REPORT OF THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND MAMMALOGIST. 241 



ing with ominous rapidity; and unless steps are taken to wipe out 

 the pest at the earliest Y)Ossible moment the result will entail a loss 

 to the State of many thousands, if not millions, of dollars. In this 

 connection it is not reassuring to read, in the evidence collected and 

 published by the Australian Government in 1881, that "in the short 

 space of ten days the SjJarrows took a ton and a half of grapes " from 

 the vineyard of John Chambers, of South Richland. Of the hundreds 

 of testimonials which have been sent the Department of Agriculture 

 by practical fruit-growers, the following are suggestive examples: 



"^Mr. F. S. Piatt, of New Haven, Conn., writes: 



Last ycrir, when I had a large crop of verj fine grapes, I found that the Sparrows 

 were destroying nearly all of tliem. I watched the bu-ds, and found that they would 

 pick out a line bunch of fruit and i^eck a hole in nearly every gi-ape. This hole 

 Avould be so very small that at fia'st it vv^oiild not be noticed , but very soon the place 

 would begin to decay, and then the grape would be ruined. 



The postmaster at Bowling Green, Ky. , writes : 



It has rumed the grape crop almost wholly where unprotected. 



Mr. Witmer Stone, of Germantown, Pa., writes: 



It frequently desjDoils whole grape-vines of their fruit, and pecks the liunclies so 

 that they have to be protected by paper bags. 



Mr. Thomas S. Kennedy, of Crescent Hill, Ky., writes: 

 It eats straAvberries, raspberries, and grapes. This past season it has been unusu- 

 ally destructive, and has torn the paper bags from the bunches of grapes. It also 

 eats holes in apples and pears hanging on the trees. 



The Sparrow an enemy to the grain-groiver. 



"Annoying and injurious as the Sparrow is to the fruit-grower and vegetable gar- 

 dener, the loss it inflicts on the producer of cereals is even greater. Though for its 

 permanent residence it prefers populous localities and places of abundant traffic and 

 commotion, still, in anticipation of the harvest season, it gathers in enormous flocks, 

 and, leaving the cities and towns, moves ofi: into the surrounding country to feed 

 upon the ripening grain. Its consumption and waste of corn, wheat, rye, oats, bar- 

 ley, and buckwheat in many parts of the country is enormous. It feeds upon the 

 kernel when it is in the soft, milky state, as well as when it has matured and har- 

 dened; and in fields of ripe grain it scatters upon the ground even more than it con- 

 sumes. Instances have been reported where in the place of a full or fair crop only 

 the straw remained to be gathered." — (Hoadley MS.) 



Mr. Andrew Gray, of Willoughby, Ohio, in a recent letter to the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, states : 



This is to inform you that I drilled in the seed-wheat which you sent me. I sowed 

 it on rich sandy soil, and it came througji the winter -well and gave promise of a 

 splendid crop, especially the Diehl Mediterranean, which looked tlie most promising, 

 althcmgh the Martin Amber did very weii. But alas for human hopes! About four 

 or five days before it Avas ready to cut I ^vQ^at to see Iioav it Avas getting along, and 

 found tliat the English Sparrows had harvested the crop. Their first choice was 

 the JMartin Amber, the next was the Dielil Mediterranean, and the last the Clawson. 

 I saved about a peck of seed. I think I can safely say that I would have got as 

 much as one and one-half liushels of seed from the two (juarts of seed you sent me 

 if the Sparrows had let it alone. 



Mr. William Plolmead, of Mount Pleasant, D. C, whose business 

 it is to raise fruits, vegetables, and grain for the market, writes : 



In 1883 I put part of my farm in wheat. After cutting and shocking it the Spar- 

 rows came by thousands ajid destroyed every head of grain exposed; after it was 

 stacked preparatory to thrashing they covQred the whole stack. I had to shoot at 

 them two or three times a day to scare them away, and upon thrashing it was esti- 

 mated that fully one-tenth of the crop was destroyed. One of my neighbors esti- 

 mated that one-half of his wheat was eaten by the Sparrows last year. This year I 

 had about four acres in oats. When the oats vrere put in the barracks the field was 

 filled with thousands of Sparrows, and when they had cleaned the field they attacked 



16 AG— '86 



