SPARROWS IN THE FIELD. 35 



orchard, roadside, and far out iu ploughed land and stubble-fields; 

 song sparrows frequent gully, thicket, bluff, and river shore, and 

 make foraj^s into garden and field; field sparrows are found in waste 

 land and cornfield, and at times in garden and haj^field, and vesper 

 and grasshopper sparrows far afield in the midst of grass and other 

 crops. Each renders important service, and all together, by supple- 

 menting one another, are of very great value to the farmer. 



In their regular feeding habits sparrows and other birds are con- 

 stantly engaged in keeping the flood of insect life within bounds, 

 each, as here shown, having its own separate field of work; but 

 when, as sometimes happens, any particular kind of insect overflows 

 its usual limits and threatens to disturb the normal distribution, all 

 the birds often seem to abandon temporarily their accustomed fields 

 and unite in overcoming the invasion. Two instances of this kind 

 came under observation on the Marshall Hall farm. In 1895 the 

 locust leaf-mining beetles {Odontota dorsalis) became overabundant 

 and turned the beautiful green of the locusts fringing the bluff into 

 an unsighth' brown. All the birds, including the sparrows, ate thes-e 

 beetles freel}" and constantly, and largely aided, by their united 

 attack, in reducing the beetles in number to such an extent that the}^ 

 have not appeared subsequently in sufficient force to rex^eat the dam- 

 age. Again, during May, 1899, the May-flies, which emerged from the 

 river, became a plague, alighting upon, the farm buildings and literally 

 covering them, frightening the horses, annoying the workmen, and 

 infesting the farmhouse in such swarms that it was well-nigh unin- 

 habitable. Practically all the birds of the farm fed on them, and 

 in a large measure reared their j^oung upon them, and by this means 

 reduced them to their normal level. Maj^-flies do not ordinarily 

 become obnoxiousl}^ abundant, but when the}' do even their function 

 in furnishing subsistence to valuable food fishes does not save them 

 from being ranked as pests, the destruction of which is beneficial. 



In order to stud}' the feeding liabits of sparrows during cool 

 weather, the Marshall Hall farm was visited in the middle of Novem- 

 ber, 1899, when heav}' frosts whitened the ground eveiy morning. 

 The chipiDing sparrows and grasshopper sparrows had left for warmer 

 latitudes, but in their places were throngs of tree sparrows, white- 

 throated sparrows, j uncos, and fox sparrows, which had come doAvn 

 from the north. A few savanna sparrows were also noted. Field 

 sparrows were present in fully as large numbers as they had been 

 during the breeding season, while song sparrovv's appeared even 

 more abundant. The sparrow famil}-, as a whole, was several times 

 more numerous than it had been during the summer. 



The several species were extremeh' shy, and nearl}^ all kept very 

 close to cover, in marked contrast with their comparative indifference 

 during the breeding season. Hedgerows or other shelter seemed 

 usually essential to their presence, and but for the bushy ditch and 



