128 



BULLETIN 326, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



minutes. They sing occasionally even as late as August, but not so much as 

 earlier in the summer. 



They nest from May to August (Bowdish records a nest at Aguadilla June 16, 

 1900), and it would appear that two broods are raised. Their ground-haunting 

 habits and nests lay them open to attacks of the mongoose and doubtless many 

 are destroyed. The last of July, near Bayamon, one immature bird in fresh fall 

 plumage was taken, but most of the young were then in juvenile dress. The 

 adults were very worn at that time, some of them having the rectrices much 

 abraded or even broken, but they were not molting. Here another song was 

 heard, a series of low twittering notes, even harder to locate than the other, 

 while the call note was a scolding tsip. The young birds, now shifting for them- 

 selves, were common along the gravel bars in the stream, sometimes perching, 

 two or three together, in low weeds, and acting more curious than afraid. 



Food,. — Thirty-two stomachs of the grasshopper sparrow were at hand for 

 examination, collected in May, July, and August. Animal food forms 65.9 per 

 cent and vegetable 34.1 per cent, these figures corresponding very closely to what 

 is known of the food of allied subspecies in the north. Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, 

 and Coleoptera form the bulk of the animal food and seeds of grass and other 

 plants compose the vegetable portion. 



Animal food. — Two birds had eaten nymphs of the mole cricket (0.25 per 

 cent), and crickets seem to be favorite food, as they were found in seven 

 stomachs, and at Bayamon a female was feeding a large cricket {Anurogryllus 

 muticus) to her young. Grasshoppers were noticed in four stomachs and 

 Orthoptera as a whole occurred in 17 birds, constituting 24.82 per cent of the 

 total. Lantern flies were eaten seven times and come to 1.28 per cent and other 

 Homoptera, all small species, to 1.48 per cent. Stinkbugs in four instances and 

 a few fragments of other bugs constitute 3.75 per cent. Leaf beetles (5.3 per 

 cent) were favorites with the grasshopper sparrow and many were eaten. A 

 striped flea-beetle (Systena oasalis), a species destructive to all small garden 

 crops and vegetables, was found in 12 stomachs. A tortoise beetle was taken 

 twice, a bean leaf -beetle (Cerotoma denticomis) once, and a Diabrotica once. 

 Scarred-snout beetles (0.87 per cent) were eaten four times and include one 

 cane root-borer (Diaprepes spengleri) . Curculios amount to 2.25 per cent and 

 miscellaneous weevil remains to 0.25 per cent. Small fragments of other Coleop- 

 tera total 0.97 per cent. One carabid was eaten. All of these hard-shelled 

 insects were very finely ground in the stomachs of this bird. 



Remains of Hymenoptera (1.33 per cent) were in nine instances those of ants, 

 and in two the fragments of small parasitic species. Twenty-one birds had 

 eaten caterpillars, and one a moth, all coming to 14.8 per cent. Spider remains 

 in eight stomachs amount to 7.75 per cent, and other animal matter, bits of a 

 snail, insect eggs, and unidentified material, come to 0.8 per cent. 



A list of identified animal matter follows : 



ORTHOPTERA. 



Scapteriscus didactylus 2 



HEMIPTERA. 



Ormenis sp 2 



Corixa sp 2 



COLEOPTERA. 



Cerotoma denticomis 1 



Diabrotica graminea 1 



coleoptera — continued. 



Systena basalis 12 



Coptocycla signifera 2 



Platydema sp 2 



Diaprepes spengleri 1 



Lachnopus sp 1 



Euscepes porcellus 1 



HYMENOPTERA. 



Solenopsis geminata 2 



Plieidole suoarmata oorinquensis 1 



