An Observation on the Feeding Habits of 

 the Chipping Sparrow 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED 



IT is now generally acknowledged that birds are of 

 great importance as checks upon insect life. 

 The studies made by several American investi- 

 gators upon the food of birds have shown beyond 

 all doubt that these feathered allies of the farmer 

 are essential to successful agriculture. 



In the investigations yet recorded there have 

 been comparatively few observations of the pre- 

 cise daily feeding habits of birds under natural 

 conditions. This is necessarily so because of the 

 difficulty of making such observations. In this short bulletin 

 I wish to record a series of observations made during one 

 long day in June (the zzd) by my assistant, Mr. W. F. Fiske, 

 and myself upon a family of chippmg sparrows {^Spizella 

 socialis) that had nested in a small juniper near a window 

 from inside of which they could easily be watched. The nest 

 contained three young sparrows, so nearly full grown that they 

 hopped out of the nest the second day after these records 

 were made. 



The observations began at 3 : 40 a.m., somewhat before full 

 daylight. The bird was then on the nest and remained there 

 quietly for ten minutes. From this I judged that the daily 

 task had not yet begun, it being too dark before 3 140 for even 

 the early worm to be seen. Between 3 : 50 and 3 : 55 the bird 

 left the nest, returning at 3 : 57 with a small object, apparently 

 a piece of earthworm, in its beak. Three hungry looking 

 mouths were widely opened, into one of which the morsel was 



