60 THE RELATION OF BPARROWS TO AGRICULTURE. 
a yellow mark behind the nostril which the song Bparrow lacks. Tak- 
ing the i wo subspecies together, i he savanna sparrow has an extensive 
breeding range. Thai of the eastern bird (Amrriodramus sandtoich- 
ensis savanna) extends from Labrador and the Hudson Bay region 
southward through Canada into the northern tier of States, while thai 
of the western bird reaches the Arctic coasl on the north and the 
Mexican border on the south. The summer habitat 1 1ms comprises 
parts of the Boreal, Transition, and Upper and Lower Austral zones. 
In whiter the bird is found in the Southern Slates and Mexico and 
somet inies in Cuba. 
Examination has been made of Hi* stomachs. These represent all 
the months of the year except December and February, and were col- 
lected in L2 States ranging from Massachusetts to California and in 
the District of Columbia. Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Their 
food contents consisted of 46 pei-cent of animal matter, insects and 
their allies, and 54 percent of vegetable matter, practically all seeds. 
The savanna, Ipswich, and grasshopper sparrows, and. to a slighter 
degree, all other members of the genus Ammodramus, are much more 
highly insectivorous than othei sparrows. They take equal rank in 
this regard with such notable insect destroyers as the catbird, robin, 
and bluebird. With the savanna sparrow the distribution of animal 
matter is as follows: Coleoptera, 15 percent; Lepidoptera, ".• percent; 
Orthoptera, < s percent ; rlymenoptera, 5 percent ; Flemiptera, 2 percent : 
Diptera and miscellaneous insects, 4 percent, and spiders, with a few 
snails. -'5 percent . 
This sparrow appears to be the greatest eater of beetles of all the 
sparrow family. Beetles constitute the most important element of its 
animal food, and are eaten during every month in which stomachs 
were obtained, though of course in very small quantities during the 
winter months. In May and June they are so eagerly sought that 
they form one-third of the entire food of those months. Ground- 
beetles, leaf-beetles, and weevils (Rhyncophora) are most frequently 
selected, but click-beetles, dung-beetles (Aphodius), rove-beetles 
(Stophylinus), pill-beetles (Byrrhidra), and certain allies of the lire- 
fly ( Lampyridre) are also eaten. Of the three groups first mentioned 
wee> ils are apparently preferred. These dest ructive insects are eaten 
to the extent of several times as much as any other kind. In August 
11 percent of ihe food consists solely of weevils, mainly of the genus 
Siiones ami related forms. The leaf-beetles taken include tin- genera 
Chatiocnema and Chlamys. Some harm is done by the destruction of 
several of the more useful species of ground-beetles, but as these 
amount to but l* percent <>f the total food the} 7 constitute a small 
Offset to Ihe favorable character of the rest of the beetle food. The 
Lepidopterous food does not differ noticeably from that of sparrows 
generally; that is bo say, it consists of Noctuidte, taken usually as 
larva-. Army worms were found in several stomachs collected in the 
