. Birds of a Maryland farm : a local study of economic ornithology . were ready to cut on the Hungerford farm, thepolony was closely watched. The young wore on the wing and the 68 BIRDS OF A MARYLAND FARM. whole flock was expected to resort to the grain fields, but none wereseen to enter them. On June L8, however, when oats were being cut,several birds were noted feeding on thorn in two instances. English Sparrow. The English sparrow (fig. 26) is the most highlygranivorous bird on the farm. The stomachs of 53 birds—IT nest-linos and 36 adults were collected. Grain had been eaten by 8 of theyou
. Birds of a Maryland farm : a local study of economic ornithology . were ready to cut on the Hungerford farm, thepolony was closely watched. The young wore on the wing and the 68 BIRDS OF A MARYLAND FARM. whole flock was expected to resort to the grain fields, but none wereseen to enter them. On June L8, however, when oats were being cut,several birds were noted feeding on thorn in two instances. English Sparrow. The English sparrow (fig. 26) is the most highlygranivorous bird on the farm. The stomachs of 53 birds—IT nest-linos and 36 adults were collected. Grain had been eaten by 8 of theyoung—a Large proportion, for nearly all nestlings are almost exclu-sively Insectivorous. It formed 86 percent of the food of the but two having taken it. Six had selected oats. 14 wheat, and 15corn. The number of English sparrows on the two farms varied from200 to L,000. They fed on grain whenever and wherever it was attain-able. They did not appear to hurt sprouting fields, but did con-siderable harm to standing crops. Jn 1898 lot 4 was in wheat, and. Fig. ; about the middle of June, when it was nearly ready for cutting, a stripl>(M) yards long beside the fence near the storage barn was foundbroken down by sparrows. The loss by this mischief was even greaterthan that by their continual thefts from the rest of the field. A yearlater they mined in the same way a strip of wheat several yards wide,extending from the negro cabin to Persimmon Branch, and also sec-tions of oal fields on the upper part of the Hungerford farm. Theyattacked both wheat and oats in the shock, and stole much of thegrain in the cap sheaves. They were seen feeding on corn in themilk, but probably selected ears that had already been torn open bycrows; Dr. A. K. Fisher, however, has observed English sparrows atChevy Chase. opening and eating tin1 tip ends of ears of corn GBAIN. 69 without any aid from crows. Whenever stock was fed with grain they were always on hand to gel their p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsma, bookyear1902
