SPARROWS IX THE FIELD. 41 
The individuality of the habits of each of the several species, 
though not so marked as on the Marshall Hall farm, was nevertheless 
sufficiently pronounced to merit passing consideration. Tree spar- 
rows were usually too few and too shy for observation, and. with one 
exception, field sparrows were found only in little groups of not more 
than half a dozen individuals. The lack of these two species may 
orrelated with the absence of worn-out land and the broom sedge 
with which they appear to be so intimately associated at Marshall 
Hall. 
The song sparrows and white-throated sparrows taken together aggre- 
gated 50 or 100. Sometimes one species was the more abundant and 
sometimes the other. They seemed to associate together constantly, 
as on the Marshall Hall farm. This was especially noticeable when 
they were feeding along the brook on the seeds of climbing false buck- 
wheat, of which they are much more fond than are other sparrows. 
As has already been shown, white-throated sparrows destroy much 
ragweed, while song sparrows are very partial to grass seed. Hence 
it would frequently occur that on leaving the false buckwheat and 
ascending the hill the white-throated sparrows took to the ragweed on 
the slope while the song sparrows would feed on the crab-grass and 
pigeon-grass in the garden beyond. 
The fox sparrow, unlike these two species, resembled the cardinal 
in its habit of staying close to cover and not feeding any distance 
afield. 
The juneo, on the contrary, surpassed all the other sparrows in feed- 
ing in the open. Even though its food, as revealed by the examina- 
tion of stomachs, shows a comparatively large percentage of grass 
seed, which is usually indicative of less effectiveness as a weed 
destroyer, yet because of its habit of feeding afield, it is far more 
valuable than many of the cover-loving species which take less grass 
seed. Not only did the j uncos feed out in the open themselves, but 
they encouraged other species to follow them into the middles of the 
ragweed field and vegetable garden, and even quite a distance out 
into a piece of exposed corn stubble which supported only pigeon- 
grass and crab-grass. They used cedar trees for cover, as at Marshall 
Hall, and did not seem dependent on bushes, like other sparrows. 
Often the flock, numbering over 100 individuals, on being alarmed 
would fly to an open beech wood and ascend to the tops of the tallest 
trees, whence they would fly several hundred yards to some open 
field. Song sparrows under similar conditions never leave their bushy 
covers to ascend to the tops of tree-. 
The weed seed destruction appeared much more effective than at 
Marshall Hall, because the feeding ranges of the birds practically 
included the whole of each of the several fields: even those birds 
usually most restricted to cover were often found in the centers of 
fields. The reason for this more fortunate condition seemed twofold. 
