SNOWFLAKE. 63 



of course, have changed the character of vae stomach contents, and 

 so reduced the percentage of grain food not only for April, but for the 

 season as ^vell. A larger collection of stomachs would also, no doubt, 

 have shown a smaller percentage of grain. The grain taken is for the 

 most part gleanings after harvest, in the stubble-field, about build- 

 ings, or along roads or car tracks, and so of little or no economic import- 

 ance, the kinds most frequently secured being wheat, corn, oats, 

 and millet. Some of this may come from newl}' sown fields; but the 

 amount thus taken is probably so small that such damage as results 

 is little compared with the service rendered by the destruction of 

 weed seed. 



•From the examination of the stomachs collected, it would appear 

 that the snowflake derives fully half its subsistence from two weeds — 

 amaranth and ragweed, and that it does not to anj^ great extent feed 

 on the seeds of crab-grass, pigeon-grass, or other grasses, though it 

 should be stated that Mcllwraith reports it as eating the seeds of 

 broom sedge (Anclropogon scoparms).^ Only 1 percent of the food 

 contained in the 46 stomachs examined was grass seed. But in addi- 

 tion to the fact that the number of stomachs examined was too small to 

 permit final conclusions to be drawn, for other reasons this should not 

 be taken as showing a distaste for grass seed. The taste for similar 

 food, as shown by the partiality of the birds for grain, and the quantity 

 of grass seed eaten by the closely allied, more southerly ranging long- 

 spurs, indicate that the abstinence of the snowflake from this food is 

 due to necessity and not choice. We must remember that the grass 

 seed, which falls to the ground when ripe instead of clinging to the 

 stalk, as do many of the seeds of amaranth, lamb's-quarters, and rag- 

 weed, is probably buried under the snow during most of the time the 

 snowflakes are here. The amaranth is tall and its seeds are par- 

 ticularly clinging, and after very heavy snowfalls it is probabl}^ the 

 most available food supply the snowflakes have. Its seeds form half 

 the food found in the stomachs collected in Februar}^ and March, 

 some of which contained from 500 to 1,500 each. Such a wholesale 

 destruction of the seeds of this rank weed as is thus indicated is not 

 accomplished by any other bird whose food habits have thus far been 

 investigated. With most species of seed-eating birds pmaranth is by 

 no means an important article of diet. 



On account of its good work as a weed destroyer and the apparent 

 absence of any noticeably detrimental food habits, the snowflake 

 seems to deserve high commendation, and should receive careful pro- 

 tection. Feeding in latitudes that have been deserted by most other 

 w^eed-destroying birds, these birds render a distinct and most effective 

 service to the Northern farmer. And to this should be added that it 

 is their habit, and that of their congeners, the longsi)urs, to feed far 



' Birds of Ontario, p. 310, 1894. 



