No. 2O.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 311 



amount of benefit to the gardens they favor with their presence. 

 At the same time they are entirely innocent of injury to crops of 

 any description, and I cannot find that any accusations or ex- 

 pressions of suspicion have been raised against them. They seem 

 to be, therefore, general favorites, and, whenever protected, 

 evince their appreciation of this good will by their familiarity and 

 numbers." (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, " North American 

 Birds.") 



FINCHES, SPARROWS, GROSBEAKS, etc. 

 Fringillidai 



With this family we meet the small birds that throng our 

 woods, fields, gardens, and hedges, and without whose presence 

 it has been calculated agriculture could not continue, as cultivated 

 crops would be either destroyed by insects or choked by a waste 

 of weeds. " In nearly every case where the food habits of our 

 birds have been carefully studied, do we find that the good done 

 far exceeds the possible harm that might be inflicted by our birds. 

 Allowing twenty-five insects per day as an average diet for each 

 individual bird, and estimating that we have about one and one- 

 half birds to the acre, or in round numbers 75,000,000 birds in 

 Nebraska, there would be required 1,875, 000,000 insects f r eacn 

 day's rations. Again, estimating the number of insects required 

 to fill a bushel at 120,000, it would take 15,625 bushels of insects 

 to feed our birds for a single day, or 937,500 bushels for 60 days, 

 or 2,343,750 bushels for 150 days." (Bruner, Special Bulletin, 

 University of Nebraska, No. 3.) 



The Sparrows help chiefly in keeping down the weeds, as 

 the largest part of their food during most of the year consists 

 of the seeds of these pests to the cultivator. " Sparrows are 

 well known and have figured frequently in ornithological litera- 

 ture, but the position they occupy in relation to agriculture has 

 heretofore received only casual consideration. It is evident that 

 a group of birds so abundant, so widely distributed, and in such 

 constant association with farms and gardens must play an im- 

 portant part in rural economy, and that a thorough investigation 

 of their food habits should be useful. The results of such an in- 

 vestigation are embodied in the present paper, and amply demon- 



