758 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
leaf beetles, and weevils. Of the vegetable food of the year 3 per cent consists of 
ragweed, 4 per cent grain (largely waste), 16 per cent polygonum (weed pests), and 
related seeds, 24 per cent grass seed and crab grass (more than half pigeon and crab 
grass), and 18 per cent miscellaneous seeds, such as wild sunflower, amaranth, 
lambs’ quarters, dandelion, dock, and sheep sorrel, 8 per cent berries (mainly wild 
and eaten in July before the weed seed is ripe). Taking its food as a whole it does 
much more good than harm. “ Only 2 per cent of the food consists of useful insects, 
while 18 per cent is composed of injurious insects; grain, largely waste, amounts to 
only 4 per cent, while the seeds of various species of weeds constitute 50 per cent” 
(Judd). 
General Habits. —Song Sparrows in general like to live near water 
and at Lake Burford in 1918, Doctor Wetmore found the Mountain 
Song Sparrows mainly inhabiting the fringing clumps and growths of 
dead tules ( Scirpus occidentals ) along the lakes, only venturing up 
into the sagebrush to feed and occasionally to nest. When visiting 
the lake, October 2, 1904, we secured two specimens in fresh fall plu¬ 
mage, although a few of their tail feathers were abraded. 
The Song Sparrow was not seen or heard in the Taos Mountains the 
summer of 1904 until we reached the Hondo Valley, August 11, when its 
familiar chirp and sweet song were heard in the thickets bordering the 
Hondo River. 
In inhabited regions it is one of the familiar dooryard birds, where 
it more than repays the proffer of drinking and bathing bowls by its 
gentle friendliness and its sweet rich song, full of home happiness. 
Additional Literature.—Pearson, T. G., Educational Leaflet 31, Nat. 
Assoc. Audubon Soc.— Rust, H. J., Condor, XIX, 34, 1917 (nest).— Wheeler, 
W. C., and J. T. Nichols, Auk, XLI, 444-451, 1924. 
MERRILL SONG SPARROW: Melospiza melddia merrilli Brewster 
Description.— Male: Length (skins) 5.G-6.4 inches, wing 2.G-2.7, tail 2.5-2.8, 
bill .4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 5.5-C.2 inches, wing 2.5-2.7, tail 2.4-2.8, bill .4-.5. 
Like the Mountain Song Sparrow but darker and more uniform above, the gray 
and brown of the back less strongly contrasted. 
Range. —Breeds in eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho, northwestern Montana, 
and Wyoming; winters south to northern California (east of humid coast belt), 
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Sonora. 
State Records. —A single specimen of the Merrill Song Sparrow was taken by 
Charles F. Batchelder at Las Vegas Hot Springs on December 15, 1882. 
LINCOLN SPARROW: Melospiza lincolni lincolni (Audubon) 
Description.— Male: Length (skins) 4.9-5.8 inches, wing 2.3-2.G, tail 2.1-2.4, 
bill .4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 4.5-5.4 inches, wing 2.1-2.4, tail 2-2.3. Adults: 
Top of head brown, streaked with black and with olive-grayish median stripe; 
upperparts light olive or buffy olive sharply streaked with black, the streaks widest 
on back; wings marked with rusty brown and black, tail light grayish brown, middle 
feathers with median dusky stripe; superciliary stripe and sides of neck, grayish, 
underparts with broad huffy chest band f finely streaked with black; buffy extending 
variably over sides of body, neck, and under tail coverts; rest of underparts white. 
