BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 309 
grass lands and cultivated fields. Many years ago, in West- 
borough, I found two nests of this species while hoeing in 
potato fields, and the birds were then common in a stretch 
of fertile rolling fields and meadows east of Worcester. 
It is never found habitually in meadows, however, like that 
closely related species, Henslow’s Sparrow; for, while the 
latter, so far as I have observed, always breeds in wet land, 
the Grasshopper Sparrow breeds on the slopes near by. I 
have never seen Henslow’s Sparrow on the drier land ex- 
cept near Amherst; and the Grasshopper Sparrow is rarely 
seen in wet spots, even where the two species occupy the 
same fields. While these two Sparrows are locally common, 
neither of them is generally so. They resemble each other 
so closely that it is rather difficult to distinguish them in the 
field except by their notes and their habitat. The streaks 
on the breast of the Henslow’s Sparrow will identify it when 
they can be seen. The notes, however, are quite different. 
The common note of the Henslow’s Sparrow somewhat re- 
sembles the syllable kee’ chick. When its nest is approached, 
the bird will allow the observer to get within a few feet, as 
it moves through the grass like a mouse, reiterating this note. 
The ordinary notes of the Grasshopper Sparrow are a chirr, 
like the note of an insect, and a sharp chick. The song, 
which is often uttered from the top of a wall, a fence, or a 
stone in the field, much resembles the stridulation of a long- 
horned grasshopper, and gives the bird its name. The lay is 
very weak, and often passes unnoticed, or is mistaken for the 
song of some insect. Minot gives it as chic’-chic’-a-séé, with 
the chief accent on the last and highest syllable, —a very 
good description. 
The food of this bird while in Massachusetts is probably 
about seventy-five per cent. animal matter, largely insects. 
This Sparrow is very destructive to cutworms, army worms, 
wireworms, click beetles, weevils, and grasshoppers ; spiders, 
myriapods, snails, and earthworms are eaten in small quanti- 
ties. It eats no cultivated fruit, very little grain, and some 
seeds of grasses and weeds. It takes fully forty times as 
many injurious as beneficial insects, and is one of the most 
useful birds of the fields. 
