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 
