956 Keport of State Geologist. 



118). Prof. F. H. King examined 16 White-throated Sparrows, and 

 found they had eaten 4 caterpillars, 4 beetles, 1 grasshopper, and 1 

 caddis fly; 13 of them had eaten some seeds; 1 had eaten raspberries. 

 Until after July their food is largely insects (Geol. of Wis., I., p. 540). 



131. Genus SPIZELLA Bonapartk. 



o^. Crown rufous in adults. 



b^. Upper mandible black, lower yellow; dusky spot on breast. 



S. monticola (Gmel.). 218 

 b^. Bill wholly black or reddish brown. 



c\ Bill wholly light reddish brown. S. pusilla (Wils.). 221 



C-. Bill wholly black in adults; dull reddish brown, lighter below in young. 



S. socialis (Wils.). 219 

 a^. Crown grayish brown, streaked with black. S. pallida (Swains.). 220 



218. (559). Spizella monticola (Gmkl). 



Tree Sparrow. 



Adult. — Bill, upper mandible, black, lower, yellow; a black or 

 dusky spot on the middle of the breast; crown, rufous, feathers some- 

 times bordered with gray; grayish-white stripe over the eye; rufous 

 stripe behind the eye; greater and middle wing coverts edged with 

 rufous and tipped with white, forming two conspicuous bars; sec- 

 ondaries more or less edged with rufous and white; back, brownish, 

 streaked with black and buffy; rump, brownish-ashy; sides of head 

 and neck, ash-gray, lighter on the throat; rest of under parts, whitish, 

 washed with pale bro^\^lish. Immature. — Similar, but more or less 

 distinctly streaked below. 



Length, 6.00-6.50; wing, 2.80-3.10; tail, 2.60-3.90. 



Range. — North America east of Plains, from South Carolina, Ken- 

 tucky and Indian Territory, north to Arctic Ocean. Breeds from 

 northern Maine to Labrador and north. Winters from North Da- 

 kota, northern Michigan, Ontario and New England, south. 



Nest, on ground, or low in trees; of grass, rootlets and hair. Eggs, 

 4-5; pale green, speckled, blotched and scratched with various shades 

 of brown; .74 by .57. 



Soon after the Junco, or common Snowbird, appears in the fall, 

 these little winter Sparrows appear. They frequent thickets, weedy 

 places and spots where grasses and sedges have borne seed. There, 

 sometimes alone, sometimes with the Juncos, they may be found, 

 busily engaged seed eating. They generally appear in October in 

 northern Indiana, but sometimes are not noted until November. 



