THE EXriLlSH SPAIU^OW AND THF, STARlJXd. MO 



insocls arr lakcii in laiv iiiiiiibers, us aiv also grasshoppers, 

 and both tiic black and green aphides that occur on apple- 

 trees and rose-bushes are eaten greedily. On one occasion 

 a Hock of si)an'o\vs c()ni})l('tely cleaned llie green aphis I'roni 

 some rose-bushes near my windows. It took tliem several 

 days to finish tlieir work, but they did it eti'ectually in the 

 end." 



Of the food eaten by nestlings ^ more than half consists of 

 insects. In liis account of tlie food of nestling birds Dr. Judd, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, has the following to say of 

 the English sparrow. 



" From April till August weevils and cutworms are taken 

 to the young from the Department lawns. Some interesting 

 observations on the insectivorous habits of young English 

 sparrows by Mr. George H. Berry, of North Livermore, Mahie, 

 are worth repeating in this connection.^ In a nest containing 

 three young he discovered the remains of two large moths, 

 the luna moth (Trojxea luna) and the cecropia motli (Samia 

 cecropia)^ a swallow-tailed butterfly (FapUio t(irniis), a mourn- 

 ing-cloak butterfly (Vanessa antiopa)^ and an unbroken speci- 

 men of the hairy larva of that pest of shade-trees, tlie tussock 

 moth (On/ijia Icucostigma). Wlien he i)laced a stick with 

 plenty of these larv?e near another brood, the parent birds 

 at first paid no attention to them, but subsequently they fed 

 three of them to their young. During three hours of observa- 

 tion a i)air of sparrows nottul by Mr. Berry fed to their nest- 

 lings sixty small green worms. ^lultitudes of insects may be 

 destroyed in this way. One morning, in the vicinity of the 

 Department of Agricultun^ thousands of winged while ants 

 (Termes flavlpes) were noticed by the writer swarming over 

 the sidewalk, and among these insects, picking them up with 

 surprising quickness, were half a dozen adult English spar- 



^ See 1900 Yearbook, Dopt. Agr., p. 4i'l. 



' Bulletin 1, Div. Ornilh. and Manini., D.'pl. A-r., \^. 21)1, 1889. 



