THE FINCHES AND SPARROWS. 141 



breast of brilliant yellow. Most sparrows are gregarious, but 

 dickcissels move about in pairs or little family groups. In 

 many places they are so numerous that a score of individuals 

 may be found in every hay-field and meadow ; and the species 

 is as characteristic of such localities as the robin is of the New 

 England lawn, or the mocking-bird of the Florida plantation. 

 The song consists of a series of monotonous insect notes, re- 

 peated incessantly from early morn to late afternoon, resembling 

 somewhat the heat-suggestive tones of the grasshopper." 



The food of the dickcissel is especially noteworthy on 

 account of the grasshoppers and crickets eaten : in summer 

 these constitute more than half its dietary. The vegetable 

 food consists of the seeds of weeds and grasses. 



In the shrubbery along the borders of woodlands one may 

 often see a black bird with chestnut sides skulking from bush 

 to bush or scratching the leaf-covered soil. This is the Che- 

 wink, or Towhee Bunting, one of the larger finches, which is 

 common in the eastern United States and Canada. It is 

 migratory ; its nest is placed upon the ground, and two 

 broods of young are reared each season. Its food consists 

 of small seeds, grains, and fruits, as well as many insects ; 

 among the latter are included moths, beetles, ants, wasps, 

 and ichneumon-flies, cockroaches, grasshoppers, walking-sticks 

 and their eggs, besides larvae of many kinds. The young 

 are fed upon insects similar to those eaten by the adults. 



The beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeak is especially noted 

 for its destruction of Colorado potato-beetles. Observers in 

 Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other States have repeatedly no- 

 ticed this habit, which in some localities has given the species 

 the name of "potato-bug bird." The following sentences 

 from the pen of Professor F. E.. L. Beal illustrate its economic 

 value : " The rose-breasted grosbeak feeds upon the Colo- 

 rado potato-beetle in all its stages. I observed this habit in 

 central Iowa, and noticed that it became each year more 



