t 
TOW the 
Fox Sparrow 
carries its 
tail 
Fox Sparrow 
drafifs out and 
eats an 
earth y worm 
few inches of his late antagonist. 
Fox Sparrows often fan out their handsome tails 
for an instant when engaged in fighting, but at most other 
times the tail is kept tightly closed. It is sometimes 
depressed so that the tip just touches or trails over the 
ground but as a rule it is carried at an angle a little 
above the line of the back and occasionally much higher 
than this, with the tips of the wings well below its base. 
The position at which it is held is frequently changed 
and it is often flirted prettily up and down or sideways 
as the bird hops about over the ground. On the whole, 
however, the Fox Sparrow gesticulates with its tail rather 
less than do most other birds. 
It is probable that Fox Sparrows scratch not 
alone for concealed seeds but also for animal food, as the 
following observation will show. As I was watching a 
bird digging a little pit into the soft, sandy soil in 
front of the cabin this afternoon, I saw it pause for an 
instant and, after bending its neck forward and down, 
pull out from the excavation a red earth-worm about three 
inches in length. This it held in its bill for an instant 
as if not quite knowing what to do with it. It then dropped 
the worm,which was immediately picked up by another Fox 
Sparrow who made short work of the wiggling creature, 
first separating it into three pieces, by biting and shaking 
it with its bill, and then eating these fragments without 
hesitation and indeed with very evident relish. 
