50 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



the birds, almost burying them with down. A dozen of the birds were killed and 

 their gizzards and gullets were found literally crammed with thistle seeds. At Sing 

 Sing, N. Y., Goldfinches have been seen eating the seeds of the Scotch thistle 

 {Onopordon acantliiuni) and boneset {Eupatorium perforatum). Cone flowers (Rud- 

 beckia hirtd), prairie sunflowers (Gaillardia), evening primroses, catnip, elephant's 

 foot [E/cp/unitopus sp.), and mullein also form part of their food, and late in the 

 season they turn their attention to ragweed and consume great quantities of the 

 seeds of this troublesome species. In winter and spring large flocks feed to some 

 extent upon the seeds of conifers and catkin-bearing trees, such as the sycamore and 

 birch. In destroying the seeds of the gray birch {Bctiila populifolid) on the edge of 

 the grass lands they do some good, for this tree has a habit of seeding adjacent 

 pastures, which then grow into a thicket of young saplings." (Beal.) 



Chipping Sparrow (Spizella socialis). — Professor Weed writes of a family of 

 Chipping Sparrows, which he watched on June 22, from 3:40 A. M. to 7:50 P. M. : 

 " During this busy day the parent birds had made almost two hundred visits to the 

 nest, bringing food nearly every time, though some of the trips seemed to be made 

 to furnish grit for the grinding of the food. There was no long interval when 

 they were at work, the longest period between these visits having been twenty-seven 

 minutes. Soft-bodied caterpillars were the most abundant elements of food, but 

 crickets and crane-flies were also seen, and doubtless a great variety of insects were 

 taken." 



Tree Sparrow {Sp izella monticold). — "Examination of many stomachs shows 

 that in winter the Tree Sparrow feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds ; and probably 

 each bird consumes about one-fourth of an ounce a day. In an article contributed 

 to the New York Tribune in 1881 the writer estimated the amount of weed seed 

 annually destroyed by these birds in the State of Iowa. Upon the basis of one- 

 fourth of an ounce eaten daily by each bird, and supposing that the birds averaged 

 ten to each square mile, and that they remain in their winter range two hundred 

 days, we shall have a total of 1,750,000 pounds, or 875 tons, of weed seed consumed 

 by this one species in a single season. Large as these figures may seem, they cer- 

 tainly fall far short of the reality. The estimate of ten birds to a square mile is 

 much within the truth, for the Tree Sparrow is certainly more abundant than this in 

 winter in Massachusetts, where the food supply is less than in the western States, 

 and I have known places in Iowa where several thousand could be seen within the 

 space of a few acres. This estimate, moreover, is for a single species, while, as a 

 matter of fact, there are at least half a dozen birds (not all Sparrows) that habitually 

 feed on these seeds during winter." (Beal.) 



