146 BIRDS OF OHIO. 



Cleveland. Mr. I. A, Field has found it not uncommon at 

 Granville and at Licking reservoir. It has not been report- 

 ed from the eastern third of the state, but may be found 

 there within a few years. 



This is one of the great grasshopper-eating sparrows. 

 During its stay it eats almost no grain, but does eat grass, 

 clover and weed seeds, and numbers of weevils, besides the 

 grasshoppers. It is therefore deserving of protection, and 

 should never be persecuted. 



It does not reach Ohio before the first of May,^ and is 

 gone again early in September. It must be looked for in 

 fields bordering woods, where it nests on the ground. 



302. (554.) ZoNOTRiCHiA LEucoPHRYS (Forst.). 99. 

 White-crowned Sparrow. 



Synonyms: Fringilla leucophrys, Emberiza leucophrys. 



White-browed Sparrow, White-browed Crowned Sparrow, 

 White-crowned Bunting. 

 Audubon, Orn. Biog., II, 1834, 88. 



There is little danger of confusing this with the next 

 species in the spring, but far more in the autumn when the 

 black head stripes of spring have given place to brown, and 

 the white is reduced to gray. A little careful attention will 

 discover the difference between them at any time. 



In Lorain county we look for the White-crowns in the 

 brush fringing woods. Sometimes the White-throats may 

 invade their favorite places, but I have never found them 

 invading the thickets which the White-throats regard their 

 own. This species is strictly migratory, and has never been 

 known to breed in Ohio, although Dr. Kirtland recorded 

 them in July, 1850, near Cleveland. 



While with us the food consists of vegetable matter three- 

 fourths to the animal matter one-fourth. Of the vegetable 

 matter but a small proportion is grain, and a good propor- 

 tion of that is probably waste. Some fruit is eaten during 

 the summer, but none during the southward journey, or 

 so little as to amount to nothing. The animal food is about 

 a third caterpillars, the rest being ants, wasps, beetles and 



