IN AMERICA. 57 



1874. Wilson, E. R. Sparrows [Passer domesticus] 



rule the roost. Amer. Sportsni. v. Nov. 7, 1874, 



p. 91. 



Disappearance of swallows and other birds with the 

 advent of sparrows at Syracuse, N. Y. 



1875. Anon. Sparrows [Passer domesticus] and Fruit 



Growers. Amer. Agric. Feb. 1875. 



' That they destroy insects there is no doubt, but their 

 work is not entirely beneficent ; and melancholy accounts 

 have been told of loss to the farmers by the havoc 

 sparrows make in their grain.' 



1875. Bendire, C. The Sparrow [Passer domesticus]. 

 Amer. Sportsm. v. Jan. 9, 1875, P- 227. 



Results of two years' observations of sparrows at St. 

 Louis, Mo. No molestation of native birds observed. 

 ' I must say, however, that in my opinion the usefulness 

 of the English sparrows as insect-destroying birds is 

 greatly overrated, and that we have many native species 

 who destroy more noxious insects in a single day than a 

 sparrow will in a week.' 



1875. Hampton, C. J. English Sparrows [Passer do- 

 mesticus] and the Canker Worms. Moore's 

 Rtiral New Vor/:er, Jan. 23, 1875. 



' English sparrows have had no agency in the disap- 

 pearance of the worms' in Seneca County, N. Y. Editor 

 continues : ' At the very time of their introduction into 

 New York City and Brooklyn, a small ichneumon fly had 

 already lessened very materially the number of span- 

 worms, which were so disagreeably abundant in these 

 cities, and it is very probable that the insects would have 

 disappeared without the aid of the birds. ' 



1875. Sterling, E. Sparrows [Passer domesticus]. 



Amer. Sportsm. Jan. 23, 1875. 



' They are a most pestiferous bird, driving all our 

 native birds away, and at the same time destroying no 

 insect life that preys upon our roadside trees.' 



