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42 THE EELATION OF SPARKOWS TO AGRICULTURE. 



In the first X)l^ce, they seemed to be eomi^arativelv free from the 

 attacks of hawks, aud in the second, each of the several fields was 

 small, containing but two or three acres, and all together amounting 

 in acreage to hardly a single field of the Marshall Hall farm, hence 

 ,i»l the birds were never far from protecting cover. 



The ground-feeding habit of sparrows was sometimes brought into 

 sharp contrast with the feeding methods of other birds. Thus on 

 December 10 (1899) throughout the dense ragweed of the steep slope, 

 there Avere about a hundred white-throated and song sparrows busily 

 picking up the fallen akenes, while a dozen purple finches and 2 chicka- 

 dees were plucking seeds from the stalks. Again on February 3 (1900) 

 in this same field about 50 j uncos, a dozen song sparrows, and sev- 

 eral field sparrows were feeding entirely from the ground, while a 

 score of goldfinches hung from the tops of the ragweed, feeding 

 entirely from the stalks. Along the tributary of the brook several 

 purple finches were perched on the climbing false buckwheat vines 

 feeding on the seeds still on the vines, while tree si)arrows, j uncos, 

 field sparrows, white-throated sparrows, song s^Darrows, and fox spar- 

 rows hopped about on the ground below them, searching for seeds 

 that had fallen. Between this tributar}^ and the woods, on ground 

 weedy Avith crab-grass and partly coAxred by fallen leaves, a flock of 

 about 150 sparrows, including all the above species saA^e the fox spar- 

 roAA-, were busily feeding on the scattered seeds. The song sparroAv, 

 white-throats, and juncos scratched so busil}" among the fallen leaves 

 that they kept up a continuous dry crackling sound, audible for 50 

 yards. The differences noted on these two dates Avere commonl}' met 

 Avith throughout the Avinter, affording abundant CA^idence of the 

 manner in AAhich the ground-feeding sparrows supplement the Avork 

 of stalk-feeding species. 



But although ground feeding is the rule Avith sparrows, it is not, as 

 has already been shoAvn, an iuA^ariable one. A notable exception was 

 the stalk feeding of field and tree spari'ows in the broom sedge of the 

 Marshall Hall farm, Avhich has been mentioned. To some extent the 

 same species showed the same characteristics on the farm under 

 consideration. Field si^arroAvs were observed in several instances 

 feeding entirely from the culms of the spreading i^anicum. The 

 several other species of sparrows, except tree sparroAvs, which fed on 

 this grass, did not appear to be able to secure the seeds in this Avay, 

 but waited until they had been shaken out one or tAvo at a time from 

 the inclosing sheaths. Song sparrows, juncos, and Avhite-throated 

 sparroAvs AA'ere occasionallj;^ obserA^ed taking seeds from the stalks of 

 other plants. In four instances juncos were seen in the tops of tall 

 amaranth plants picking out a few seeds. A song sparrow AA^as also 

 noted feeding from amaranth stalks, and others Avere noted feeding 

 from the stalks of ragweed, dock, and lamb's-quarters. A white- 

 throated sparroAY in a single instance was obserA^ed plucking a seed 



