Concord, Mass.
1907.
April 9
(No 9)
  It is possible that Fox Sparrows scratch not alone
for concealed seeds but also for animal food, as the
following observation will show. As I was watching a
bird digging a little pit into the soft, sandy soil
in front of the cabin this afternoon I saw it pause
for an instant and, after bending its neck forward and
down, pull out from the excavation a red earthworm
about three inches in length. This it held in its
bill for an instant as if not quite knowing what to
do with it. It then dropped the worm which was
immediately picked up by another Fox Sparrow who
made short work of the wriggling creature, first
separating it into three pieces, by biting and shaking
it with its bill, and then eating these fragments
without hesitation and indeed with very evident
relish.
Fox Sparrow draws out & eats an earth worm
  During my walk late this afternoon I was wading
through snow nearly six inches deep and facing the 
blinding clouds of it which the furious north east
blasts were driving over the east slope of Pine Ridge
when, in a little opening surrounded by snow-laden
pines, I came up to two Yellow Red-poll Warblers
the first I have seen this spring. They seemed
to be almost completely exhausted by chill and 
hunger flitting about with drooping wings among
some small cedars but their tails were wagged as
easily as if the birds had been in the best of 
spirits & vigor.