506 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



themselves to their new surroimdiiigs. In this way some were carried 

 to St. John, New Brunswicli, in 1883, and to Montreal, in the following 

 year. 



Generally the sparrows would migrate to the larger cities; thence to 

 the smaller ones as they became overcrowded until they would repair to 

 the village towns and country, so that at present it is difficult to visit a 

 single farm in this as in many other States, where the sparrow is not 

 found in more or less numbers. Being a grain-eating bird, it is noticed 

 that they follow the lines of railways, where they can secure scattered 

 grain that is lost in transportation. 



These birds apparently prefer city life to that of the country, which 

 is due to the accessibility to their food supply which is found on our 

 streets from the droppings of our grain-fed horses. Young birds generally 

 leave the city when large enough to take care of themselves, to pai-take 

 of the farmers' and gardeners' gi-ains and seeds until cold weather drives 

 them to the farmers' barns or back to the city. 



The extent of the country occupied by them and the rate of increase 

 in numbers is marvelous, and the public has awakened too late, it is 

 feared, to materially retard their advance. 



For the first five years after their importation, but 500 square miles 

 were inhabited by them; in ten years more, one-half million square miles 

 were colonized, until at the close of the century, virtually the entire coun- 

 try was overrun by these pugnacious pests. For centuries he has been 

 found throughout the most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Persia, 

 Central Asia. Ceylon and India, and perhaps elsewhere. 



It is claimed that but six broods are raised each year, with an aver- 

 age of perhaps four in this locality; nesting beginning about the first of 

 April. The eggs, from four to seven in number, are of a dull whitish 

 color, often spotted or sti-eaked with brown, requiring about thirty days 

 from the time the eggs are laid until the young birds leave the nest. It is 

 known that in many cases, eggs are found in the nests about all the 

 time, the warmth of the unfledged young hatches them, thus keeping up 

 a continuous brood during the nesting season. 



It being a domestic and gregarious bird, he possesses more than or- 

 dinary cunning and intelligence, and takes advantage of the protection 

 afforded by tlie proximity to man from the enemies that tend so largely 

 to keep our native birds in check. So it seems that the sparrow has been 

 in most every way aided to securing a permanent foothold on this and 

 other continents. 



No bird, apparently, can so adapt himself to the surroundings of any 

 clime or zone as the sparrow. From the torrid heat of the tropics to tlie 

 blizzards of North America, he seems to be at home. 



Among the natural enemies of the sparrow, the cats, hawks, jays and 

 owls are the most important, and tend quite largely In keeping them in 

 check. The cats, Ifowever, kill many adult and young birds. The owls, 



