REPORT OF THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND MAMMALOGIST. 243 



our cities and larger towns which, are overrun with Sparrows, and 

 where the trees have been repeatedly defoliated and disfigured by the 

 worms. Cases are known in which the very boxes occupied by the 

 Sparrows have been covered with webs, where the cocoons have been 

 attached to the boxes, and the larvae have hatched and crawled away 

 within a few inches of the birds without molestation. Indeed, it is 

 an every-day occurrence in summer to see Sftarrows hopping about 

 on fences and branches fairly swarming with caterpillars and meas- 

 ure-worms, in whose presence they rarely manifest the slightest inter- 

 est. It is true that they; destroy some insects, particularly when 

 feeding their young, but it would be presumptuous to say that the 

 number thus destroyed is greater than the number consumed by the 

 truly insectivorous birds which the Sparrows have driven away. 



English Sparroivs cause an increase in the number of caterpillars. 



Prof. J. A. Lintner, State entomologist of New York, has made a 

 special study of the cause of the increase of the caterj^illars of the 

 tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma), which is very destructive to the 

 foliage of shade and fruit trees and ornamental shrubs. The results 

 of Professor Lintner's investigations, extending over a period of years, 

 have led him to make the following unqualified statement: 



The extraordinary increase of the Orgyia leucostigma is owing to the introduction 

 and multiphcation of the English Sparrow. 



His subsequent remarks under this head are so valuable, that I 

 make no apology for introducing them in full. He says: 



Tliis may seem a strange statement, in consideration of the fact that the Sparrow 

 was imported f rona Euro]:)(3 for the express purpose of abatmg the ' ' caterpillar 

 nuisance " in New York and some of the New England cities. ^' * ''' The increase 

 of the Orgyia leucostigma commenced and has continued to progress with that of 

 the Sparrow. 



A remark made to me that the caterpillars had been observed to be very numer- 

 ous in localities where the Sparrows also abounded induced me to undertake to verify 

 or disprove the idea that had suggested itself to me, that the Sparrow afforded 

 actual protection to the caterpillars and promoted then- increase. 



In a locality in the city [of Albany, New York] (intersection of Broadway and 

 Spencer streets) which I had traversed daily during the preceding year, I had been 

 interested in watching the liabits of a large company of Sparrows, wliich had estab- 

 lished themselves in quarters evidently in every way suited to their taste and wants, 

 among the vines and leaves of a large woodbine {Ampelopsis quinquefolia), which 

 covered with a dense matting nearly the enthe side of a large dwelling. Here I 

 had observed a greater number of the Sparrows than elsewhere in the city. They 

 were still local, and far from being generally distributed. 



Upon visiting this locality for the purpose above mentioned, I found upon the 

 other side of the building, and on an adjoining one, tlu-ee other large woodbines not 

 before noticed by me, making five in all. On a tall pole standing between the two 

 buildings a very large sparrow-house, Avith many compartments, had been erected, 

 and many smaller ones had been placed among the branches of the trees. The 

 woodl^ines seemed alive with the Sparrows. Hundreds were issuing from them and 

 di'opping do\vn to their favorite stercoraceous repasts in the streets, and the air was 

 vocal with their chattermg. It was a rare bird exliibition. Here certainly was a 

 test case of the insectivorous nature of the Sparrow. 



On the sidewalk in front of the two buildmgs two large spreading elms (Ulmns 

 Amcricanus), staudmg between some maples, showed ever'y leaf eaten from them, 

 disclosing the nostmg-boxes among their branches, and their ti'unks and limbs dot- 

 ted thickly or clustered with the easily recognized egg-bearing cocoons of the Orgyia. 

 Hundreds of immature caterpillars were traveling over the trees, fences, and the 

 walls adjoining. No better evidence of the almost perfect immunity afforded to 

 the caterpillars from their enemies, whether birds or insects, by the presence of the 

 Sparrows, could possibly bo given. 



A portion of Broadway, between Clinton avenue and the Central RaUroad crossing, 

 ■was also known to abound in the Sparrows, the citizens resident there having fed 



