An Observation on the Feeding Habits of 
the Chipping Sparrow 
BY CLARENCE M. WEED 
I T is now generally acknowledged that birds are of 
great importance as checks upon insect life. 
The studies made by several American investi- 
gators upon the food of birds have shown beyond 
all doubt that these feathered allies of the farmer 
are essential to successful agriculture. 
In the investigations yet recorded there have 
been comparatively few observations of the pre- 
cise daily feeding habits of birds under natural 
conditions. This is necessarily so because of the 
difficulty of making such observations. In this short bulletin 
I wish to record a series of observations made during one 
long day in June (the 22d) by my assistant, Mr. W. F. Fiske, 
and myself upon a family of chipping sparrows ( Spizella 
socialis) that had nested in a small juniper near a window 
from inside of which they could easily be watched. The nest 
contained three young sparrows, so nearly full grown that they 
hopped out of the nest the second day after these records 
were made. 
The observations began at 3 : 40 a.m., somewhat before full 
daylight. The bird was then on the nest and remained there 
quietly for ten minutes. From this I judged that the daily 
task had not yet begun, it being too dark before 3 140 for even 
the early worm to be seen. Between 3 : 50 and 3 : 55 the bird 
left the nest, returning at 3 : 57 with a small object, apparently 
a piece of earthworm, in its beak. Three hungry looking 
mouths were widely opened, into one of which the morsel was 
