SPARROWS 435 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; common migrant, (Johnson). Aroos- 

 took ; spring and fall migrant at least, and possibly (?) more than this in 

 the Woolastook Valley, (Knight). Cumberland; common migrant, (Mead) ; 

 one seen at Cape Elizabeth, December 9, 1906, (Brownson, J. M. 0. S. 1907, 

 p. 28). Franklin; rare migrant, (Swain); never seen in spring, (Sweet). 

 Hancock; common migrant, (Mrs. W. H. Gardiner). Kennebec; very rare 

 migrant, (Powers). Knox; migrant, (Rackliff). Oxford; migrant, very 

 common, (Nash). Penobscot; common migrant in fall, fewer in spring, 

 (Knight). Piscataquis; common migrant, (Homer). Sagadahoc; common 

 spring migrant, (Spinney). Somerset ; common migrant, (Morrell). Waldo ; 

 common migrant, (Knight). Washington; fall and spring, (Boardman). 

 York; not very common migrant, (Adams). 



Though seen near Bangor very seldom in open winters, the 

 species cannot be called a winter resident as the stragglers 

 disappear at the approach of stormy weather. Usually they 

 appear in numbers about April first to the fifth and all have 

 passed by before May second, appearing again in October 

 about the fifteenth, and straggling along until November, and 

 even December, while as before written, they have been seen in 

 February and March in open winters, disappearing at the 

 approach of heavy weather. 



The species occurs in small flocks and by twos and threes, 

 in roadside thickets, along the edge of woods, in hedgerows, 

 open hard woods, clearings and weedy cultivated ground. 

 They are rather terrestrial in feeding habits, scratching about 

 in the leaves and undergrowth with production of a noise equal 

 to that made by a barnyard fowl. When frightened they rise 

 into the trees about, soon returning to feed again. Small 

 beetles, grubs, worms, seeds of various weeds, shrubs and grasses 

 form their diet. They rather incline to the seed side in their 

 diet which in fall I would roughly estimate as fifty per cent 

 seed, forty per cent insects and the balance gravel or fine 

 sand. 



In spring I have heard the males utter snatches of a sweet 

 twittering nature, while the usual alarm cry is a "tcheep." 

 Those who have heard the song in the northern home of this 

 species state that it is rich, loud, full, clear and ringing, and 



