228 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



is a short, simple, plaintive melody, delivered from a fence 

 post or low limb of a tree, often many times repeated from the 

 same perch. 



Food habits. — ^The food of this sparrow, as studied in the 

 Biological Survey, consisted of insects (31 per cent), grain 

 (11 per cent) , grass seed (16 per cent) , and weed seed (42 per 

 cent). Of the insect food, beetles, grasshoppers, and cater- 

 pillars form the largest part. Like most of its tribe, it is a 

 beneficial bird on the farm. 



SAVANNAH SPARROW: Passerctdus sandtoichensis 

 savanna (Wilson). 



State records. — The Savannah sparrow (fig. 14) is a com- 

 mon winter resident and in migration is often abundant. 

 Four or five were seen on Petit Bois Island, February 12, 

 1912, and several at Bayou Labatre, February 15, 1912, and 

 November 19, 1915. It is more common in the interior than 

 on the coast, having been observed at York (February), Carl- 

 ton (March), Uniontown (March), Auburn (March), Jack- 

 son (April 3, December 10), Barachias (December 12, April 

 24 to May 6), and Leighton (October 18 to April 30) . 



Migrants from the north arrive in the fall about the middle 

 of October and remain until the last of April. Stragglers may 

 be seen even in May, Dr. Avery having taken two at Greens- 

 boro, May 11, 1889. He notes the Savannah sparrow's arrival 

 there in autumn, October 18, 1888, and October 30, 1889. I 

 saw several at Fairhope, October 16, 1908. 



General habits. — ^This little sparrow is found in winter in 

 scattered companies in meadows and cultivated fields, where 

 it runs about like a mouse with lowered head and tail, and 

 when hard pressed flies only a short distance. It rarely seeks 

 a higher perch than a fence post or stone wall, from which it 

 delivers its weak, insectlike song — described by Hoffman as 

 tsip-tsip-tsip, tseeeee, tse-ee-ee. 



Food habits. — The food contents of 119 stomachs of this 

 bird examined in the Biological Survey consisted of 46 per 

 cent of animal matter (insects and their allies), and 54 per 

 cent vegetable (practically all seeds). Beetles constituted 

 the most important element of the insect food, having been 



