328 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



ble matter, practically all seeds. The Savanna, Ipswich, and 

 Grasshopper Sparrows, and, to a slighter degree, all other mem- 

 bers of the genus Ammodramus, are much more highly in- 

 sectivorous than other sparrows. They take equal rank in this 

 regard with such notable insect destroyers as the Catbird, Robin, 

 and Bluebird. With the Savanna Sparrow the distribution of 

 animal matter is as follows: Coleoptera, 15 per cent; Lepidoptera, 

 9 per cent; Orthoptera, 8 per cent; Hymenoptera, 5 per cent; 

 Hemiptera, 2 per cent; Diptera and miscellaneous insects, 4 per 

 cent; and spiders, with a few snails, 3 per cent. 



" This sparrow appears to be the greatest eater of beetles of 

 all the sparrow family. Beetles constitute the most important 

 element of its animal food, and are eaten during every month in 

 which stomachs were obtained, though, of course, in very small 

 quantities during the winter months." 



" The character of the vegetable food shows the Savanna 

 Sparrow to be a great consumer of grass seeds. It is not harmful 

 to grainfields, however, as the grain taken amounts to only about 

 I per cent of the food, and this consists almost entirely of waste 

 wheat and oats. During August, a month in which birds ex- 

 hibit a great liking for a cereal diet, a number of Savanna 

 Sparrows were collected from oat and barley fields, but their 

 stomachs contained nothing but insects. Grass seed, largely 

 pigeon-grass (ChcBtochloa) and panic-grass (Panicum) , amounts 

 to 31 per cent of the food. Other seeds, mainly such weed seeds 

 as are taken by the Vesper Sparrow, make up practically all of 

 the remaining 22 per cent of the vegetable matter, the only ex- 

 ception being a few blueberries found in one of the stomachs. 



" It appears from this examination that the Savanna Sparrow 

 is an exceedingly valuable bird. During the winter, when it is 

 most granivorous, more than half of its food consists of weed 

 seeds; and from May to August, when it is most insectivorous, 

 beneficial insects form only 3 per cent of the food, while insects 

 of the injurious ■ class amount to 45 per cent." ( Judd, " The 

 Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture.") 



About the Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum 

 australis) Dr. Judd writes, " The Grasshopper Sparrow received 

 its name because of the character of its song, which closely re- 

 sembles the stridulation of the long-horned grasshopper; but 



