Jan. 1891.] 



AND ooLOCilST. 



March 12. Shot two 9. I spent very little 

 time in the field this year. 



18Si). December 1. Shot a fairly fjood 

 pliimaged $ and 9 to-day. Observed a i;reat 

 many of these birds in with tlie Snow U\im- 

 tings. 



December 7. Killed three $ and a 9 to-day. 



Jlarcli !•">. Observed several of these birds 

 feeding near the roadside in with a number of 

 Horned Larks. A friend of mine, who went 

 nut a great deal oftener than I was able to, 

 re|Mirted large tidcks of these birds ami the 

 Buntings. 



ISiK). .Spent mure time in the lii-bl this 

 spring, thus recording more birds. 



February 1."). Killed a $ Laiilaud and six 

 Buntings iu one shot to-day. 



February 22. .Saw a tlock nf peilia|is 

 seventy-five of tliese birds. 



March .">. Snowed four or live inches to- 

 day. Observed immen.se flocks of Buntiugs 

 and Longspurs. Shot four of the latter. 



>[arcli l."i. I'rcicurcd two ^ with a sling. 



March 211. Jly friend lirought mc in Ihrm-of 

 these to-day. 



December ]:!. ISllI). Shot a J tii-<lay. 



Owing, however, to the limited time I sjient 



ill the field during the winter and early 



sjiring months I diil not have ample time to 



ol)serve them as much as I wished. But on 



iiic|niriug anumg other ornithologists I find 



that this bird is not so rare as our friend Cint- 



well wouhl lead us to believe. 



Will <l<- la lUini'. 

 Minnr'apolis. \tirn). 



English Sparrows by the Thousand. 



In rhilailelphia. ou Cliestniit street, between 

 Eleventli and 'rwclftli streets, stands an old 

 fashioned house, of ample j)roportioiis, and 

 surrounded by gardens and greenhouses on 

 three sides. It is the qidy house used as a 

 private residence on Gliestnut street between 

 Front and Broad streets, a distance of over a 

 mile, as all the rest of the street, on both sides, 

 is given up to stores. It is the principal busi- 

 ness street of Philadelphia, ami thousands of 

 people pass by this (dd house every day. 



On the lower side of the house, .just inside 

 the brick wall that encloses the garden, stands 

 a tree about forty feet high, with many 

 branches; and every afternocui the English 

 Sparrows roost here literally by thousands. 

 Kvery branch is <'Overed with them, and they 

 are luiddled together as close as they can sit. 



To count them all would be impossible, but I 

 have seen over fifty on one branch. 



A long wall of an adjoining store is covered 

 with ivy and Virginia Creeper, and this forms 

 a convenient roosting place f<ir those bii'ds 

 that cannot find places on the tree. 



In walking past the tree on the way down 

 town in the morning one sees that not a single 

 bird is on it, but in passing by in the afternoon 

 how iliffereut is the sight that meets our eyes! 

 As before stated, every branch is so full that 

 it is a wou<ler (bat some of them do not break 

 down w ith the weight of the birds. 



.Such a chattering as they keeji up, too. just at 

 sunset time! Waves of sound are wafted to a 

 distance of over a block, and that, too, above 

 the (datter and din of nnuiy wagons, carriages, 

 h(use-cars and hundreds of peoiile passing to 

 and fro. 



The curious noise makes many people stoji 

 and look up, and they are all struck with 

 amazement at the .sight of so many thousamls 

 of birds roosting over tlieir heads in a ])ublic- 

 street, 



1) ukcr and darker grows the fading light, 

 while the elei-tiic lights tlash out, making a 

 kind of garish nnxudlgbt. Fainter and fainter 

 grow the sounds of the birds, and linally all 

 are asleep. Bain, snow or zero weather seems 

 to uKike no difference to them, for they are 

 always to be found in their favorite positi<ins 

 when nightfall ccunes cm. 



I cannot think that all these thousands of 

 birds live in the gardens surrounding that 

 house, for although they must measure two 

 huiulred feet by three hundred they would be 

 utterly run down with them. Ou the contrary 

 I believe that this roosting place is resorted to 

 by the sparrows from ndles ar(uunl. 



In riuladelphia there are a nundier of snnill 

 parks, and these are all full of these birds in 

 the daytime. May they not resort to this tiee 

 after the manner of the robin roosts so charm- 

 ingly described in a late unndK'r of Tin- Auk 

 by William Brewster? 



He that as it may, this sparrow roost is one 

 of the ''sights" of the city. It wcndd in)t 

 long remain as it is were it in France, for most 

 certainly many of the birds would be killed 

 and eaten. Here we content ouselves by pass- 

 ing off a few thiHisaixls of these birds as 

 "Keed Birds" (A. O. V. No. 4!14), when the 

 season is poor for those delicatdes. Many of 

 the people who buy them do not know enough 

 to recognize the difference iu their heads and 

 feet, ami the bodies being picked of all their 

 feathers, tbcv make fair " i'.obolinks." Of 



