150 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. . 



rows of both sexes. All the birds were frightened aw^ay 

 except one female, which continued to snap up ants undis- 

 turbedly. She flew with a dozen up to her nest in the gutter 

 of a house, and immediately returned. At the end of five 

 minutes slie liad made three more trips, carrying to the young 

 forty-one, seventy-one, and fifty in the respective trips ; one 

 hundred and sixty-two white ants Avere thus disposed of in 

 five minutes. The systematic manner in which the bird 

 procured her supplies commanded admiration. She picked 

 up insect after insect in rapid succession, swallowed them 

 until her gullet appeared to be full, and then filled her 

 moutli so that a fringe of Avings stuck out on each side of 

 her bill. The destruction of white ants is a service, as they 

 have a habit of tunnelling into the wood-work of buildings. 

 Injuries occasioned in this way made it necessary in 1896 

 to remove the wooden floor of one of the largest rooms 

 of the United States National Museum and replace it Avith 

 cement." 



More than one-third of the food of the nestlings, hoAvever, 

 has been found to consist of grain. 



By large numbers of city people the sparroAvs are con- 

 sidered an umnitigated imisance on account of the filth they 

 cause. Wherever they appear abundantly, all available places 

 about houses and buildings are chosen either for purposes of 

 roosting or nesting. The excrement of the birds soils every- 

 thing beneath and is a constant source of annoyance. When 

 they roost among or over climbing vines, the foliage is often 

 killed outright by the droppings. 



There yet remains another count in the indictment against 

 the sparroAV, Avhich many nature-lovers consider the most 

 serious of all. We refer to its influence upon native song-birds. 

 Nearly all competent observers agree that this influence is 

 very baneful. The sparrows drive the native birds aAA^ay 

 from their nesting-places and molest them upon all sorts of 

 occasions. The bluebirds, martins, swalloAvs, native spar- 



