826 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



Food. — Judd (1901) determined the food of the seaside sparrow to 

 be, Uke that of its congener, the sharp-tailed sparrow, more than 80 

 percent animal matter. Audubon (1839) noted their food "consists 

 of marine insects, small crabs and snails, as well as the green sand 

 beetle, portions of all of which I have found in their stomach." His 

 added comment "Having one day shot a number of these birds, 

 merely for the sake of practice, I had them made into a pie, which, 

 however, could not be eaten, on account of its fishy savour" is as 

 interesting a reflection on the customs of his day as it is on the seaside 

 sparrow's feeding habits. 



The bOls of both the Ammospizas, more elongated and less conical 

 than those of any other fringillids, are perhaps better adapted for 

 insect eating. In winter they eat some vegetable matter, mainly 

 seeds of marsh grasses, but this is apparently never an important 

 part of their diet. A funnel trap baited with canary seed on the 

 Lavallette marshes during the spring migration of 1955 caught 

 Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwicensis) in quantity, but 

 not a single Ammospiza. The nesting seasides at Lavallette fed 

 extensively on noctuid moths. I counted some 40 wings of these 

 moths in the feeding territories of two pairs along a tide-deposited 

 windrow of eel grass (Zostera marina). Often the four wings of a 

 single moth lay as they had on the insect, whose body the sparrows 

 had neatly snipped out. The parent birds seemed to give smaller 

 and softer food items to their nestlings at hatching and larger things 

 as they grew. 



Behavior. — To quote Audubon (1839) again: "The monotonous 

 chirpings which one hears in almost every part of our maritime salt 

 marshes are produced by this bird. * * * The Seaside Finch may be seen 

 at any hour of the day, during the months of May and June, mounted 

 on the tops of the rankest weeds which grow by the margins of tide- 

 water along the greater portion of our Atlantic coast, where it pours 

 forth with much emphasis the few notes of which its song is composed. 

 When one approaches it, it either seeks refuge amongst the grass, 

 by descending along the stalks and blades of the weeds, or flies off 

 to a short distance, with a continued fluttering of wings, then alights 

 with a rapid descent, and runs off with great nimbleness." 



On the species' running ability Stone (1937) remarks: "While 

 making but little show in the air the Seaside Sparrow is very much 

 at home on the muddy bottom of the marsh and its large feet are 

 well adapted for running over the soft ooze while they, as well as the 

 short tail, shape of body, and somewhat elongated bfll, all recall 

 the structure of the rails, which are co-tenants of the meadows. 

 The Seaside Sparrow can run very swiftly, threading its way in and 

 out among the coarse stalks of the Spartina grass that grows along 



