1911] Cole, Trematocle Parasite of English Sparrow. 45 



appearance at this time at a point so far inland, presents certain 

 interesting questions. If the parasite came to this country with 

 the English sparrow, why has it not been observed before this, 

 and why did it not appear first in the New England states or at 

 least along the Atlantic seaboard ? 7 



and it i.s not likely to have been introduced by the starlings since 

 it has not been reported on them in this country, and, moreover, 

 this species is still confined to a small territory along the Atlantic 

 coast. The possibility remains, of course, that it may have been 

 introduced on canaries and so have infected the sparrows in this 

 locality. 



Such data as were accumulated on the prevalence and effects 

 of the epidemic of last June may not be without some value. For 

 the observations on which the accompanying table is based, I am 

 indebted to Prof. J. G. Halpin of the Poultry Department, who, 

 at my request, examined such sparrows as came into his hands. 

 It will be noted that in all 64 young sparrows were examined 

 during the period between June 15 and July 24, and that of these 

 20, or a little more than 31 per cent., harbored the parasite. All 

 of these except eleven were old enough to fly ; of the eleven young 

 taken from nests four were already parasitized. In no case 

 examined were the parasites present on adult birds. Furthermore 

 as the table shows, all young examined after July 14 were also 

 free from infection, although young birds were present about the 

 poultry yards even in August and occasional ones, not represented 

 in the table, after July 24. were examined. 



There have probably been no recent importations of sparrows, 



7) Prof. Ward (in lift.) mentions a newspaper account of a sparrow 

 epidemic in the East which was apparently similar to the one here 

 reported, but he had no definite reference to the same. 



