WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 175 



he has a plain gray breast, but in addition to this 

 has a handsome mark in the form of a snow-white 

 throat patch. (See Fig. 92, p. 176.) Instead of 

 the reddish brown cap of the Chippy, the White- 

 throat, when arrayed in his best has a handsome 

 black and white striped crown, but in a flock one 

 often sees many crowns that are brown and dingy 

 white instead of black and white. 



Unlike the domestic Chippy and Song Spar- 

 rows, the White-throat nests in the north or in 

 mountain districts, so that, while his whistle may 

 be heard by Adirondack and White Mountain 

 tourists during the summer, it is only a semi-an- 

 nual pleasure to most of us in the United States. 

 In this way we know the handsomely crowned 

 birds collectively rather than individually, for on 

 their migrations they always travel in flocks. 



As they go about in fall and winter, they do a 

 great deal of good by destroying weed seed, such 

 as ragweed, smart weed, and pigweed. In sum- 

 mer they also do good by eating ants, weevils, 

 currant worms, and leaf-eating beetles. But it 

 is hard to think of them in purely economic con- 

 nection, they are so associated with the pleasures 

 of early spring and early autumn when the gold- 

 enrod and asters brighten the dreamy Indian 

 Summer days. 



