62 THE RELATION <>K SPARROWS TO AGRICULTURE. 
An examination lias been made of L 70 stomachs of this Sparrow, col- 
lected from both bhe East and bhe West and from February to October, 
omitting March. 'I'hc food for bhe months represented, as indicated 
by 1 lie stomach examinations, consists Of 63 percenl animal matter and 
37 percenl vegetable matter. The percentage of animal matter is thus 
even greater than in bhe ease of bhe savanna sparrow. Fifty-seven 
percenl of the food is composed of insects, and 6 percent — the remain- 
ing animal matter — consists principally of spiders, with an occasional 
myriapod, snail, or earthworm. The beneficial insects consumed, 
comprising both Larval and ad nit ground-beetles and parasitic Efymen- 
optera, amount to only 1 percenl of the total food; while the destruc- 
tion of injurious insects is forty-five times as great, and is distributed 
as follows: 8 percent harmful beetles. 1 4 percent caterpillars, and 
•2'.) percenl grasshoppers. The beetles belong to three families: Click- 
beetles, mostly small species; weevils (Sitones and related genera); 
ami the smaller leaf-beetles, noticeably Systena blanda and Systena 
elongata. Caterpillars are eaten more freely in .May than at any 
other time, and constitute :>:> percent of the food of that month. 
More than half the caterpillars destroyed are cutworms, which is a 
very Large proportion, and shows an unusual Liking for these destruc- 
tive insects. In one stomach from Bourbon County, Ky.. were 6 cut- 
worms ( Nt (tin lodes vidians), each an inch long. The army worm seems 
to be also a favorite article of diet. 
The grasshopper sparrow received its name because of the char- 
acter of its song, which closely resembles the stridulation of the 
Long-horned grasshopper; but investigation of its food habits has 
shown that, by a en r ions coincidence, the nana' is fully as appropriate 
in consideration of its diet. Grasshoppers (Acrididse and Locustidse) 
form almost one-fourth {2'.\ percent) of the food of the eighl months 
in which the L70 stomachs examined were collected, and 60 percent of 
the food of June, in which the greatest quantity of these destructive 
insects is eaten. The genera Xiphidiu/m, Scvdderia, Hippiseus, and 
MelanopluS are best represented. 
Among the sparrows of the farm seven are preeminently grasshop- 
per dest rovers — i he dickcissel, and t he grasshopper, lark, vesper, chip- 
ping, song, and field sparrows- and from M ay to August, inclusive, the 
insect-eating period, consume Large quantities <>f these pests. The 
examinations of stomachs collected during this period show that grass- 
hoppers form 1 1 percent of the food of the dickcissel, ; 57 percent of that 
of the grasshopper sparrow, 31 percent of that of the lark sparrow, 23 
percent of thai of the vesper sparrow, 21 percenl of that of the chipping 
sparrow, 17 percent of that of the song sparrow, and VS percent of that 
of bhe field sparrow . Among bhe stomachs of the dickcissel ami grass- 
hopper sparrows examined, however, were those of several nestlings, 
1 1 and L3 of the tw<> species, respectively; and as young sparrows are 
reared largely upon grasshoppers some allowance has to be made h 
■ 
