GKASSHOPPER SPARROW. 61 
State of New York during an invasion of these pests in 1896. In its 
destruction of Orthoptera the savanna sparrow resembles the vesper 
sparrow, especially in the kinds chosen, though it is somewhat less 
efficient. Still, it does excellent work, for it takes grasshoppers in 
quantity from June to August, and in July eats them to such an 
extent that they constitute 34 percent of its food during that month. 
Ants amount to about 4 percent of the diet, and include both typical 
ants (Formicida?) and stinging ants (Myrinieidse). This shows a 
greater predilection for these insects than is displayed by any other 
sparrow, with the exception of the white-throat. The Hemiptera 
taken comprise both true bugs and leaf-hoppers and the Diptera con- 
sist of crane- flies and small species of horseflies. 
The character of the vegetable food shows the savanna sparrow to 
be a great consumer of grass seeds. It is not harmful to grainnelds, 
however, as the grain taken amounts to only about 1 percent of the 
food, and this consists almost entirely of waste wheat and oats. Dur- 
ing August, a month in which many birds exhibit a great liking for 
a cereal diet, a number of savanna sparrows were collected from oat 
and barley fields, but their stomachs contained nothing but in>ects. 
Grass seed, largely pigeon-grass (Chcetocfa/a) and panic-grass (Pani- 
cinit). amounts to 31 percent of the food. Other seeds, mainly such 
weed seeds as are taken by the vesper sparrow, make up practically 
all of the remaining 22 percent of the vegetable matter, the only 
exception being a few blueberries found in one of the stomachs. 
It appears from this examination that the savanna sparrow is an 
exceedingly valuable bird. During the winter, when it is most gra- 
nivorous, more than half of its food consists of weed seeds; and from 
May to August, when it is most insectivorous, beneficial insects form 
only 3 percent of the food, while insects of the injurious class amount 
to 45 percent. 
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 
(Ammodramus savannarum ^ax.ve/-n<?/s and Ammodramux s. perjxillidus.^ 
The grasshopper sparrow, also known as the yellow-winged spar- 
row because of the bright yellow on the outer edge of the wing, is 
a terrestrial species. It is not in the least degree gregarious, being 
found only in pairs, or at most families, in the dry, open, grassy or 
weedy upland which it frequents. It breeds in suitable localities 
throughout the entire eastern part of the United States and westward 
to and including the Great Basin, though it is not common west of 
the Rocky Mountains. But its range does not include the higher 
altitudes, nor always the higher latitudes, those that belong to the 
upper part of the Transition zone marking the lowest limit of its 
absence. Hence it is not found in the mountains or certain parts of 
the northern border, although in some places a milder climate carries 
it^ summer range into Canada. 
7— No. 15—01 5 
