238 Transactions. 



although this is often qualified hy another statement that it 

 does so only when there is no grain available. 



A reliable correspondent at Ashburton estimates that one 

 sparrow will eat 100 grains of wheat in twenty -four hours, and 

 that the progeny of one bird, during the three months of harvest, 

 will consume three-quarters of a bushel of wheat, and will also 

 shake large quantities to the ground. These estimates are not 

 altogether guesses, but are based on intelligent investigations. 

 A Waikato farmer says, " Bother the sparrows ! they eat or 

 destroy everything you do not want them to." A farmer in 

 the Wairarapa sums up his views in the following words : "If 

 all the sparrows were dead we would never miss them ; they 

 are a tax on the farmer to the extent of an extra bushel of seed 

 per acre." A member of the Farmers' Union at Aponga, Wha- 

 ngarei, declares that he doubts if the sparrows ever touch insects, 

 as he has never seen them doing so. 



The fifth question in the circular was, " Do you think that 

 the introduction of any of the small birds was a mistake ? " 

 There are very few correspondents who, in replying to this, 

 have not named the sparrow and emphasized his inclusion in 

 the condemned list by strong and harsh words. 



Mr. A. Burrows, a dairy farmer, of West Oxford, North 

 Canterbury, says : " I once made a small box for sparrows and 

 placed it in a position where I could watch them. After a 

 week had passed a pair built a nest in the box and reared five 

 young. For the first week they fed them on insects, bringing 

 as many as six moths and ' long-legs ' at a time. A short 

 distance away there was a paddock of wheat getting ripe. They 

 started upon that. They made a journey about once in every 

 five minutes, bringing each time a grain of wheat, making, for 

 both birds, 24 grains an hour — that is assuming that they took 

 only one grain at a time. If they worked eight hours a day 

 the total would be 192 grains. I do not know how long they 

 would have continued, as I killed the young ones before they 

 were ready to fly. There was nothing but wheat in the crops 

 of them all. I sowed 4 lb. of timothy seed on half an acre of 

 land, well worked to test its capacity. After sowing I bush- 

 harrowed it well and rolled it hard. I could not keep the 

 sparrows off. They worked it all up again, as though it had 

 never been harrowed, and very little came up. I shot some 

 of the sparrows, and found that they had as much as half a tea- 

 spoonful of seed in their crops. I tried poisoned wheat, but 

 they would not touch it. Last winter I raked the snow off the 

 grass and put poisoned wheat down. The sparrows were plenti- 

 ful, but did not touch it ; but in an hour there were five larks, 

 three chaffinches, one grey linnet, and one thrush dead. Dead 



