HENSLOW'S SPARROW. 63 



these exceptional cases. But enough is certain to show that these 

 two birds and the lark sparrow are most valuable destroyers of grass- 

 hoppers, while the work of the other four sparrows mentioned, though 

 not so extensive, is yet of much importance. These figures give new 

 meaning to the name by which the grasshopper sparrow is known. 



Eleven percent of the total food comprises such insects as ants and 

 little dung-beetles {Atc^nius and Aphodius), and about 1 percent con- 

 sists of bugs, the most common being leaf -hoppers (Jassidse), leaf 

 bugs (Capsidse), assassin bugs (Reduviidse), and the smaller soldier 

 bugs, such as Hymenarcys and TricJiopepla. The spiders, myriapods, 

 earthworms, and snails, which constitute the remaining animal matter, 

 should be classed as probably neutral. 



The vegetable food of the grasshopper sparrow is of little impor- 

 tance when compared with that of other species. No fruit was found 

 excepting a few blueberries in one of the stomachs, and grain, chiefly 

 waste, forms only 2 percent of the food Of the seeds, wood sorrel 

 (Oxalis) composes 2 percent of the food; ragweed, 5 percent; such 

 grasses as pigeon-grass, panic-grass, and a few others less freely eaten, 

 17 percent; and A^arious other jjlants — polygonums, purslane, rib- 

 grass, and the sedges — 11 percent. The entire weed-seed element, 

 including the seeds of such grasses as are troublesome on the farm 

 (7 percent of the total food), amounts to about one-fourth of the food. 



The grasshopper sparrow in particular and the other species of the 

 genus Ammodrarrms in general feed much less on veget'able matter 

 than most other sparrows. Insects form their staple diet, and of 

 these, beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars are the most important. 

 As a destroyer of insect pests the grasshopper sparrow is most effi.- 

 cient. It is not only superior to other members of the same genus, 

 but is even more efficient than such valuable species as the lark spar- 

 row, vesper sparrow, and dickcissel; and, both its vegetable and 

 animal food considered, it seems to be individually the most useful 

 species of bird Avhose food habits have thus far been investigated. 

 The injurious part of the food forms only 3 percent of the whole, while 

 the neutral amounts to 24 percent and the beneficial to 73 percent. 



HENSLOWS SPARROW. 



yAmmodramus hensloici. ) 



Henslow's sparrow is a rare and locally distributed bird of the east- 

 ern half of the United States. In appearance and habits it is similar 

 to the grasshopper sparrow. 



Four stomachs collected during the summer months contained 

 beetles, cutworms, grasshoppers, bugs, and blackberries. The beetles 

 consisted of ground-beetles (Anisodactylus), leaf -beetles, click-beetles, 

 and weevils (Rhynchophora) ; the bugs, of soldier bugs and assassin 

 bugs (Reduviid?e) . Three stomachs collected on January 29 at Dallas, 



