The White-Throated Sparrow 173 



often during fine nights, I have heard the Httle creatures emit, here and there 

 a twit, as if to assure each other that all 's well." 



There are some birds whose food-supply consists entirely of one special 

 kind of article. For example we can hardly imagine a Cormorant, Pelican, 

 Osprey, or Kingfisher engaged in consuming any food other than fish. Swal- 

 lows and Swifts eat insects that they capture while in full flight. To secure 

 such a diet it is therefore necessary for them to travel long distances twice a 

 year to reach lands where the insect-life they desire may be obtained. With 

 Sparrows, however, we find that quite a different condition exists. They are 

 not fitted for capturing fish, like the Pelican or Osprey, but they do eat almost 

 any kind of food that is available. 



In the fall of the year White-throated Sparrows consume many berries 

 which they pick off the vines and berry-producing trees. They collect, also, 

 the seeds of those berries that, dried or decayed, fall to the ground. Not long 

 ago I watched for a time a flock of fourteen of these Sparrows feeding on the 

 red berries of a little tree growing in a park. I have not been able to learn the 

 name of the tree, but the berries it produces are evidently very choice from 

 the standpoint of the birds. Some of the Sparrows were busily employed in 

 picking off and eating the fruit. Others, perhaps early comers, were already 

 satisfied, and in a bunchy, rufiled-up kind of attitude, sat very still and ap- 

 peared to take no note of the sounds of banqueting going on all about them. 

 It was only when a vagrant cat appeared on the hillside near by that these 

 drowsy fellows exhibited signs of returning animation. 



In collecting weed-seeds the birds hop about among the vines or tall weeds 

 and carefully search through the debris on the ground. When the earth is 

 strewn with fallen leaves and these are dry, the rattling, rustling noise of a 

 flock of feeding Whitethroats may lead one to think a Grouse family is advan- 

 cing along the ground. Whitethroats fly up and alight on the sides of ragweeds, 

 and, fluttering there, they pick at the seeds that have not yet dropped. I 

 have seen slender, brittle weed-stalks break off in such circumstances, when 

 down would come weed-stalk, birdie and all. It may readily be seen that these 

 birds are valuable to the farmer who spends most of his summer trying with 

 hoe and plow to keep the weeds from overrunning his crops. For this reason 

 laws for their protection have been passed in all the states where this Sparrow 

 is found. 



Among migratory birds, the exclusive insect-eaters are among the first, as 

 a rule, to leave their northern homes in autumn, while those that are more 

 omnivorous in their feeding-habits usually linger until the winter is fairly upon 

 them. Many of the Whitethroats do not depart untfl November, and, in 

 fact, numerous flocks remain all winter as far north as New Jersey and Ohio. 

 Some indeed are often seen throughout the winter at points even north of this 

 region. In suitable localities all over the South, as far as the Gulf of Mexico, 

 they pass the colder months. Here they thrive and grow fat and at times are 



