152 DAVET'S PRIMER 



THE SPARROWS. 



While sparrows are noted seed eaters, they do not by 

 any means confine themselves to a vegetable diet. Dur- 

 ing the summer, and especially in the breeding season, 

 they eat many insects, and feed their young largely 

 upon the same food. An examination of the stomachs 

 of three species the song sparrow, chipping sparrow, 

 and field sparrow shows that about one-third of the 

 food consists of insects, comprising many injurious 

 beetles, such as snout-beetles or weevils, and leaf- 

 beetles. Many grasshoppers are eaten. In the case of 

 the chipping sparrow, these insects form one-eighth of 

 the food. Grasshoppers would seem to be rather large 

 morsels, but the bird probably confines itself to the 

 smaller species ; indeed, this is indicated by the fact 

 that the greatest amount (over 36 per cent) is eaten in 

 June, when the larger species are still young and the 

 smaller most numerous. 



In zero weather they twitter and flutter and manifest 

 every evidence of enjoyment and perfect comfort. 

 If one of them is shot, it will be found in excellent con- 

 dition in fact, a veritable ball of fat. 



The snowbird and tree sparrow are perhaps the 

 most numerous of all the sparrows. 



Examination of many stomachs shows that in winter 

 the tree sparrow feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds. 

 Probably each bird consumes about one-fourth of an 

 ounce a day. In an article contributed in 1881 to 

 the New York Tribune the writer estimated the. 



