SEASIDE SPARROW. 65 
curious feature of the bird's food habits is the liking shown for Dip- 
tera. These inserts, mainly midges (Chironomida?) and tlieir larva?, 
certain allied insects, and the smaller adult horseflies (Tabanidaj) 
constitute 5 percent of the food, probably a larger proportion of 
Diptera than characterizes the food of any other birds except fly- 
catchers and those shore-inhabiting species in the far north which 
feed so extensively on Ohironomidse. 
There is a difference in the food of the sharp-tailed sparrows col- 
lected by the salt water and those taken near fresh water, owing, no 
doubt, to difference of environment. The (28) salt-water birds had 
eaten no vegetable food but grass seed, while 7 of the (2'S) birds taken 
near fresh water (at Hillsborough. Xova Scotia) had also eaten other 
seeds, such as those of polygonum, lamb's-quarters. clover, and dan- 
delion. The salt-water birds feed on the seeds of salt grasses and 
occasionally eat wild rice (Zizania aqua.tica); the fresh- water birds 
eat other grasses, particularly panicums. 
The salt-water birds eat many sand fleas, small amphipod crusta- 
ceans belonging to the family Gammaridse. These sand fleas are very 
abundant along the beach, and the birds pick them up either on the 
clean sand or amid seaweed or other shore debris. They constitute 
16 percent of the food of the salt-water birds, but were not found in 
the stomachs of the fresh-water birds. Xot one of the fresh-water 
birds had eaten a snail, while six of the other birds had found snails 
very palatable; in fact, one had eaten four at a meal. The birds 
collected in fresh-water marshes had fed on army worms. 
The economic position of this sparrow is so similar to that of the 
next species, the seaside sparrow, that for the sake of convenience 
the two birds will be grouped together in considering their relation to 
crops. 
SEASIDE SPARROW. 
(AmmcKlramus maritimus.) 
The seaside sparrow is a very dark-colored bird for a sparrow, and 
lias a yellow line behind each nostril. It breeds along the Atlantic 
coast from Massachusetts to Georgia, and is characteristic of the sea- 
shore. Unlike the sharp-tailed sparrow, it is never found away from 
salt water. Often, particularly in autumn, seaside and sharp-tailed 
sparrows may be found congregated in loose flocks. 
The food habits of the two sparrows are very similar, both in 
elements and proportions of the food. There are, however, some 
minor differences of details. Thus, the seaside sparrow does not take 
nearly so many sand fleas (Amphipoda) as its congener, and according 
to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 1 it feeds on small crabs, which as far 
as known form no part of the food of the sharp-tailed sparrow. 
Hist. North American Birds, Vol. I, p. 561. 1874. 
