234 Transactions. 



his decree, and was glad to pay large sums of money to import 

 consignments of sparrows from other countries. In England in 

 recent years the sparrow has been condemned by Miss E. A. 

 Ormerod, and by the English Board of Agriculture. Even at 

 the recent Ornithologists' Conference in England it was severely 

 dealt with. 



Everybody knows that it does great harm to crops and gar- 

 dens. There are few farmers in New Zealand or any other 

 country that do not regard it as one of their greatest enemies. 

 The report of its ravages cannot be greatly exaggerated, as plain 

 facts and figures are supplied, and corroborative evidence is not 

 wanting. 



In New Zealand, as in England, it refuses to go out iixto 

 the woods and get an honest living in the straightforward 

 but laborious manner adopted by our own birds. It clings to 

 civilisation and cultivation, and insists on inflicting upon man 

 its most unwelcome company. Whatever change it has made 

 in its habits since it came to this new land have been for the 

 worse. It has become less of an insect-eater than it used to be, 

 and more of a grain-eater. It has swarmed into the gardens 

 and orchards. No vegetable, fruit, or crop of any kind is proof 

 against its enormous appetite. Its sole object in life seems to 

 be to eat, breed, and be merry. Its cumiing is unsurpassed. It 

 has a wonderful knowledge how not to fall into a trap. Its 

 impudence knows no bounds. Above all, it has an extra- 

 ordinarily robust constitution, and it enjoys such continuously 

 good health that no disease, evidently, is strong enough to 

 materially lessen its numbers. 



One of the incpiiries in the circular was made with the 

 object of ascertaining the number of young a pair of sparrows 

 will breed in a season. I thought that if I could obtain reliable 

 information in that respect from people residing in different 

 parts of the colony, a rough estimate might be formed of the 

 rate of the sparrow's increase in this coimtry. The question 

 was, " Can you state the number of young birds a pair of spar- 

 rows will rear in one season ? " As might be expected, the re- 

 plies make a very mixed assortment of statements, observations, 

 conjectures, and guesses. Large numbers of the correspondents 

 admit that they cannot supply the answer. Others put me ofE 

 with general statements, such as " Their name is legion," " As 

 many as they can," and, " Judging from the visible increase in 

 this district, about a million." 



I have been supplied, however, with plenty of good evidence, 

 based on careful observation, to show that the sparrow is as- 

 tonishingly prolific in this country. The number of eggs that 

 mav be taken from a female is almost without limit. At one 



