lo IS THE SPARRO W DESTRUCTIVE ? 



remarkable instance was mentioned some years ago in 

 the Times, of a field sown with grass and clover seeds, 

 over which a luxuriant growth of knot grass {P. avicu- 

 lare) spread. The farmer thought that his crop was 

 ruined, but in September such swarms of sparrows as 

 he had never seen before visited the field and fed on 

 the small shining seeds of the knot grass. I regret 

 that I have neither got the date of the letter, nor the 

 name of the writer, the communication, according to 

 a bad practice prevalent among observers, being anony- 

 mous. 



A sparrow's crop will contain a great many small seeds. 

 Dr. Schleh found 321 whole seeds of chickweed in the 

 crop of one sparrow in Germany ! In one shot at North- 

 repps, in Norfolk, 147 were actually counted, and many 

 more were ground up into pulp in the gizzard. Diges- 

 tion is rapid, and at this rate a vast number would be 

 consumed in a very short time. 



It need hardly be said that the present contribution, 

 including the Table which follows, does not exhaust the 

 sparrow controversy. It leaves many interesting points 

 almost untouched. 



