POOD HABITS OF SOME WINTER BIRD VISITANTS. 



27 



Animal Food. 



Acridiidae (grasshoppers). 



Melanoplus sp 



Elateridae (wireworms). 



Limonius sp 



Tenebrionidae ( darkling-beetles) . 



Blapstinus sp 1 



McCOWN LONGSPUR (Rhynchophanes mccowni). 33 



The McCown longspur has a breeding and wintering range very 

 similar to that of the chestnut-collared longspur. Little information 

 is at hand regarding its food, as only 19 stomachs from four States 

 and 1 from Saskatchewan were available for examination. All were 

 collected in the months from April to October inclusive. 



The following are the percentages of the various food items found : 

 Beetles, largely weevils, 7.26 ; grasshoppers, 6.53 ; other insects, 5.79 ; 

 grass seeds, 10; sedge seeds, 25.16; pigweed, 1.37; sunflower, 10.63; 

 wheat, 15.53 ; other seeds, 16.16 ; and vegetable debris, 1.57. The total 

 animal matter was 19.58 per cent and the vegetable matter 80.42 

 per cent. 



Food items of the McCoion longspur, identified to the genus or species, as deter- 

 mined by the examination of 19 stomachs. 



[The figures indicate the number of stomachs in which the items were found.] 



Vegetable Food. 



Poaceae. 



Chaetochloa viridis (green 

 foxtail) 1 



Bouteloua sp. (grama) 1 



Stipa sp. (feathergrass) 1 



Triticum aestivum (wheat) 4 



Cyperaceae. 



Carex sp. (sedge) 6 



Chenopodiaceae. 



Chenopodium sp. (goosefoot)_ 5 

 Amaranthaceae. 



Amaranthus sp. (pigweed) 4 



Polygonaceae. 



Polygonum convolvulus (bind- 

 weed) 1 



Boraginaceae. 



Lithospermum sp. (puccoon)_ 1 

 Ambrosiaceae. 



Ambrosia sp. (ragweed) 1 



Asteraceae. 



Helianthus sp. (sunflower) 4 



Animal Food. 



Scarabaeidae (dung-beetles). 



Aphodius sp 2 



COMMON PIPIT (Anthus spinoletta rabescem). 



(Plate V.) 



The common pipit, a small ground-loving bird, in appearance sug- 

 gesting a warbler, breeds in the mountains and the far North and 

 appears in varying numbers throughout most of the United States 

 during migration and in winter. Examinations were made of 301 

 stomachs, of which 284 contained enough food to be used in this 

 study. These were taken in 26 States, the District of Columbia, 

 Alaska, and Canada, every month of the year being represented. 

 Unlike the other birds thus far discussed in this bulletin, the pipit 

 was found to be largely insectivorous, 84.67 per cent of its food being 

 of animal origin and only 15.33 per cent vegetable. 



32 See footnote 21, on page 26. 



