11 



where they literally cram themselves with the seeds, and put 

 on fat rapidly.' These birds are so full of seeds in the fall or 

 winter that often if one is shot, held up by the feet and shaken, 

 the seeds will flow from its mouth. These seeds are almost 

 never passed whole through the alimentary canal of the bird 

 and left to germinate when dropped in the excreta; but they are 

 first hulled by the beak and then ground up by the tough, giz- 

 zard-like stomach, and their nutritious parts are thoroughly 

 digested. 



The goldfinch, which remains with us throughout the winter, 

 is often seen clinging to the tops of the weeds, taking the seeds 

 directly from the plant. More or less of this kind of work is 

 done by redpolls, siskins and crossbills. The tree sparrows 

 also feed largely by alighting on the plants and pecking off the 

 seeds. The juncos and song sparrows take more of the seeds 

 from the ground after they have fallen. These birds and the 

 fox sparrows also scratch away the fallen leaves or grasses to 

 get at seeds buried beneath them. 



Where native sparrows are numerous in the fall, winter and 

 early spring, they destroy nearly all the weed seeds to be found. 

 This is well shown by Dr. Judd, in his admirable report on the 

 relation of sparrows to agriculture. On a Maryland farm in 

 1896 he found sparrows swarming during the month of De- 

 cember. In a tangle of smartweed the ground was literally 

 black with seeds which had been cracked open by the birds 

 and the meat removed. In a rectangular space eighteen inches 

 square were found 1,130 such remains of seeds and only 2 whole 

 seeds. The birds fed in the locality well into May, and no 

 smartweed grew the ensuing year where the birds had caused this 

 extensive destruction. 1 



Prof. F. E. L. Beal, who has perhaps made as extensive 

 studies of the food of birds as any one now living, estimates 

 that the tree sparrows in the State of Iowa eat 875 tons of weed 

 seed each winter, and he allows only 10 birds to the square 

 mile. 2 



Good farmers are supposed to grow no weeds; but any 

 one travelling through Massachusetts in August or September 



1 Bulletin No. 15, Division Biological Survey, United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, p. 28. 



Farmers' Bulletin No. 54, United States Department of Agriculture, p. 28 (1897). 



