SPAEROWS IN THE FIELD. 29 



expected. Still this percentage, Avhen compared with the percentages 

 found in the cases of some other birds, is no mean showing. The red- 

 winged blackbird's is less than 20 percent, the catbird's bnt 16 per- 

 cent, the cowbird's 13 percent, and the crow blackbird's only 10 

 percent. 



But as weed destroyers, the native sparrows are unrivaled. In a 

 garden within two months they will sometimes destroy 90 percent 

 of such weeds as pigeon-grass and ragweed. After they have con- 

 sumed most of these seeds they turn to those of other weeds, which 

 furnish them with a bountiful supply of food all through the winter 

 and even well into the spring. Weed seed forms more than half of 

 their food for the entire year, and during the colder half of the year 

 it constitutes about four-fifths of the food of many species. 



When the food of the native sparrows is divided into the three 

 classes mentioned on page 16, the neutral part proves to be small, 

 not exceeding a third of all that is eaten; the injurious part very 

 small; and the beneficial part much larger than diat of most birds, 

 and from five to ten times as great as the injurious part. We may 

 therefore safely conclude that, as a class, these small birds are well 

 worthy of our protection. 



SPARROWS IN THE FIELD. 



Much individuality is shown by birds in the selection of their par- 

 ticular habitats. Some species, like the meadowlark and the prairie 

 chicken, live out in the open; others, such as the catbird and the 

 brown thrasher, prefer to dwell in close proximity to suitable shelter; 

 and still others, like the bobwhite, are fond of the ojjen, but never- 

 theless require the presence of cover at no great distance. A similar 

 diiference in habitat prevails among the several species of sparrows, 

 which renders them more or less complementary to one another in 

 their work. 



Through the kindness of Mr. J. S. Russell, of Boston, I was enabled 

 to make some observations during 1892 on a New England farm near 

 the base of Mount Chocorua, one of the southern peaks of the White 

 Mountains. These investigations were made with a view to ascertain- 

 ing the character of the localities selected as nesting sites by difi'erent 

 species and the extent of territory covered by each in securing food 

 for itself and young; also to learn what ground was covered after the 

 nesting period had passed. The results may be briefly summarized. 

 A chipping sparrow was found nesting in a lilac spray over the farm- 

 house door and feeding in the dooryard, with an occasional foraging 

 trip into a road leading through an adjoining pasture; a field sparrow 

 nested in the briery lower end of this pasture ; a song sparrow, in a 

 marshy spot about 30 yards from the field sparrow's nest; a vesper 

 sparrow, in a hayfield above the pasture, feeding there and in the 



3507— No. 15—01 3 



