5 2 THE ENGLISH SPA RR W 



look favourably upon the presence of the sparrow in 

 America ; but such may be assured that it is no more 

 than the exigencies of the case demand. Unless the 

 sparrows can be made to devour grasshoppers there is 

 absolutely no occasion for their naturalization in the 

 West, not even the flimsy excuse for them that we some- 

 times hear made in the East. That they will not subsist 

 upon grasshoppers to any extent, or upon potato-beetles, 

 may be regarded as a foregone conclusion ; and in the 

 absence of other sources of food-supply, they will infallibly 

 fall upon the crops. 



Though it must appear to all well-informed persons a 

 work of supererogation to point out what mischief the 

 sparrows have done, ^yhat worse evils are in prospect, 

 and what thoroughly undesirable birds these are from 

 every standpoint, yet the people of the West may not be 

 fully apprised as yet of the actual state of the case. Their 

 attention is therefore called to the present status of the' 

 sparrow in America, as fully exhibited in the following 

 review of the situation. 



For it occurs to me that the facts in the case can in no 

 way be more forcibly presented or more clearly illustrated 

 than by the simple and lucid method of setting forth, in 

 sufficient detail, the controversy which the introduction of 

 the sparrow into America has occasioned, and analyzing 

 .the mass of evidence we have accumulated. To such a 

 record, moreover, attaches a degree of historical interest. 

 Instead of expressing my own views, or of preparing 

 statements which might be open even to an unfounded 

 charge of prejudice, I have therefore thrown what I have 

 to say into the form of a commentary on the record itself, 

 leaving each one to form his own opinion on the subject. 



