. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. 27 eaten only to a slight extent, so that as a whole the sparrows' insect diet may be considered beneficial. Their vegetable food is limited almost exclusively to hard seeds This might seem to indicate that the birds feed to some extent upon grain, but the stomachs examined show only one kind—oats—and but httle of that. The great bulk of the food is made up of grass and weed seed, which form almost the entire diet during winter, and the amount consumed is immense. Anyone acquainted with the agricultural region of the Upper Missis- sippi Valley can not h
. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. 27 eaten only to a slight extent, so that as a whole the sparrows' insect diet may be considered beneficial. Their vegetable food is limited almost exclusively to hard seeds This might seem to indicate that the birds feed to some extent upon grain, but the stomachs examined show only one kind—oats—and but httle of that. The great bulk of the food is made up of grass and weed seed, which form almost the entire diet during winter, and the amount consumed is immense. Anyone acquainted with the agricultural region of the Upper Missis- sippi Valley can not have failed to notice the enormous growth of weeds in every waste spot where the original swai d lias been Fig. 14.—Field sparrow. By the roadside, on the borders of cultivated fields, or in abandoned fields, wherever they can obtain a foothold, masses of rank weeds spring up, and often form impenetrable thickets which afford food and shelter for immense numbers of birds and enable them to withstand great cold and the most terrible blizzards. A person visiting one of these weed patches on a sunny morning in January, when the thermometer is 20° or more below zero, will be struck with the life and animation of the busy little inhabitants. Instead of sitting forlorn and half frozen, they may be seen flitting from branch to branch, twittering and fluttering, and showing every evidence of enjoyment and perfect comfort. If one. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles), 1840-1916. s. l. , s. n.
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Keywords: ., bookauthorb, bookcentury1900, bookpublisherslsn, booksubjectbirds
