24 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



land; south to northern and central-eastern Baja California, Guerrero, 

 Coahuila, Michoacan, southern Tamaulipas, the shores of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, southern Florida (to Key West), Cuba, Jamaica, and 

 Bermuda. 



Egg dates. — Ontario, Canada: 9 records, April 4 to July 5. 



California: 50 records, March 18 to July 19. 



Illinois: 34 records, May 10 to July 5. 



North Dakota: 12 records, June 10 to 20. 



PASSER MONTANUS MONTANUS (Linnaeus) 



European Tree Sparrow 

 HABITS 



This pretty little weaver finch is widely distributed throughout the 

 Eurasian continent, but less common and more local in England. 

 Witherby's Handbook (1919) gives its distribution as "Europe gener- 

 ally and Siberia. Replaced by closely allied forms in east Siberia, 

 Japan, Turkestan, and Persia, India and China, Greater Sunda 

 Islands, Hainan and Formosa." 



Although we have only comparatively recently decided to place our 

 two species of Passer in the family Ploceidae, it is interesting to note 

 that this was being discussed as long ago as when Yarrell (1876) wrote 

 his "History of British Birds." 



As an American bird, the European tree sparrow is known only in the 

 vicinity of St. Louis, Mo., where it was originally introduced and 

 whence it apparently has not spread very far. Otto Widmann gave 

 Barrows (1889) the following interesting account of its introduction 

 and its struggle with the more aggressive house sparrow: 



Early in 1870 a Saint Louis bird dealer imported, among other birds, twenty- 

 Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) direct from Germany. Mr. Kleinschmidt, 

 hearing of it, persuaded Mr. Daenzer, of the Anzeiger des Western, who was at 

 that time experimenting with the introduction of European singing birds, to con- 

 tribute to the purchase of these birds. Accordingly they were bought and taken 

 to Lafayette Park, in the then southwestern part of the city, and liberated April 

 25, 1870. All left the park immediately, and none were seen again until April 24 

 of the following year, when a single bird was seen one mile east of the park. 

 This discovery was considered worthy of mention in the public press, since at 

 that time the introduction of the European Sparrow at Saint Louis was thought 

 to be a failure. 



During the next few years dealers had pairs of House Sparrows sent from 

 New York, and well-meaning citizens bought them for liberation, but the exact 

 number can not be learned, since the principal parties have died. Both species 

 increased amazingly, and as early as 1875 Passer had spread over the entire 

 64 square miles which make up the city of Saint Louis. In the Southern part 

 the Tree Sparrow predominated [sic], and as late as 1877 no House Sparrow 



