Wellington Philosophical Society. 601 



seasons of the year, he considered that the sparrow was an insectivorous 

 bird in the strictest sense ; and, believing as he did that the balance of 

 evidence was strongly in his favour, he never lost an opportunity, in 

 public or in private, of putting in a plea for poor persecuted Passer domcsti- 

 cus. He declared that during the breeding-season the sparrow was the 

 farmer's best friend, for the young broods were fed entirely on insect-food. 

 Mr. Kirk's observations on the fecundity of this bird in New Zealand 

 would give some idea of the great service he performed. The sparrow had 

 also proved instrumental in exterminating the variegated Scotch thistle — 

 which at one time threatened to overrun this country — by feeding on the 

 seeds, and preventing their dissemination. 



IMr. Denton said that it was almost impossible to keep sparrows entirely 

 alive on grain ; they must have insects. 



Mr. Hudson remarked that of course the great disappearance in insect- 

 life here would in some measure be accounted for by the clearing of the 

 bush and draining of the swampy land : no doubt the sparrow had done 

 his share. He did not think it much advantage to have the Cicadcs de- 

 stroyed, for they did no harm. 



Mr. Travers differed from Mr. Hudson. The CfcaJis damaged the in- 

 troduced trees considerably, and often so much so as to cause them to die 

 altogether. 



Mr. Richardson pointed out that numbers of sparrows were often de- 

 stroyed by strong gales of wind and rain. 



Mr. Kirk, in reply, said that most of the discussion was on points 

 which had not been raised in his paper. Indeed, he had speciallj' men- 

 tioned that there was not yet to hand sufhcient reliable evidence on which 

 to found an impartial judgment as to whether the sparrow was more bene- 

 ficial than hurtful to agriculture and horticulture. As, however, the ques- 

 tion had been introduced, he would state that when he entered upon this 

 investigation he was as staunch a supporter of the sparrow as Mr. Travers 

 or Sir Walter BuUer. He was afraid, however, that he should now have 

 to modify his views very much. There could be no doubt that the spar- 

 row ate many thousands of insects, and did a vast amount of good. The 

 point to be settled was, did he exact more grain, fruit, &c., in payment 

 for those services than those services were worth ? He was intimately 

 acquainted with M. Michelet's book, "The Bird," referred to by Mr. 

 Travp'-'^ ; but he must draw attention to the fact that the author's re- 

 marks did not apply to New Zealand, where the rate of increase of the 

 sparrow was phenomenal. He was, of course, aware that the large hawk 

 mentioned did not feed on living birds, and was therefore the more sur- 

 prised that the sparrows should venture to attack such a powerful 

 opponent. Exception had been taken to his calculations, and ^Ir. Travers 

 stated that at the rate mentioned the air would be "full of sparrows." 

 He had already said that the calculation was based upon the assumption 

 that no active agencies were employed by man for the destruction of the 

 sparrow ; but we all knew that poisoning on a large scale was indulged 

 in. He was convinced that one-third of the annual increase was ample 

 to allow for accidental and natural deaths. He might mention that 

 the balance of evidence so fa,r was against the sparrow. Miss Ormc- 

 rod. Consulting Entomologist to the Royal -Agricultural Society, a most 

 ardent champion of the sparrow, had investigated the question in Eng- 

 land, and had been obliged to abandon his cause. Professor Riley, Ento- 

 mologist, and Messrs. Hartman and Barrens, Ornithologists of the United 

 States Department of .'\griculture, had been compelled to cast their votes 

 against the '• cussed little Britisher." If the sparrow had been con- 

 demned in England, where, according to Sir Walter Buller, it usually 

 reared but two broods a year, what would be the result in this country, 

 where the ofitput from a single nest was five, six, and even seven broods 

 a season '? The sparrow did good work by eating the seeds of the large 

 thistle, but the goldfinch and green linnet indulged even more in that 



