2 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



numerous nesting boxes all over the place and to liberate the sparrows. 

 They soon filled all the new boxes, and also drove away the purple 

 martins, tree swallows, and house wrens from all the older boxes. 

 When the neighbors' cats killed a few of the precious sparrows, which 

 were the newest pets and were zealously guarded, my uncle became so 

 angered that he ordered his coachman to "kill every cat in the neigh- 

 borhood." My uncle drove in that night to find the coachman with 

 nine of the neighbors' cats laid out on the stable floor, a cause for some 

 profanity. It was not long, however, before my uncle began to miss 

 the martins, swallows, and wrens and to realize that the sparrows 

 were not as desirable as expected; so he ordered the coachman to 

 reduce them. This he did effectively by digging a trench and filling 

 it with grain, so that he could kill large numbers with a single raking 

 shot. But the martins, swallows, and wrens never returned. This 

 incident is typical of what happened in many other places before we 

 realized that we had made a great mistake in importing this undesirable 

 alien. 



Walter B. Barrows (1889), in his Bulletin on this species, quotes the 

 following account by Nicolas Pike of his efforts to get the English 

 sparrow established in this country: 



It was not till 1850 that the first eight pairs were brought from England to the 

 Brooklyn Institute, of which I was then a director. We built a large cage for 

 them, and cared for them during the winter months. Early in the spring of 1851 

 they were liberated, but they did not thrive. 



In 1852 a committee of members of the Institute was chosen for the re-intro- 

 duction of these birds, of which I was chairman [sic]. 



Over $200 was subscribed for expenses. I went to England in 1852, on my way 

 to the consul-generalship of Portugal. On my arrival in Liverpool I gave the 

 order for a large lot of Sparrows and song birds to be purchased at once. They 

 were shipped on board the steam-ship Europa, if I am not mistaken, in charge of 

 an officer of the ship. Fifty Sparrows were let loose at the Narrows, according 

 to instructions, and the rest on arrival were placed in the tower of Greenwood 

 Cemetery chapel. They did not do well, so were removed to the house of Mr. 

 John Hooper, one of the committee, who offered to take care of them during the 

 winter. 



In the spring of 1853 they were all let loose in the grounds of Greenwood 

 Cemetery, and a man hired to watch them. They did well and multiplied, and 

 I have original notes taken from time to time of their increase and colonization 

 over our great country. 



Barrows lists the following other places in which the sparrows were 

 introduced directly from Europe: Portland, Maine, in 1854 and 1858 

 Peacedale, R. I., in 1858; Boston, Mass., 1858-60; New York, 1860-66 

 Rochester, N. Y., between 1865 and 1869; New Haven, Conn., 1867 

 Galveston, Tex., 1867; Charlestown, Mass., 1869; Cleveland, Ohio 

 1869 ; Philadelphia, Pa., 1869 or earlier; Salt Lake City, Utah, 1873-74 

 Akron, Ohio, 1875; Fort Howard, Wis., 1875; Sheboygan, Wis., 1875 



