FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIRDS '* 51 



The Sparrows. 



To essay the task of describing in even the briefest manner the 

 food-habits of our thirty different species of native Sparrows is a very 

 difficult undertaking. Already, in the opening paragraph of this chapter, 

 some of the general marks of this family have been set forth. It now 

 becomes necessary to take up this family and study the various members 

 of it in a more detailed fashion. This family of thirty members may 

 be divided into three groups the first group containing eight species 

 of rather brightly colored finches, the second containing sixteen species 

 of very plain striped birds, and the last containing six species of Gros- 

 beaks and their near allies. This arbitrary classification is for con- 

 venience only and has no particular basis in morphological relation- 

 ships. This first group includes the rare Pine Grosbeak, which has 

 rarely been seen in West Virginia; the somewhat erratic Purple Finch, 

 found almost any place in the State during the winter, but only in the 

 mountains in nesting time; the American and White-winged Crossbills, 

 both of which are rare, the last especially so; the northern Ked-poll 

 which has. been seen in this State only once; the almost omnipresent 

 Goldfiinch which is distributed so generally throughout the State in 

 summer and remains in some sections during the winter months; the 

 peregrine Pine Siskin, which is abundant during some autumn migra- 

 tions, and at other times may not occur for a number of years; and 

 that rare white bird of the far north, the Snowflake. The second group 

 embraces such plainly marked birds as the Vesper Sparrow, Savannah 

 Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, 

 White-throated Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Field Spar- 

 row, Slate-colored Junco, Carolina Junco, Bachman's Sparrow, Song 

 Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and Fox Sparrow. Some 

 of these are rare and others are most abundant. The last group 

 is made up of the generally distributed Towhee or Chewink, which is 

 to be found In every part of the State; the gorgeous Cardinal or "Red- 

 bird," the well-named Rose-breasted Grosbeak, found in most parts of 

 the State only in migration seasons, but nests in the mountains; the very 

 rare Blue Grosbeak which I have never seen, though it has been ob- 

 served by others within our State lines; the very common Indigo bird; 

 and the vanishing Dickcissel. This is the complete list of our Sparrows. 



The Food of Sparrows. 



While some of the Sparrows have food-habits that are exclusively 

 their own, there is a great similarity in the food that is eaten by all 

 the members of this family. In the main it consists of insects in the 

 summer and weed seeds in the winter. Of course some species feed, 

 to some extent, upon fruit, and others vary their diet slightly with 

 various things, yet nearly all of the thirty species of Sparrows feed upon 

 insects in the summer and weed seeds in the fall and winter. Such 

 species as the Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, the Crossbills and Red- 

 poll feed largely upon the seeds of trees, especially such as grow in the 

 evergreen forests of the north. The Purple Finch often feeds upon the 



