Their harvest of panic seed.

September 26. 

Another smart frost, making dry walking amid the stiffened grass in the morning. 

The purple grass (Eragrostis pectinacea) done. Perhaps the first smart frost finished its purple.

I observe that the seeds of the Panicum sanguinale and filiforme are perhaps half fallen, evidently affected by the late frosts, as chestnuts, etc., will be by later ones; and now is the time, too, when flocks of sparrows begin to scour over the weedy fields, especially in the morning. Methinks they are attracted to some extent by this their harvest of panic seed. 

The spikes of P. Crus-galli also are partially bare.

Evidently the small granivorous birds abound more after these seeds are ripe. 

The seeds of pigweed are yet apparently quite green. Maybe they are somewhat peculiar for hanging on all winter.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 26, 1858


The seeds of the Panicum sanguinale and filiforme are perhaps half fallen.--This their harvest of panic seed. See September 4, 1858 ("P. sanguinale, crab grass, finger grass, or purple panic grass.");September 12, 1858 ("The Panicum filiforme is very abundant ... and, seen in the right light, where they stand thick, they give a purple gleam to the field. ")

The spikes of P. Crus-galli also are partially bare. See September 13, 1858 ("There is a man there mowing the Panicum Crus-galli, which is exceedingly rank and dense.")

Now is the time, too, when flocks of sparrows begin to scour over the weedy fields, especially in the morning. See September 17, 1858 (“Methinks, too, that there are more sparrows in flocks now about in garden”);  September 27, 1858 ("What are those little birds in flocks in the garden and on the peach trees these mornings, about size of chip-birds, without distinct chestnut crowns?”); October 3, 1860 ("I have seen and heard sparrows in flocks, more as if flitting by, within a week, or since the frosts began.") October 5, 1858 (“I still see large flocks, apparently of chip birds, on the weeds and ground in the yard.”); October 10, 1853 ("There are . . . large flocks of small sparrows, which make a business of washing and pruning themselves in the puddles in the road, as if cleaning up after a long flight and the wind of yesterday.”); 

The seeds of pigweed are somewhat peculiar for hanging on all winter. See February 13, 1853 ("I am called to window to see a dense flock of snowbirds, on and under the pigweed in the garden. "); February 10, 1855 ("t is worth the while to let some pigweed grow in your garden, if only to attract these winter visitors. "); January 2, 1856 ("I see, near the back road and railroad, a small flock of eight snow buntings feeding on the the seeds of the pigweed.")