ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
539 
98. Spizella domestica (Bartr.), Coues. CHIPPING SPARROW; HAIR- 
Bil’l). Group I. Class a. 
No one of our native Finches has assumed such familiar relations with 
man as this si)ecies. It is constantly about dwellings in the summer, and 
it even presumes to place its nest, at times, on the brackets under the eaves ot 
the porches, almost within hand’s reach. Its services are especially valuable 
because it is so much on the ground, where it and the Robin, about dA\elliugs 
and in orchards and gardens, are almost alone. During rainy days it may often 
be seen with a cut-worm in its mouth, and fully one-third of its food duiing the 
summer consists of insects of various kinds. So far as I know, it is h.umless to 
garden seeds and never molests grains, while it feeds much upon the seeds of 
weeds. It nests in orchard trees and garden shrubs, among the branches of 
which it obtains a portion of its food, and is often doomed to become the foster 
parent of the heartless Cowbird. Marauding cats kill many of these birds, and, 
doubtless, prevent many more from nesting nearer dwellings. Properly con¬ 
structed buildings and traps should make cats unnecessaiy. 
Food: Of lifty-two specimens examined, twenty-seven had eaten small seeds; 
seven, ten caterpillars — among them a young S'pld)ix and thiee cut-woims, 
two, two moths; four, nine beetles; two, large winged ants; two, nine small 
heteropterous insects — among them seven individuals of the same species men¬ 
tioned under the Tennessee Warbler; three, three dipterous insects; and two, two 
grasshoppers. 
Small insects and seeds (De Kay). Canker-worm (Maynard). Canker-woim 
and other caterpillars and larvee (Brewer). Moths, caterpillars, beetles, among 
them curculios; leaf-hoppers, Reduviidae, grasshoppers and weed seeds (Forbes). 
It sometimes becomes a prey to the Sharp-shinned and Marsh Hawks and to the 
black snake (Samuels). 
99. Spizella agrestis (Bartr.), Coues. FIELD SPARROW. Group I. 
Class a. 
Not a very common summer resident. The borders of groves, hazel patches 
in pastures, the borders of woods and “clearings, and the hedges along field- 
fences are its usual haunts; from these it makes frequent excursions into the 
adjoining fields for food. It is sometimes two-brooded, and places its nest upon 
the ground or in trees or bushes. If it were more abundant it would be quite as 
serviceable in the fields as the Chippy is about dwellings. 
Food: Of seven specimens examined, four had eaten small weed seeds; one, a 
caterpillar; one, two grasshoppers; one. a very small heteropterous insect; one, 
a harvest-man; and one, a spider. In the stomachs of two theie weie bits of 
insects, none of which were identified. 
Caterpillars, beetles, hemiptera and the seeds of weeds. TenebrionidaB among 
beetles (Forbes). 
100. Spizella pallida (Sw. ), Bp. CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. 
Group I. Class b. 
Thirteen specimens which answered closely to descriptions of this species, 
and which differed markedly, it appeared to me, from domestica and agrestis, hav¬ 
ing been taken in Wisconsin — four in Green Lake, two in Waushara, and seven 
in Jefferson county,— and I have no doubt that my identification has been cor¬ 
rect. They frequent the edges of groves and woods bordering dry fields, past- 
