Auk, XIII, Oct. , 1890 , p jo, Z 8 <f, 
FEEDING HABITS OF THE ENGLIS H SP ARROW AND 
CROW. 
BY SYLVESTER D. JUDD. 
In ‘ The English Sparrow in America ’ (Bull. U. S. Department 
of Agriculture) Prof. W. B. Barrows has shown what a pest the 
Sparrow is. I wish to comment upon several of the hundreds of 
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at the upper end. It is in this stage of the flower cycle, that the 
dandelion suffers from the attacks of the English Sparrow. The 
bird removes several of the scales of the inner involucre by a 
clean cut close to the receptacle, thus exposing the plumed seeds, 
or, more properly speaking, achenes. He seizes a mouthful of 
them between the plume and seeds, and then by a cut of the bill 
the plumes are lopped off, while the seeds are swallowed. In 
many cases, especially when hunger presses, the trouble of remov- 
ing plumes is not taken. The Sparrow generally drops a score of 
seeds in tearing open a flower, and usually leaves the few seeds 
that cling to the periphery of the receptacle. The mutilation 
caused by the Sparrow’s beak can be detected until the flower 
stalk dries and falls. 
On the 29th of last April, I picked every dandelion flower 
stalk from a circle six feet in diameter on the grounds of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, where the lawn had a week pre- 
vious been yellow with the flowers. One hundred and thirty-five 
of the stalks showed the unmistakable mark of the Sparrow’s bill. 
More than half of the dandelions that bloomed in April on the 
lawns of the U. S. Department of Agriculture were damaged by 
Sparrows. 
Later in the season, Sparrows feast upon the seeds of crab grass 
(Panicum sangninale ) , which grows in profusion about Washington. 
The seeds of another crab grass ( Eleusine ), not included in Prof. 
Barrow’s list, were taken from a stomach in June, 1895. In early 
spring the Sparrow often may be seen eating the first tender 
blades of grass. I have also seen it eating the leaves of Cheli- 
donium 7 najus. In Cambridge and Washington the Sparrows often 
subsist to quite an extent, upon the seeds of chickweed ( Stellaria 
and Cerastiuni) . 
Along with hundreds of other observers I have seen Sparrows 
