84 THE RELATION OF SPARROWS TO AGRICULTURK. 



mature, though the bird occasionally feeds with others on the ripen- 

 ing crop of wild fruits during late summer and autumn. It has been 

 observed eating elderberries, wild grapes, pokeberries, baj^berries, 

 and berries of the woodbine ; but in spite of this taste and the bird's 

 abundance among cultivated berry patches, it never, to any appre- 

 ciable extent, does any damage to cultivated fruit. 



Insects amount to about one-third of the annual diet, and from 

 May to August, inclusive, when they are eaten most freely, compose 

 more than half the food. Diptera constitute 2 percent of the year's 

 food; Hemiptera, 3 percent; Hymenoptera, 4 percent; Lepidoptera, 

 6 percent ; Orthoptera, 7 percent ; Coleoptera, 9 percent, and miscella- 

 neous insects-, principally Neuroptera, Plectoptera, and Ephemeridse, 

 1 percent. 



The kinds eaten are for the most part the same as those taken 

 by the chipping sparrow and field sparrow. The greater part of the 

 Diptera are not the common house-flies, but mosquito-like flies belong- 

 ing to the families Chironomid?e and Tipulid?e. They are eaten in 

 both the larval and imago stages. Occasionally imagos of some 

 species of horseflies furnish a part of a meal. The Hemiptera belong 

 to both the heteropterous and homopterous divisions of the order. 

 The Heteroptera include small bugs of nauseous odor, largely soldier 

 bugs, leaf bugs (Capsid?e), and assassin bugs, and are usuall}^ species 

 of little or no economic importance. The Homoptera are practically 

 all leaf -hoppers (Jassidse). Cercropidse, the little bugs which are 

 responsible for the so-called 'frog spit' or ' snake spit' which is often 

 found adhering to grass in early summer, are sometimes eaten. 



Half of the Hymenoptera entering into the food comprise ants 

 belonging to both of the principal families Formicidse and Myrmi- 

 cidse. It is highly probable that most of the ants are taken while 

 flying, as many species of birds secure their ant food in the air. 

 One-quarter of the hymenopterous food, amounting to about 1 per- 

 cent of the total food for the year, consists of such parasitic species 

 as flies (Braconidse), ichneumon flies (Ichneumonidse), and certain 

 wasps (Scoliidse) ; the remainder is made up of a few saw-flies, some 

 joint- worm flies, cuckoo flies, and a number of the smaller bees 

 {Andrena, Halictus, and other plant-fertilizing species). 



The Lepidoptera (all moths) are principally larvae of Noctuidae, 

 such as cutworms and armj^ worms. They also include larvae of 

 Geometridae and the occasional pupa of a tineid moth (Coleophora). 

 Mr. E. H. Forbush discovered that the song sparrow will eat hairy 

 caterpillars,^ but none but the smooth kinds have thus far been found 

 in the stomachs examined in the Biological Survey. In its destruction 

 of Lepidoptera the song sparrow renders considerable service, espe- 

 cially during May and June, when 25 percent of its food consists of 

 these pests. At this time it makes a business of hunting on the ground 



^ Mass. Crop Rept., p. 36, Sept.. 1899. 



