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Food Habits of the House Sparrow Passer Domesticus Indicus in an Arid Environment

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Food Habits of the House Sparrow Passer Domesticus Indicus in an Arid Environment Jap. J. Ornithol. 35: 125-128, 1987 Food Habits of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus indicus in an Arid Environment D. B. RANA and M. IDRIS CentralArid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur-342003,India 乾燥環境におけるイエスズメの食性 B.D.ラ ナ ・M.イ ド リス インド・中央乾燥帯研究所 The House Sparrow Passer domesticus indicus is widely distributed on the Indian sub-continent. It inhabits even remote arid zones, which receive less than 100 mm rainfall (RANA 1973). Besides being abundant in the residential complexes, inflicting losses to storage grains, it damages crop fields which are of economic importance in the Indian agriculture (ALI 1972, SIMWAT 1974). Nothing is known about seasonal variations in the food habits of this sparrow, which is found predominantly in the irrigated and rainfed crop fields in the Rajasthan desert. In this paper, attempts have been made to describe the crop contents analysis of this bird, inhabiting Indian arid zone. STUDY AREA The study was carried out in and around Jodhpur (26*18'N, 73*08'E). The annual amount of precipitation varied from 250 to 300 mm. The mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures were 33.45* and 19.64* respectively. The relative humidity ranged from 39 to 82% during the year. Seasons are categorised as winter (December to February), summer (March to June), monsoon (July to September), and post monsoon (October to November). The study area is typical Indian desert and the main vegetation is Cenchrus ciliaris, C. biflorus, C. prieurii, Eleusine compressa, Aristida adcensiones, Brachiaria ramosa, Panicum antidotale, P. turgidum, Dichanthium annulatum, and Lasiurus sindicus. The herb composition is represented by Tephrosia purpurea, Indigofera linifolia, Boerhavia diffusa, Zizyphus nummularia, and Capparis decidua. The important trees are Prosopis cineraria, Acacia tortilis, A. senegal, Azadi- rachta indica, and Albizzia lebbek. Millet, wheat, mustard, pulses and vegetables are also cultivated. MATERIAL AND METHODS Five hundred and ten free living House Sparrows were collected with the help of mist net every month from January to December, 1985. The sparrows collected were weighed, sexed and dissected. The contents of the crop and gizzard were spread on a paper sheet and dried at room temperature. Food components of all the 126 B. D. RANA and M. IDRIS [Jap. VolJ. Ornithol..35 No.4 sparrows collected during a season were mixed and considered as one sample. Later on, different food items were sorted out, identified and measured by dry weight on the semi-micromettler balance. Student 't' test was applied for comparison purpose. RESULTS Seasonal variations in the food eaten are described as under: Winter season: During this season, the House Sparrow fed predominantly on wheat which represented 60.2% of the food taken. Other cereal crops (millet, gram and barley) accounted for 20.7%. The House Sparrow also fed on insects (9.4%) particularly wheat aphids Macrosiphum miscanthi. Among vegetables, palak Spinacea oleracea and methi Trigonella foeneumgraecum were recorded 4.5 and 5.2% respectively (Table 1). Summer season: During summer period, the occurrence of wheat increased to 70.0%. The other food items were barley (10.2%) and vegetables (10.2%. However, the insect proportion dropped to 6.1% (Table 1). Mostly gelechiids (Noctuidae) were eaten by the sparrows during April, which corresponds with their breeding season in the Rajasthan desert. Monsoon season: During monsoon, the frequency of occurrence of millet was increased to 15.0%. On the other hand, the wheat grain occurrence dropped signi- ficantly (P<0.01) to 10.0% as compared to summer season (Table 1). The decrease in a graminivorous diet was compensated for by an increase in the insect diet (29.9%). The other food items were moong Vigna radiata (15.0%) and moth Vigna acontifolia (5.0%). The soft leaf blades of guar seedlings Cyamopsis tetragonoloba were also included in their diet. Palak and methi were found 5.0% each of its menu. The insects identified were castor semilooper Achaea janata, sorghum shootfly Atherigona Table 1. Seasonal variations in the food of Passer domesticus inducus. n=Number of the birds collected. June] 1987 FoodHabits of the HouseSparrow 127 varia, grey weavil Myllocerus sp., and jassids Odontotermes obesus, and Microtermes obesi (Family Termitidae, subfamily Termitinae). Post monsoonseason: Table 1 indicates that the higher percentages of bajra (30.8 ), insects (23.0%) and vegetables (20.0%) were recorded. The other important %food items were three species of legumes (15.6%). Insects were represented by Chilo zonellus (Lepidoptera), surface grasshoppers Chrotogonus trachypterus, and pulse beetle Bruchus affinis. DISCUSSION Studies of food habits of P. domesticus conducted elesewhere have revealed that this is an omnivorous bird (SAMUEL1951, WRIGHT1959). The results of the present study indicate that House Sparrows feed mainly on wheat, millet and insects in the Indian desert. SIMWAT(1974) described that among cereals wheat featured predominantly from February to August and pearl millet from September to October at Ludhiana, Punjab. Similarly, the present study showed that among cereals wheat was the main food of P. domesticus during winter, summer and monsoon seasons. The maximum frequency of occurrence of insects was found dur- ing March and May to July at Ludhiana, Punjab (SIMWAT1974). During July to September (monsoon season), insects featured a peak level in the diet of P. domesticus. This may be explained by the facts that House Sparrows breed during this period in the Indian desert (RANA& IDRIS1986), the insect protein rich diet probably helps the sparrows in sustaining the breeding stress. Second, it has been observed that this bird nourishes their nestlings on insects during early part of developmental stages. Analysis of total annual food of this passerine bird indicated that the sparrow feeds mainly on-wheat (30.8%), followed by weeds (16.2%), pearl millet (12.0%), rice (11.1%) and insects (8.1%) at Ludhiana, Punjab (SIMWAT1974). Another study conducted in the same locality by SEKHON(1966) revealed that this sparrow predominantly feeds upon wheat (34.0%), followed by pearl millet (31.0%), ground nut (19.0%), and sorghum (13.0%). Similarly, the House Sparrow prefers wheat, millet, insects, legumes and vegetables in the western Rajasthan desert, Jodhpur. When we compare the food preferred by sparrow populations inhabiting two differ- ent agro-climatic zones, i.e. Ludhiana and Jodhpur, it is indicated that this bird fed a greater variety of cereals, pulses, and pest insects at the former locality as com- pared to the latter. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are gratefulto Dr. K. A. SHANKARNARAYAN, Director of the Institute for providing neces- sary facilities. Thanks are also due to Dr. J. P. MITTALfor his kind cooperation during the course of this study. SUMMARY House Sparrows were collected in and around Jodhpur (26*10'N-73*08'E)from January to December, 1985. The contents of crop and gizzard were dissected,sorted out, identifiedand measured by dry weight method. This revealed that during the winter period, cereals composed80.9% of the food items (by dry weight). They fed chieflyon wheat, followedby barley, vegetablesand insectsduring summer. 128 B.D. RANAand M. IDRIS [JaP. J. Ornithol.Vol.35.No.4 During monsoon, the main diet. was composed of insects and cereals. Bajra was the highest proportion, followed by the legumes during the post monsoon season. A comparison of seasonal variations in the feeding habits of two populations of House Sparrow inhabiting Ludhiana, Punjab and Jodhpur, Rajasthan desert was made and discussed. 摘 要 イ ン ドのジョ ドブル周 辺 で,1983年1月-1２月に,イ エ ス ズ メ Passet domesticus indicusを 補 獲 し,〓 嚢 お よび 砂 嚢 の内 容 物 を 選 別 ・同定 して 重 量 を測 定 した.冬 期 間 自然 状 態 で この 種 が 喰べた 殻類 は,年 間 総 内容 量 の80.9%を 占め た.夏 に は お もに コ ムギ の ほ か,オ オ ム ギ,植 物,お よび昆 虫 を捕 っ て い た.雨 期 の 間 のお もな 餌は 昆 虫 と殻 類 で あ った.雨 期 後 は 種 子類 が最 も高 い 割 合 を 占め た の が特 徴 で,つ い で マ メ類 が 多 か った.パ ソ ジ ャ ブ州 ル ジア ナ と ラ ジ ャス タ ン砂 漠 のジョ ドブル の イ エ ス ズ メ個 体 群 に つ い て,食 性 の季 節 変 化 を 比 較 して 論 じた . LITERATURE CITED ALL, S., 1972. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus(L.). The book of Indian birds: 129. Bambay, Bombay Natural History Society. RANA, B. D., 1973. Birds in 100mm rainfall zone. Newsletter for Bird Watchers 3 (8): 9. RANA, B. D., & M. IDRIS,1986. Breeding biology of Passer domesticus in the Indian desert. Z. angew. Ortnithol. In press. SAMUEL,C. K., 1951. The Indian House Sparrow, Passer domesticus L. var. indicus Lard. Selby, as a serious orchard and wheat pest in Baluchistan. Indian J. Entomol. 11: 219-220. SEKHON,S. S., 1966. Studies on nidification, behaviour and damage by sparrows and parrots in the Punjab. M. Sc. thesis, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (unpublished). SIMWAT,G. S., 1974. Studies on the feeding habits of House Sparrow, Passer domestidus (L.) and its nestling in Punjab.J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 74: 175-179. WRIGHT,E. N., 1959. Bird damage to horticultural crops. J Roy. Hort. Soc. 84: 426-434. (Received 21 March 1987) .
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