4 IS THE SPARROW DESTRUCTIVE? 



grains a day is a sparrow's ordinary meal during June, 

 July, and August [and I do not think this is far from 

 the mark, having repeatedly found 20 and 25 whole 

 grains, and once, in November, 40, in a sparrow's crop], 

 it would have eaten, during those three months, 2,760 

 grains, which is nearly a third of a pint ; or if, take 

 the whole year round, each sparrow eats on an average 

 15 grains a day, then each sparrow eats in a year 

 5,475 grains. This is none too high an estimate, for 

 the quantity w^hich sparrows eat at stacks in winter time 

 equals what they take from the fields in the summer. 

 During the operations of harvest, I understand they 

 may often be seen sticking to the gradually lessen- 

 ing square of corn until all the field is cut. They 

 then transfer their attentions to the sheaves, and also 

 divide with the gleaners what is left on the stubble. 

 Finally, when the farmer has sold his produce, spar- 

 rows take a very large toll out of any portion of it 

 which a purchaser may give to his poultry, as every 

 breeder of chickens and turkeys knows very well. At 

 the end of September a marked decrease is to be seen 

 in their numbers, but whether this is caused by real 

 emigration or by local movements is not clear. It has 

 often been said that sparrows come to us over the 

 North Sea in the autumn ; but among the numerous 

 ' wings ' I have had from lighthouses and light-vessels 

 I have never received this species.* In October 

 sparrows pack into flocks of from 200 to 300 and leave 

 the homesteads. That month is mostly spent in the 

 fields, and so is November ; and here they find plenty 



* But the nearly allied tree-sparrow [Passer montarins) is"a well- 

 known migrant. 



