JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 79 



hopped from al)ove, down the steins, below the top of the tall grass, 

 inspecting the lower parts of the leaves, and each cone of leaves, 

 frequently seizing some insect. They seemed very eager in their 

 work. As I had to take one of the steamers I could not follow up 

 the matter. Two days later I examined the plants and the leaf 

 cones, with the result of finding only one lady-bug. 



During the flying period of the brown-tail moth {Euproctis 

 chrysorrluca) , which culminated in Portland about July 2otli, I was 

 frequently struck by the observation of detached wings of the moths 

 under most of the arc lamps around which they had gathered. 



The case seemed to me well explained as a female English 

 Sparrow came hopping along a sidewalk, watching for some article 

 of food. vSpying a large female brown-tail, on the ground under one 

 of the lamps, the Sparrow seized its abdomen, and severed a large 

 part with her powerful beak, ate it with such relish that she pro- 

 ceeded to finish the abdomen with enclosed eggs at two more moutli- 

 fuls. Then seizing the throat and head, with a twist of her jaws, 

 the wings were cleft from the body and hurled in opposite directions. 

 This meal finished she went hopping about for more food. Unfortu- 

 nately, I had killed all of the moths under this lamp (over-looking 

 the one eaten by the Sparrow), so there was no supply of this kind 

 to tempt her further. 



It seems well here to record, that I was informed, that as the 

 moths were washed from high walls in Westbrook, with a hose, 

 numbers were eaten from the ground by the Sparrows, though they 

 were not seen to take any as they clung to objects above the ground. 



It is usual around Portland, when hay is cut near streets 

 inhabited by Sparrows, to see the birds gather in various sized 

 flocks on the windrows and mown grounds, and several times I 

 have observed them eating piece-meal, large grasshoppers. 



While indexing some of my Journals, I find that in 18S9, I 



saw on several occasions between June 17 and 22, vSparrows killing 



large caterpillars of the Mourning Cloak Butterfly {Envaiicssa au- 



tiopa). They were never seen to swallow these, but killed them 



after the manner of a Kingfisher, by beating. 



Arthur H. Norton. 

 Portland, Me. 



