Food: The diet of the Song Sparrow consists largely of the seeds of harmful weeds. It also feeds upon insects such as ants, beetles, and weevils. The beak of this Sparrow is comparatively large and strong. It is well adapted to open large seed pods in order to reach and eat the kernel within.
Henry Van Dyke has written a little poem about the Song Sparrow. The first stanza of the poem, from “Builders and Other Poems” is given here:
There is a bird I know so well,
It seems as if he must have sung
Beside my crib when I was young;
Before I knew the way to spell
The name of even the smallest bird,
His gentle, joyful song I heard.
Now see if you can tell, my dear,
What bird it is that every year,