In the winter, the majority of their diet consists of small seeds of weeds and grasses, but when available they will also eat terrestrial vertebrates.[1] During the breeding season, they mainly feed on arthropods including insect larvae, ants, spiders, beetles, flies, moths, caterpillars, mayflies, and others.[2][8] Adults typically eat prey from higher trophic levels such as spiders, whereas they feed their chicks greater proportions of plant material and lower trophic level prey like grasshoppers.[9] They mostly forage on the ground in dense vegetation and, in the winter, may occasionally use bird feeders.[2] They catch prey with their bill while hopping on the ground[8] and typically swallow their prey whole.[2]