68 BIRDS OF A MARYLAND FARM^ 



whole flock was expected to resort to the grain fields, but none were 

 seen to enter them. On June I8. however, when oats were being- cut, 

 several birds were noted feeding on them in two instances. 



English Sparrow. — The English sparrow (fig. 26) is the most highly 

 gTanivorous bird on the farm. The stomachs of 53 birds — IT nest- 

 lings and 36 adults — were collected. Grain had been eaten bj^ 8 of the 

 young — a large proportion, for nearly all nestlings are almost exclu- 

 sively insectivorous. It formed 86 percent of the food of the adults, 

 all but two having taken it. Six had selected oats, 14 wheat, and 15 

 corn. The number of English sparrows on the two farms varied from 

 200 to 1,000. They fed on grain whenever and wherever it was attain- 

 able. They did not appear to hurt sprouting fields, but did con- 

 siderable harm to standing crops. In 1898 lot 4 was in wheat, and 



Fig. 26. — English spairow. 



about the middle of June, when it was nearly ready for cutting, a strip 

 200 yards long beside the fence near the storage barn was found 

 broken down by sparrows. The loss by this mischief was even greater 

 than that by their continual thefts from the rest of the field. A year 

 later they ruined in the same way a strip of wheat several yards wide, 

 extending from the negro cabin to Persimmon Branch, and also sec- 

 tions of oat fields on the upper part of the Hungerford farm. They 

 attacked both wheat and oats in the shock, and stole much of the 

 grain in the cap sheaves. They were seen feeding on corn in the 

 milk, but probably selected ears that had already been torn open by 

 crows; Dr. A. K. Fisher, however, has observed English sparrows at 

 Chevy Chase, Md., opening and eating the tip ends of ears of corn 



