7 1 THE RELATION OF SPABROW8 TO A.GBIOULTDRE. 
with an avidity thai bordered on greed. It would be wise, therefore, 
iioi to draw any final conclusions from the absence of grasshoppers in 
most of the stomachs of white-throats and white-crowns examined. 
The mosl striking point in the food habits of this sparrow is its 
fondness for berries. From July to November, inclusive, one-fourth 
of its fnud consists of berries. At this lime it eats the fruit of the 
blueberry ( Vacdnium pennsylvanicwm and other species), wild cherry 
( Primus serotina), mountain ash (Sorbus americana), green-brier 
(SmMax glauca), strawberry (Fraga/ria sp. }, spice bush ( Bt nzoim l>< u- 
zoiri), wild sarsaparilla (Arabia sp.), elder (Sa/rribucus canadensis), 
blackberry (Rufous villosus), dogwood (Cornus florida, altemifolia 
and stolonifera), and the high bush cranberry ( Viburnum opidus). 
White-throats have been seen feeding in Large numbers on the blue- 
berries which grow profusely upon the side> of .Mount Chocorua, 
New Hampshire. So much does it relish food of this character that 
during .Inly fruit constitutes 44 percent of the total food of the 
month. 
In addition to eating berries as Long as they last, it picks up their 
dry seeds and cracks them for the meat Long after the fruit pulp has 
disappeared and the seeds have been scattered on the ground. From 
January to May it feeds on the seeds of such fruits as the blueberry, 
blackberry, elderberry, and grape. Some of these are doubtless 
cracked by the bird's beak, and others by the muscular grinding giz- 
zards. Broken fragments of grape and blackberry seeds are often 
found in the stomachs of birds collected in the spring. Nearly one- 
third of the food contents of the stomachs of 33 whitethroats collet -led 
in Texas during January and February consisted of bits of the seeds 
or drupes of various wild berries. 
It is highly probable thai as these sparrows are picking up seeds of 
berries they gel some thai belonged to berries eaten at some previous 
time by berry-eating birds, whose stomachs were not powerful enough 
to crush the seeds, which, consequently, were voided and scattered 
upon the ground. This double consumption of seeds is also common 
to thedifVerent white-crowned and fox sparrows, the cardinal grosbeak, 
and the mourning dove. 
Some glass seed is consumed, principally seeds of such troublesome 
species as pigeon-grass, crab-grass and other panicums, ami Johnson 
grass. This elemenl forms about 5 percenl of the total food, and is 
taken chiefly during September, when it amounts to 24 percenl of the 
food of i lie month. A little amaranth and lamb's-quarters are eaten: 
and gromwell, chickweech wood sorrel, sedge, violet, and sheep sorrel 
are all represented in the diet. Bui the principal weed mt(|s found 
iii the stomachs are those of ragw 1 and differenl polygonums. As 
a destroyer of ragweed this sparrow seems to have no equal among 
finches, and the song sparrow is its only rival as a consumer of polyg- 
onums. I'll*' two weeds form 26 percenl of the food for the year, of 
