70 THE RELATION OF 8PARBOW8 To A.GRI0ULTURE. 
Ninety-four stomachs of the typical white-crowned sparrow (Zotio- 
trichia leucopforys) have been examined. They were collected from 
September to May, inclusive, in Connecticut, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, 
Kansas. Texas, and the District of Columbia. Like mosi of our north- 
ern sparrows, this species subsists during the winter almost entirely 
on seeds. Its tendency to become somewhat insectivorous in warm 
weather is indicated by the fact that 11 percent of the food in .May 
and September consisted of ants, caterpillars, weevils and other 
beetles, and spiders. [f stomachs could have been collected during 
the summer months, the proportion of the insect pan of the food 
would, no doubt, have been much Larger. 
Of the vegetable fare, grain possesses the first interest. It consists 
almost entirely of oats, although in a few exceptional cases corn or 
wheat had been picked ii]>. Grain was found in a quarter of the 
stomachs examined, and amounts to 1- percent of the total food for 
the year. In .May it attains its maximum of 27 percent, indicating 
the presence of the habit of feeding in newly sown fields, though no 
direct evidence of this fault lias been had and it is possible that the 
grain is largely or entirely derived from scattered waste grain. The 
small grass-seed item includes crab-grass and other panicums, pigeon- 
grass, and the Johnson grass of the South, which forms a pari of the 
diet of the lark sparrow and Harris's sparrow. 
Ragweed is as important as grass seed is unimportant, consti- 
tuting 20 percent of the entire food. Amaranth, Lamb's-quarters, 
duckweed, gromwell, and wild sunflower are also included in the 
weed-seed element of the food. 
Fruit did not occur to any appreciable extent in the stomachs exam- 
ined. Audubon states that as this sparrow passes down into the 
United States it feeds eagerly on grapes, 1 but no especial damage of 
this kind has been reported to the Department, and only 5 of the 1)4 
stomachs contained any fruit, and they only elderberries and black- 
berries. This of course 1 is merely negat ive evidence, and further exam- 
ination may confirm Audubon's observations. Warren lias noted a 
peculiar habit of this species in eating the blossoms of bushes ami 
trees when ii was migrating north in the spring. 
By way of summary it may be stated that the total damage winch 
this beautiful sparrow accomplishes appears from the present investi- 
gation insignificant when compared with the service it renders in 
reducing the weed-seed harvest. 
Our knowledge of the food habits of Gambel's sparrow (Zonotrichia 
leucophrys gambeli) is exceedingly meager, only 23 stomachs were 
available for examinal ion, and 1 1 of t hese were collected on Saturnia 
Island, British Columbia, during the month of April. The remainder 
Were taken in Arizona, (Jtah, Montana, and the Dakotas, during the 
months of April, May, September, and October. 
'Birds of America. Vol. Ill, p. 159, 1841. 
