4(1 THE RELATION OF SPAEBOWS TO AGBIOTTLTUBE. 
It will thus *be seen thai snowy conditions alter somewhat the usual 
characteristics of Bparrows' food habits. The native sparrows trav- 
eled farther afield and consumed the less palatable weed >(n-d. which 
would not ordinarily be eaten in quantity, and even the English Bpar- 
rows were once observed feeding on weed seed out in the open. 
A. series of observations was made in a most favorable locality in 
the District of Columbia from the last of November, L899, to the cud 
of February, L900. The topography of the place was studied, and 
notes were made of i lie exact distribution of the sparrows found there, 
the actual amounts of the various kinds of weed seed destroyed, and 
details relating to the dissemination of seeds by the birds. The place 
comprises about LO acres, traversed by a shrubby brook and almost 
surrounded by deciduous trees. On one side of the brook the land 
slopes very gently upward from the water, while on the other there is 
a steep bank of varying degrees of declivity. Where the slope is 
steepest, so abrupt in fact thai cultivation has proved impracticable, 
as is attested by a grove of venerable beeches, an almost perpendicu- 
lar curving bank marks an old course of the brook when it swung 
some 50 yards from its present channel. On the other side, a little 
farther down, a bowing curve marks another pari of the abandoned 
channel. The bank here is abrupt on the Side worn by the stream 
and on the other slopes gently downward to a cultivated held beyond, 
the level of which has been lowered by the washing away of the soil 
by rains. On the brink of the bank is a row of cedar trees. At the 
time of the investigation the html between the 1 wo beds of the stream 
as well as that beyond the bank had been in corn. The vegetation 
of the brook, its two abandoned curves, and a brier) 7 tributary near 
the upstream end of the tract formed the cover and To a considerable 
extent the feeding grounds of from 1<«» to 2<>i> native sparrows. The 
food supply of this cover consisted of giant ragweed, spreading pani- 
cum, and climbing false buckwheat. The last was most abundant 
along the brook, where ii climbed over tin' briers and shrubs, even 
ascending and festooning some of the trees. The giant ragweed, 
higher than a man's head, formed a forest of stalks between the brook 
and the old channel on the steep side, and was common at the mouth 
of the tributary. Spreading panicum grew on the concave declivi- 
tous laces of the banks and in the tributary. It was less abundant 
at the mouth of the tributary where it was mixed with the giant rag- 
weed. The other feeding grounds comprised the weedy land between 
the formei- and present channels, to a slight extent the gentle slope 
which, except along the stream, had only a scanty growth of weeds, 
and finally and of great importance, the steep slope on which wheal 
bad been grown and which bristled with ragweed, and a vegetable 
garden on more level ground above, where was a luxuriant crop of 
crab-grass, pigeon-gra88, and amaranth. These several situations 
naturally formed almost ideal resorts for the native sparrows. 
