An Additional Note on English Sparrows Feeding on Ants
An Additional Note on English Sparrows Feeding on Ants.-In the Condor for November, 1935 (pp. 284, 285) Uhl R. Kuhn reports English Sparrows (Passer domestics) feeding on ants, and considers this an unusual food habit of this species. Mr. Kuhn was fortunate in his opportunity of observing them feeding on ants that had just been uncovered. I would not venture to say to what extent this feeding habit may be unusual, for it would be easy to overlook birds picking up an ant here and there among grass and other vegetation.
Through an observation in the summer of 1940 at my home near McMillan, Lute County, Michigan, I can add another case of the English Sparrow feeding on ants. A female was coming often about the well, and I noticed her taking ants that were on the boards at that place. As the ants became scarce, the bird’s trips to the spot decreased; the locality was soon deserted by the bid after a few trips had met in failure in finding ants.-OSCAR MCKINLEY BRYENS, ~McMillan, Lace County, Michigan, December 20, 1941.
