SPARROWS IN THE FIELD. 3"7' 



Some interesting notes on the feeding haiMts of^ si)arrows were 

 obtained through these autumnal visits. Out in a cornfield, farther 

 from cover than many of the birds would venture, a flock of juncos 

 was found picking from the ground the fallen seeds of the pigeon-grass 

 which had overspread the field. Beside the road along the bluff,, 

 where there was a fringe of Virginia wild rye (Elymus virginicus) and', 

 tall redtop {Sieglingia sesleroides), juncos were also observed eating; 

 the seeds of these grasses in company with white- throated and song;" 

 sparrows. They picked up most of the seeds from the ground, but 

 took a few from the stalk. Where the seeds were covered hj fallen 

 leaves they scratched the leaves away, unlike crows, which use their 

 large beaks in such cases. The same three species were grouped 

 together in a wheat-stubble field which had grown up to ragweed, 

 where they were securing the ragweed akenes that had dropped to 

 the ground. These birds were watched with a powerful field glass 

 and were seen to crack the akenes, drop the dry shells, and swallow 

 the meat}^ part, a process that clearly precluded any subsequent g(^- , 

 mination. On the bare knoll already mentioned was a growth of :^^4~- - 

 sheathed rush grass {Sporoholus vaginceflorus) and poverty grass ■, 

 {Aristida), and here field and tree sparrows were scattered abQj^,|}; the , 

 ground feeding on the fallen seeds of these grasses. 



One or two of the fields were overgrown with broom sedge, the seed- . 

 buoying plumes of which, when lighted up by the low sun, gave a 

 frost-like brilliancy to the reddish straw-colored mass beneath. Field , 

 sparrows and tree sparrows were also found here, and as they swayedi 

 on the tops of the stalks, taking seed after seed, they would disengage^ 

 the light plumes, which would float away empty. Sometimes the birds, 

 on alighting on the plants would bend them to the ground and wouM 

 hold them down with their feet as they picked out the seeds,^ but nofe 

 often would they otherwise feed from the ground. 



Out in the middles of the fields of a dozen acres; or more a few 

 savanna sparrows were observed, which, with ten or twelve quail and 

 Mty or sixty meadowlarks, were busily reducing the weed harvest. 

 Vesper sparrows were sometimes associated with them and seemed 

 equalty independent of shelter. Apart from these there were few 

 that fed far from cover, the juncos in the cornfield and the field and 

 tree sparrows in the broom-sedge growth, which sometimes were found 

 50 to 75 yards afield, forming practically the only exceptions. a 



The white-throated, fox, and song sparrows undoubtedly fed ^n-i 

 wild fruits, but it was very difficult to observe them in the acj^^,^ A\ 

 flock composed of these species was observed in a tangle of vit^s^that , 

 grew along the bluff'. Several white-throated sparrows w(^^ noted i 

 ascending high up into a butternut tree entwined with wot^^bine and i 

 wild grape and feeding in company with a flock of ceda^r birds on the ) 

 fruits of these two vines. Another white-throat was^seen to eat a^, 

 pokeberry, and a song sparrow a berry from a woodbine which, himg^- 



