i8 THE ANIMALS AND MAN 



habits of the birds, and offer a most interesting subject for 

 study. 



The English sparrow was first introduced into the United 

 States in 1850, and since that time has rapidly populated 

 most of the cities and towns of the country. On account of 

 its extreme adaptability to surroundings, its omnivorous 

 food-habits, and its fecundity, it survives where other birds 

 would die out. It also crowds out and has caused the dis- 

 appearance or death of other birds more attractive and more 

 useful. The sparrow annually rears five or six broods of 

 young, laying from six to ten eggs at each sitting. Unmo- 

 lested a single pair would multiply to a most astonishing 

 number. It has, however, many enemies, most common 

 among them perhaps being the "small boy," but birds and 

 mammals play the chief part in the destruction. The 

 smaller hawks prey upon it, and rats and mice destroy 

 great numbers of its young and of its eggs whenever the 

 nests can be reached. The sparrow is omnivorous, and 

 when driven to it is a loathsome scavenger, though at other 

 times its tastes are for dainty fruits. Its senses of perception 

 are of the keenest; it can determine friend or foe at long 

 range. The nesting habits are simple, the nests being 

 roughly made of any sort of twigs and stems mixed with 

 hair and feathers and placed in cornices or trees. A maple- 

 tree in a small Missouri town contained at one time thirty- 

 seven of these nests. 



