312 USEFUL BIRDS. 



where. It is not a dooryard bird, like the Chipping Spar- 

 row or Song Sparrow, but prefers upland fields, hill pastures, 

 and plowed lands, at some distance from the farm buildings. 

 It is sometimes seen in vegetable gardens. 



It is not so closely confined to the ground as some other 

 ground Sparrows, but perches on ridgepoles, wires, and 

 trees. It frequently runs along the ground in pastures or 

 potato fields, keeping just ahead of the observer as he walks. 

 When the female is startled from her nest of young, she uses 

 all her arts to entice the intruder away, fluttering along the 

 ground with white-bordered tail spread conspicuously, and 

 dragging her wings as if sorely wounded, — a tempting bait 

 to lead the disturber away. The white outer feathers in the 

 tail are not often clearly visible when the bird is standing, 

 but usually may be seen when it flies. 



The song of this bird, while perhaps less cheery than that 

 of the Song Sparrow, is sweeter, and seems to carry farther 

 as it floats down from the hills after sunset. The bird some- 

 times sings to greet the rising moon, and even flutters into 

 the air, like the Skylark, with an exquisite burst of song. 

 Mr. Burroughs has well named it the Vesper Sparrow. The 

 ordinary notes are the usual Sparrow-like chips and calls. 



In summer most of the food of this bird consists of in- 

 sects, of which beetles and grasshoppers form the bulk. 

 Since it frequents pastures, it picks up many dung beetles; 

 weevils, click beetles, ground beetles, and leaf beetles seem 

 otherwise to be preferred to other kinds. Grasshoppers 

 form the principal food in midsummer; cutworms are also 

 eaten, and the bird does good work as an insect eater in 

 field and garden. It is also useful as a destroyer of weed 

 seeds, eating less grass seed than some other Sparrows, but 

 a great variety of the seeds of weeds which it finds in corn- 

 fields and other fields, and in gardens. 



BLACKBIRDS, GRACKLES, ETC. 



This family has been mentioned on p. 224, and one of its 

 members, the Baltimore Oriole, has been described among 

 the birds of orchard and woodland (see pp. 224-228). 



The Rusty Grackle is a mere migrant through the State 



