38 THE EELATIOK OF SPAEEOWS TO AGEICULTUEE. 



SO low as almost to touch the ground. That several species of spar- 

 rows feed on berry seeds has been shown by stomach examination, 

 and this habit may account in a measure for the birds' spending much 

 of the time among such tangled thickets of fruiting plants. 



A heav}^ fall of snow on Februarj' 17, 1900, made jDossible the studj^ 

 of the feeding habits of sparrows under typical winter conditions. 

 Unfortunately it was not feasible to visit the farm on which observa- 

 tions had thus far been made, but a neighboring farm on the same 

 bluff afforded ample opportunity for investigations. Here much of 

 the land is given up to market gardens and orchards, with a conse- 

 quent sui^erfluit}^ of weeds, which, with the admirable cover afforded 

 b}^ two slightly timbered bushy brooks that converge to enter the river 

 in a swamp3^ outlet, furnishes a good locality for sparrows. 



Between the two brooks, in a potato field grown up to ragweed, ama 

 ranth, and lamb's-quarters, a score of tree sparrows, song sparrows, 

 and j uncos were busily feeding. Most of the ragweed akenes lay 

 buried under a foot of snow, very few clinging to the stalks. An 

 abundance of the seeds of lamb's-quarters and amaranth was, how- 

 ever, available. The birds seemed to prefer the ragweed, but they 

 also ate large quantities of the others. While some fed from the tips 

 of sprays, others hopped about on the snow and picked from the lower 

 branches. So thick were bird tracks in the snow in one part of the 

 field that in a space 50 yards square it would have been difficult to 

 find msbuy places a square yard in extent that were untracked hy the 

 tiny feet. Mouse tracks were also noticed, but these were so few that 

 the extensive destruction of seeds shown by the amount of chaffy 

 debris on the snow was evidently due almost entirely to the sparrows. 



The tree sparrows were the most habitual stalk feeders. They 

 pitched down here and there in flocks to feed on the seeds of the 

 straw-colored broom sedge (Andropogon virginicus)^ and then would 

 journey on, sometimes half a mile, till they came to another patch of 

 the same grass. They often picked from every stalk before passing 

 on to other feeding grounds. Frequentlj^ two birds would be seen 

 feeding from a single stalk, while a third would be hopping in the 

 snow below searching for seeds shaken down or accidently dropped. 

 The snow was blowing in clouds across the fields and these northern 

 birds seemed more at home in their wintrj^ surroundings than any of 

 the other sparrows. This adaptability to snowy conditions makes 

 them extremely useful in supplementing the work of other birds which 

 are not habitually stalk feeders, and which, therefore, must be less 

 efficient weed-seed consumers when the ground is covered with snow. 



It was exxjected that the snow would force all the sparrows to stalk 

 feeding, but such was not the case. Most of them fed, in company 

 with cardinals, doves, and meadowlarks on the bare bluff, which was 

 swept clear of snow by a gale that blew across the Potomac at a rate 

 of from 20 to 40 miles an hour, and where their feeding ground was a 



