236 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



present time to set forth some of the results of the investigation for 

 the information of the general pnblic, and to make certain recom- 

 mendations to the legislative bodies of the various States, in order 

 that tlicy may enact, at as early a date as possible, such laws as are 

 demanded for the protection of their agricultural industries. 



Inti'oduction of the English Sparrow. 



The English Sparrow was first brought to this country, so far as 

 authentic information has reached the Department, in the fall of 

 1850, when the Hon. Mcolas Pike and other directors of the 

 Brooklyn Institute imported eight pairs into Brooklyn, N. Y. They 

 were artificially housed over winter and liberated early in the follow- 

 ing year; but tliey did not thrive. In 1852 a larger colony was im- 

 ported. These birds are said to have multiplied and spread over 

 Long Island and adjacent parts of New York and New Jersey. In 

 1858, and at subsequent dates, independent importations were made, 

 and colonies were planted in Portland, Me. ; Peacedale, R. I. ; New 

 York, Philadelphia, and other Eastern cities. In most cases the 

 birds did well. They multiplied and spread gradually to neighbor- 

 ing towns. But the process of dijff usion was slow at first, and it was 

 not until 1870 that the species can be said to have firmly established 

 itself throughout the Eastern States, and to have begun in earnest 

 its westward march. From this time to the present, the marvelous 

 rapidity of its multiplication, the surpassing swiftness of its exten- 

 sion, and the prodigious size of the area it has overspread are with- 

 out parallel in the history of any bird. Like a noxious weed trans- 

 planted to a fertile soil, it has taken root and disseminated itself over 

 half a continent before the significance of its presence has com6 to be 

 understood. The explanation of this phenomenal invasion must be 

 found in part in the peculiar impetus usually given prolific sjDecies 

 when carried to a new country where the conditions for existence are 

 in every way favorable; and in part in its exceptional adaptability 

 to a diversity of physical and climatic conditions. This adaptability 

 has enabled it not only to endure alike the tropical heat of Austra- 

 lia and the frigid winter of Canada, but to thrive and become a bur- 

 densome pest in both of these widely separated lands. 

 . The English Sparrow is a hardy, prolific, and aggressive bird, pos- 

 sessed of much intelligence and more than ordinary cunning. It is 

 domestic and gregarious in habit, and takes advantage of the protec- 

 tion aif orded by iDroximity to man, thus escaping nearly all of the 

 enemies which check the abundance of our native birds. Moreover, 

 for many years it was looked upon with favor, and both food and 

 shelter were provided it. 



Rate of increase of the Sparrow. 



Its fecundity is amazing. In the latitude of New York and south- 

 ward it hatches, as a rule, five or six broods in a season, with from four 

 to six young in a brood. Assuming the average annual product of 

 a pair to be twenty-four young, of which half are females and half 

 males, and assuining further, for the sake of computation, that all 

 live, together with their ofi'spring, it will be seen that in ten years 

 the progeny of a single pair would be 275,716,^83,698. This will ap- 

 pear in detail from the following: 



