34 



BIRDS OF AAlERICA 



White-throat. A change suddenly conies in the 

 middle of the song that makes it very different 

 from the song of any other Sparrow. The close 

 of the song is harsh and drawling, reminding one 

 of the distant rasp of the Nighthawk. 



When the winters are severe in the lower 

 Missouri valley, the birds push on in large num- 

 bers to central Texas, only to return, as a White- 

 throat would, to more northern wet woods and 

 thickets with the first sign of sjiring. .\t this 

 season they are known as Black-hoods, and are 

 a welcome sight in the Dakotas. where they sing 

 their cheerv songs from the tojimost twigs of 

 the scanty bushes. Their size and their colors 



Writing in The Auk, he describes it thus: "It 

 was nil the ground under a dwarf birch, was 

 made of grass, and resembled the nest of tlie 

 \Miite-thruated Sparrow. It contained three 

 young, nearly readv to fl\'." 



Figures indicate that it is advisable to afford 

 this species all possible encouragement and pro- 

 tection. The report of the United States Biologi- 

 cal Survey was bared on the examination of loo 

 stomachs. .\s is the case with many of the birds 

 that br(,-ed for the most part to the north and 

 merely winter in the United States, the stomach 

 contents wt'i-e mostly vegetable in character, the 

 animal matter amounting to but 8 per cent. The 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



HARRIS'S SPARROW (1 nat. size) 

 A comparatively little known bird whose nest was not discovered until 1907 



make them as conspicucnis as Towhees. But 

 civilization loses sight of them during the breed- 

 ing season and through the heat of summer. 



September, though, finds them corning back 

 over the international boundary into the upper 

 Missouri valley. But now the hoods are incon- 

 spicuous. Most noticeable now are the heavy 

 markings underneath and the generally reddish 

 appearance. In this garb it is as well to name 

 them after Mr. Harris as to call them by any 

 other name. The birds must search far on down 

 below the Arkansas River to find their black 

 hoods again. 



The only nest of this species known was dis- 

 covered by Ernest T. Seton, August 5, 1907. 



animal matter was made up of about the same 

 kinds of insects, spiders, and snails that enter 

 into the fare of other Sparrows, but the quantity 

 of leaf hoppers was unusually large (2 per cent. 

 of the food). 



Of the vegetable food, _'5 [ler cent, was 

 made up of the seeds of wild fruits and of 

 various plants of uncertain economic position; 10 

 \>ev cent, of grain, which included more corn 

 than wheat and oats; per cent, of grass seed, 

 mainly pigeon grass, cral) grass, June grass, and 

 Johnson grass ; 6 per cent, of the seeds of ama- 

 rantli, lamb's-quarters, wild sunflower, and 

 gromwell, and 42 per cent, of ragweed and 

 ])olygonum. 



