30 THE RELATION OF SPARROWS TO AGRICULTURE. 



pasture; and a pair each of white-throated sparrows and juncos in a 

 moist lowland meadow jnst below the pasture. The last-mentioned 

 birds appeared to come into contact with the cultivated crops of the 

 farm less than any of the others, and seemed less naturally placed 

 than some scores of other white-throats and juncos that nested about 

 1,000 feet higher up the mountain. When the nesting season was 

 over and all the birds became more gregarious, field and chipping 

 sparrows were observed in the pigeon-grass that had overspread the 

 vegetable garden near the house; both of these species and vesper 

 sparrows along the hayfield fence, with juncos just beyond the fence; 

 and song sparrows, white-throats, and a few white-crowns in the moist 

 meadow. The last three species later (the first week in October) 

 entered the vegetable garden. 



In a count of the individuals found within a radius of 5 miles from 

 the farm as a center, made during the seventy-five days from July 18 

 to September 20, song sparrows were noted 139 times, chipping spar- 

 rows 138 times, field sparrows 113 times, vesper sparrows 73 times, 

 white-throats 58 times, and juncos 39 times. Care was taken not to 

 count the same individual twice in a d'dy. 



The chief interest in these observations is their comparison with 



much more extended and thorough studies pursued on a farm at 



Marshall Hall, Md., which has been frequently visited during the 



past five or six years. This farm, as has been mentioned, is situated 



upon the level, alluvial bluff of the Potomac, directly opposite Mount 



Vernon, Va. On the brink of the bluff stand, at intervals along 



several hundred yards of sandy road, a farmhouse, a horse barn, a 



cow barn, and a negro cabin. Mowing land, pasture lots, and fields 



where corn, wheat, and tobacco are grown, extend back from the river 



I for a third of a mile. Out in the arable land is a storage barn. 



I Between this barn and the river runs a bushy ditch that courses almost 



' parallel to the river for the greater part of its length and then turns 



I to empty into it by means of a swampj^ timbered outlet beyond the 



I negro cabin. 



' On these two farms, so different In feature — one beside a Southern 



' river, the other on a slope of a New England mountain — the same 



I characteristics are found to mark the habitats of the various spar- 



I rows. In summer, song sparrows live in the swampy outlet of the 



I ditch, all along the beach of the river, and in a wet blind gully cut 



into the bluff just above the farmhouse, but frequentlj^ leave their 



j almost aquatic habitat and ascend to the top of the locust-fringed 



I bluff in order to forage in the road and about the buildings for kinds 



of food not plentiful along the river shore. Chipping sparrows breed 



! about all the buildings of the farm, but have never been observed on 



' the beach or in the swampy indentations of the shore line. Several 



nest in a pear orchard hundreds of yards distant from any waterway. 



Field sparrows rear their young upon poor, worn-out land of the farm, 



