Proportionately more vegetable matter is taken in the winter. The 

 animal matter has been further broken down to Hymenoptera, 

 3 percent; Coleoptera, mostly weevils, 6 percent; Orthoptera, 7 

 percent; Lepidoptera, 14 percent; Hemiptera, especially leaf-hoppers, 

 12 percent; Diptera, 5 percent; miscellaneous insects, 8 percent; 

 amphipods (sandfleas), Arachnida, and small snails, 26 percent. 

 There is no record of its taking small crabs as does the seaside sparrow. 

 Bu'ds I have watched in late Jime and early July in Barnstable, 

 Mass., were feeding extensively on a small whitish moth. Salt 

 marsh birds are reported to take grasses and wild rice as vegetable 

 matter, but fresh water birds take a large variety of weed seeds. 



The only agricultural crop with which these birds are in contact is 

 "salt hay" and their effect is primarily beneficial. Sage, Bishop, and 

 Bliss (1913) described the food, both animal and vegetable, as 2 

 percent of beneficial forms, 30 percent harmful, and 68 percent neutral. 



Behavior. — vSharp-tailed sparrows are retiring and secretive, but not 

 overly shy. C. W. Townsend (1905) says: 



Sharp-tailed Sparrows are rather difficult birds to observe, especially if they are 

 vigorously followed, as they then he close, and when flushed, soon drop into the 

 grass and instantly conceal themselves. If, however, the observer keeps still 

 the birds often become quite tame and display their interesting habits. They 

 run through the grass like mice, with heads low, occasionally pausing to look 



