164 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
Quite early in the spring, before the nests were com- 
pleted, I have watched sparrows working their way 
along the rows of peas in a garden, and picking off 
the Sztones weevils, which are so terribly destructive 
to the plants in the early stages of their growth. 
More than this, on opening specimens of the bird, I 
have found both crop and gizzard full of these and 
other weevils—a conclusive answer to those who, like 
a recent correspondent of Zhe Queen, assert that 
adult sparrows kill insects only for the use of their 
callow young. 
These Szfones weevils, I may here remark for the 
benefit of non-entomological readers, are the small 
beetles which nibble away the leaves of beans and 
peas, frequently reducing the plants to mere skele- 
tons, and preventing all possibility of a future crop. 
To kill them by ordinary means is not easy, for, 
although a certain proportion may be picked off by 
hand, the great majority fall to the ground at the 
vibration caused by the first footstep, and_ their 
sombre tints harmonise so exactly with those of the 
soil that the sharpest eye cannot detect them so long 
as they continue to lie motionless. In destroying these 
mischievous little creatures, therefore, the sparrow 
is conferring a great benefit upon us, and one which 
alone should entitle him to some little consideration. 
With the permission of the Rev. F. O. Morris, 
also, I quote the following extract from one of his 
“ Tetters to the Zzmes” :— 
‘“¢ T will give you another fact. While taking a walk 
in Newton Cap Park, in the spring of 1847, the 
