t 



138 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



suffers more from the attacks of cats than does any other 

 species. The neat hair-lined nest is placed in a shrub or tree, 

 often near a house. Its food consists of insects and small 

 seeds: of the former smooth caterpillars, like cutworms and 

 canker-worms, are favorites, but beetles, grasshoppers, moths, 

 ants, and bugs are also eaten. It has been observed feeding 

 upon the common cabbage-worm (Pieris rapce). 



Dr. Judd's studies of two hundred and fifty stomachs of 

 the chipping-sparrow show that insects and spiders form 

 thirty-eight per cent, of the food of the adults, the remainder 

 being seeds. The seeds of grasses alone form forty-eight per 

 cent., more than half of it being crab-grass and pigeon-grass. 

 In our study of the feeding of the nestlings of this species we 

 saw the parent birds come to the nest almost two hundred 

 times in one day from daylight to dark. The young are fed 

 with smooth caterpillars of various sorts, as well as grass- 

 hoppers, crane-flies, spiders, and similar creatures. 



The JUNCO, or BLACK SNOW-BIRD, is a common winter resi- 

 dent or migrant in most of the United States, breeding in the 

 northern tier of States and in Canada. Its principal food 

 consists of the seeds of weeds and grasses, although in 

 summer a good many insects are eaten, these forming about 

 one-half of its summer diet. 



No bird is a more welcome harbinger of spring than the 

 SONG-SPARROW. When one hears its cheery song on a bright 

 March morning, he knows that the frost king is vanquished 

 and will soon retreat before the living armies that usher 

 gentle spring to the front. This bird is indeed u a hearty, 

 sunny songster, whose quivering pipe is often tuned to 

 the most dreary scenes." The typical form inhabits the 

 United States and Canada, while the western region has 

 several closely allied subspecies. It abounds in shrubbery 

 everywhere, along road-sides, fences, brooks, and swamps. 

 It winters in the Middle States and southward, some speci- 

 mens migrating north very early in spring, into those States 



