FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC.: FOX SPARROW 
729 
grasshoppers. On the prairies and plains it also docs much good in helping to check 
the invasions of the Rocky Mountain locust. In an outbreak of locusts, they made 
up over 91 per cent of its diet. It also eats great numbers of alfalfa weevils. One 
half of its vegetable food consists of seeds of grain and grass. Pigeon grass and John¬ 
son grass are both eaten freely. The weed seed, including pigweed, destroyed, more 
than twice outweighs the grain consumed, and the grain is doubtless largely waste; 
beneficial insects are less than 1 per cent, while injurious insects, including the alfalfa 
weevil, constitute 25 per cent of the food. 
General Habits. —When going down from the mountains in the 
breeding season, on reaching the nut pine and juniper belt we were 
greeted by the bright, vivacious, and strikingly burred song of the 
Western Lark Sparrow. A nest that we discovered on the high plains, 
we were pleased to find, was protectingly sunk in the ground under a 
catsclaw. 
Arriving at Mesilla Park late in March or early in April, the 
Lark Sparrow stays until about October; a few even into November. 
Here, Professor Merrill has found it only in the valley, where it prefers 
the settled regions, being common in the edges of groves and orchards 
that open onto fields, where it mostly nests. It may also be seen about 
corrals and along roadsides picking up spilled grain to vary its diet. 
When in thickets, the Professor says, “this species with the Painted 
Bunting and Western Blue Grosbeak will often hold a warbling concert, 
and one can not tell to whom goes the prize” (MS). 
So adaptable are the Lark Sparrows that they will even exchange 
the open range for the city lawn and, as Mr. Tyler expresses it, lead 
“happy and useful lives amid the orchards and vineyards,” affording 
pleasure to passersby with their rich songs and quaint courtship man¬ 
ners. They sing all day long, even during the hottest part of summer. 
Even at night, when most birds are asleep, they contribute to our 
pleasure. “Aside from the inimitable Western Mockingbird,” Mr. 
Tyler writes, “ I know of no other bird that sings so often at night. On 
more than one occasion I have refrained from sleep in order to listen to 
the notes that ring out with such wonderful sweetness when heard in 
the still night hours when all other bird voices are hushed” (1913, p. 79). 
Describing their song, Mr. Ridgway says, it “begins with a chant of 
clear ringing notes . . . then follows a silvery trill—the very expression 
of emotion—and then a succession of sprightly, sparkling notes, varied 
by rising and falling cadences, finally dying away until scarcely audible, 
but immediately resumed in all its sprightliness and vigor, and continued 
as before, until the singer seems actually exhausted by his efforts” 
(1877, p. 469). 
[SLATE-COLORED FOX SPARROW: Passerella iliaca schistacea Baird 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) G.2-7.2 inches, wing 3.1-3.4, tail 2.0-3.4, 
bill .4-.5. Fcmale: Length (skins) 6-6.6 inches, wing 3-3.2, bill .4-.5. Bill strictly 
conic, wings long and pointed, tail moderate, feet large and strong, daws all very 
