38 THE RELATION <>k si-arrows TO AGRICULTURE. 
so low as almost to touch the ground. That several species of spar- 
rows feed «»n berry seeds has been shown by stomach examination, 
and this ha hit may account in a measure for the birds' spending much 
of the time among such tangled thickets of fruiting plants. 
A heavy fall of snow on February 17, 1900, made possible the study 
of the feeding habits of sparrows under typical winter conditions. 
Unfortunately it was not feasible to visit the farm on which observa- 
tions had thus fa l' been made, but a neighboring farm on the same 
bluff afforded ample opportunity for investigations. Here much of 
the land is given up to market gardens and orchards, with a conse- 
quent superfluity of weeds, which, with the admirable cover afforded 
by t wo slightly timbered bushy brooks t hat converge to enter 1 he river 
in a swampy outlet, furnishes a good locality for sparrows. 
Between the two brooks, in a potato field grown up to ragweed, ama 
ranth, and lamb's-quarters, a score of tree sparrows, song sparrows, 
and j uncos were busily feeding. Most of the ragweed akenes lay 
buried under a foot of snow, very few clinging to the stalks. An 
abundance of the seeds of lamb's-quarters and amaranth was, how- 
ever, available. The birds seemed to prefer the ragweed, but they 
also ate large quantities of the others. While some fed from the tips 
of sprays, others hopped about on the snow and picked from the lower 
branches. So thick were bird tracks in the snow in one pari of the 
held that in a space 50 yards square it would have been difficult to 
find many places a square yard in extent that were unt lacked by the 
t iny feet. Mouse tracks were also noticed, but these were so few that 
the extensive destruction of seeds shown by the amount of chaffy 
debris on the snow was evidently due almost entirely to the sparrows. 
The tree sparrows were the most habitual stalk feeders. They 
pitched down here and there in flocks to feed on the seeds of the 
straw-colored broom sedge (Andropogon virginicus), and then would 
journey on, sometimes half a mile, till they came to another patch of 
the same grass. They often picked from every stalk before passing 
on to other feeding grounds. Frequently two birds would be seen 
feeding from a single stalk, while a third would be hopping in the 
snow below searching for seeds shaken down or accident ly dropped. 
The snow was blowing in clouds across the fields and these northern 
birds seemed more at home in their wintry surroundings than any of 
the Other sparrows. This adaptability to snowy conditions makes 
them extremely useful in supplementing the work of other birds which 
are not habitually stalk feeders, and which, therefore, musl be less 
efficient weed-seed consumers when the ground is covered with snow. 
It was expected that the snow would force all the sparrows to stalk 
feeding, but such was not the case. Most of them \'vi\. in company 
With cardinals, doves, and meadowlarks on the bare bluff, which was 
swept clear of snow by a gale that blew across the Potomac at a rate 
of from l'o to W miles an hour, and where their feeding ground was a 
