384 DAVENPOKT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



INTRODUCED SPECIES. 



Order PASSERES. 



Family FRINGIEEID^. 

 Subfamily PASSERINE. 



Genus Passer Brisson. 

 Passer doincsticus (Einn.). European House Sparrow. 



The European House Sparrow or English Sparrow is the most 

 abundant bird in Iowa, resident throughout the year, and equally 

 abundant in city and in country. In 1884-85 W. W. Cooke 

 reported the English Sparrow as absent from the northwestern 

 corner of Iowa. 



Walter B. Barrows, in his book on " The English Sparrow in 

 North America" (U. S. Dept. Agri., Div. I{con. Orn, and Mam., 

 Bulletin i, 1889), traces the history of its introduction and 

 spread in North America. It was first introduced into the 

 United States at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1851 and 1852. Specimens 

 were introduced directly from Europe, at Iowa City, in 1881 ; at 

 Cedar Rapids they were introduced from Massachusetts, about 

 1874 ; Davenport, 1870, ten pairs ; Dubuque, 1876, twenty pairs. 

 They appeared at Burlington in 1869-70, and may have been 

 introduced, although not so reported. In the autumn of 1886 the 

 Sparrow was reported present at 59 places in Iowa, mostly in the 

 eastern part of the state, and not present at 142 places, mostly in 

 the western part of the state, but some in eastern Iowa. At first 

 they remained closely in towns and cities and only spread into 

 the surrounding country when the city became too crowded, 

 probably due largely to lack of nesting places for all. The injury 

 caused by Sparrows may be summed up: — filthiness about houses 

 and granaries; injury to grain, fruits, garden vegetables; destruc- 

 tion of fruit-buds and blossoms; and, most important of all, driv- 

 away the native birds from the haunts of man. They have failed 

 in the chief reason of their introduction — the destruction of in.sect 

 pests, the insects which they do eat are those which are accept- 

 able to other birds, and many other injurious insects, such as 



