538 
ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
Grass seeds and aquatic insects (De Kay). Principally grass seeds, wild oats, 
and insects (Wilson). Old birds in the spring, and the young, largely insects, 
principally coleopterous forms. After the breeding season, when the young are 
able to take care of themselves, almost entirely seeds of coarse grasses and 
sedges (Brewer). 
95. Melospiza fasciata (Gm.), Scott. SONG SPARROW. Group I. 
Class b. 
No Finch in Wisconsin is as abundant, and none of the summer residents ar¬ 
rive as early or tarry as late as this species. The borders of cultivated fields, 
and the fringing shrubbery of woodlands, groves and banks of streams are its 
favorite haunts; from these it sallies into the adjoining fields for food. They 
are particularly fond of the weedy hedges that often grow along neglected 
fences, and I am not sure but that these tangles so irritating to the thrifty farmer 
better be encouraged in the back fields rather than rooted out. Like the 
last species, it is insectivorous from its arrival until it leaves, and two if not 
three broods ai’e reared each season. I have found the young unable to fly as 
late as September 6th. 
Food: Of fifty-two specimens, twenty-nine had eaten a few or many seeds; 
one, two kernels of wheat; nine, twenty-five beetles — among them a lady-bird 
fCoccinella tibialisJ, several ground-beetles and lamellicorn beetles; four, five 
grasshoppers; three, four grasshopper’s eggs; one, a moth; one, two dragon¬ 
flies; one, a cricket; one, a spider; one, a millipede; two, four dipterous insects; 
one, a heteropterous insect; and one, small fungi, chiefly insects (De Kay). 
Grass seeds, some berries, grasshoppers and other insects, some of which it 
takes upon the wing (Audubon). Caterpillars and other larvae, and small moths. 
The canker-worm is a favorite article of food (Brewer). Seeds of weeds 
(Forbes). 
96. JuNco HYMEMALis (LiNN.), ScL. WINTER SNOWBIRD. Group I. 
. Class a. 
A very abundant migrant. A few summer in Northern Wisconsin. Weed- 
grown fields, the hedges along fences, the borders of groves and woods, and 
willow, osier and alder thickets are its favorite haunts, but it is much about 
dwellings and often enters villages. During their migrations these birds are 
almost exclusively graminivorous. 
Food: Seeds of foxtail grass, pigweed, and occasionally an insect. Seeds 
(Wilson). Grass seeds, berries, grains and insects (De Kay). Small berries, 
seeds of grasses, and other small plants, insects and larvae (Brewer). Seeds of 
weeds (Forbes). 
97. Spizella monticola (Gm.), Bd. TREE SPARROW. Group I. Class b. 
But very few, if any, of this late migrant remain during the winter. Late in 
March and early in April they pass us northward. Woods, groves, the banks 
of streams, and the tall weed and willow patches of marshes, are its usual 
haunts. After the 16th of October, 1877, these birds became very abundant all 
along the Flambeau river, where they frequented the willow and alder thickets 
in small troops. 
Food: Of fifteen examined all had eaten small seeds, one an insect, and one a 
spider. Beetles, hard seeds and berries (De Kay). Seeds of grasses and weeds 
(Samuels). Hard seeds, berries, beetles and moUusks (Audubon). Weed seeds 
((Coues). Beetles (Forbes). 
