296 USEFUL BIRDS. 



let {Panicum crus-galli), a wild barnyard grass or weed 

 improved by cultivation, is much sought by birds. The 

 seed is larger than that of most weeds, and yet a single 

 Sparrow will eat a large number in a day. During the hard 

 winter of 1903-04 about thirty Sparrows came to our window 

 to feed on this seed, which was there supplied to them. Sev- 

 eral hours of each morning and afternoon were thus spent. 

 As they were constantly moving and changing positions, it 

 was difficult to follow any one bird more than a few minutes 

 at a time ; nevertheless, some accurate figures were obtained 

 regarding the number of seeds eaten in a given time by cer- 

 tain birds. A Fox Sparrow ate one hundred and three seeds 

 in two minutes and forty-seven seconds. There were five 

 Juncos eating at about the same rate all this time. A Song 

 Sparrow ate thirty-four seeds in one minute, ten seconds ; 

 a Junco ate twenty-eight in forty-eight seconds ; another, 

 sixty-six in one minute, eleven seconds ; another, one hun- 

 dred and ten in three minutes, forty-five seconds ; while a 

 Song Sparrow ate one hundred and fifty-four in the same 

 length of time . This Song Sparrow had been eating for about 

 half an hour before the count began, and continued for some 

 time after it was finished. A Junco ate ninety-three seeds in 

 two minutes, fifteen seconds ; and another ate seventy-nine 

 in two minutes, twenty seconds. It is readily seen that 

 thirty seeds a minute was below the average for these birds ; 

 and if each bird ate at that rate for but a single hour each 

 day, he would destroy eighteen hundred seeds each day, or 

 twelve thousand, six hundred a week. There were many 

 days, when the ground was covered with snow, that certain 

 birds spent several hours each day eating seeds at my win- 

 dow. This we know, for there were but two Fox Sparrows 

 and two Song Sparrows in the neighborhood, and all four 

 were often at the window at the same time. Most of the 

 day the birds, when not at the window, were picking up such 

 seeds as they could get elsewhere from the weeds about the 

 place or from the chaff and hayseed provided.. They ate 

 more than a bushel of seed at the window, besides all the weed 

 seeds they found elsewhere. Moreover, they ate hayseed that 

 they picked up in the barn and sheds, and fine particles of 



