BIRDS OF PORTO RICO. 



129 



Vegetable food. — Vegetable matter was found in all but 2 of the stomachs 

 examined, most of it in 20 stomachs collected in July, when it comes to 46.7 per 

 cent. This matter consists entirely of seeds, largely those of grasses, with a few 

 sedges and miscellaneous weed seeds. Some of the species taken are notorious 

 weeds. These are all ground up in the strong stomachs and digested with the 

 aid of sand. 



A list of identified seeds is given below: 



Paspalum (Paspalum millegrama) 



Paspalum (Paspalum sp.) 



Crab grass (Syntherisma sanguinalis) _ 



Malojillo (Panicum fasciculatum) 



Panic grass (Panicum sp.) 



Smut grass (Sporobolus indicus) 



Iehnanthus (Ichnanthus pallens) 



Egyptian grass (Dactyloctenium a;gyp- 

 ticum) 



11 

 1 

 4 

 8 

 3 

 2 

 1 



1 



Whitetop (Dichromena ciliata) 



Sedge (Carex sp.) 



Star grass (Hypoxis sp.) 



Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.)__ 

 Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)- 



Vetch (Vicia sp.) 



Verdolaguilla (Oxalis sp.) 



Summary. — No evil can be attributed to the grasshopper sparrow, and it is 

 to be regretted that it is not so abundant as the ever-present grassquits. Orthop- 

 tera, including a small number of mole crickets, form one-fourth of the food, 

 and besides large numbers of weevils and caterpillars are eaten. In 32 stom- 

 achs only one beneficial beetle and two parasitic chalcids were found, while 

 spiders were eaten in small quantity. The remainder of the animal food was 

 composed entirely of injurious insects of great economic importance. Some of 

 the seeds eaten are those of noxious weeds, and none of any actual value, so 

 that this element in its food also adds to the usefulness of the bird. Though 

 few in number, it is a species of considerable importance to the island. 



[RED SISKIN. Spinas cucullatus (Swainson). 

 Dominiquito. 



Sundevall (1869, p. 597) includes the red siskin in his list as received from Hjalmar- 

 son, and on this is based the belief that this siskin has been naturalized in Porto Rico. 

 Gundlach, however (1878a, pp. 174-175), says that Hjalmarson assured him his specimen 

 was a cage bird, so that the siskin has no status as a Porto Rican bird and is included 

 here merely to correct the many statements that it has been found on the island in a 

 wild state.] 



9767°— Bull. 326—16 9 



