286 KEPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGKICULTUEE. 



22. Prairie chicken, prairie hen, or pinnated groiise (Cupidonia cupido, 

 var. ciqrido, Baird). 



The great majority of our correspondents replied that "all birds" or 

 " all insectivorous birds " eat the worms, without specifying the kind, 

 and the list is made up of the commoner species which are incidentally 

 mentioned, and may therefore be accepted as containing the names of 

 those birds which perhaps do the most good.* 



The good y»'ill with which the native sparrows destroy the cotton-worm 

 and the reported ef&cacy of the English sparrow in ridding the iiTorthern 

 cities of the canker-worm have led many Southern planters to believe 

 firmly in the feasibility and advisability of introducing this latter bird 

 upon the Southern plantations. And we have received many letters 

 urging us to experiment in this direction, but we felt that the subject 

 should be carefully looked at on all sides before taking the course desired 

 by our correspondents. In the special report we quoted the more im- 

 portant discussions of the sparrow question which have been published 

 in this country. In this place we can only state, in a few words, the 

 facts brought out by these discussions. 



Although a few observers are favorably disposed to the English si^ar- 

 rows, nearly all of the American ornithologists unite in asserting their 

 belief that the introduction of this bird v/as a gi-eat calamity. The 

 grounds for this belief -have been stated as follows : t 



1. They neglect entirely, or perform very insufficiently, the business they were im- 

 ported to do. In spite of some good service at one season of the year in a few par- 

 ticular localities against some particular kinds of insects, the state of our shade-trees 

 remains substantially as it was before their introduction. Some of the decrease of 

 noxious insects at times is duo to their periodical decrease, with which the sparrows 

 liave nothing to do ; and in spite of assertions to the contrary, people are still scraping 

 trees and still employing the usual defenses against insects in in-eciacly those places 

 where it was said that the sparrows had done the business. 



2. They attack, harass, tight against, dispossess, drive away, and sometimes act- 

 ually kill various of our native birds which are much more insectivorous by nature 

 than themselves, and v.hich might do us better service if they were equally encouraged. 



3. They commit great depredations in the kitchen-garden, the orchard, and the 

 grain-field. 



4. They are personally obnoxious and unpleasant to many persons. 



5. They have, at present, practically no natural enemies nor any check what- 

 ever upon liniitiess increase. This would be undesirable, even in the case of the 

 most desirable birds ; as the case stands, ive are repeating the history of the xchiie tvced and 

 ike Norivay rat. i 



The discussions to which we have referred bore upon the desirability 

 of introducing this bird into the Northern cities. For our present pur- 

 pose there are other pomts to be considered, the most important of 

 which is that this species would probably not stay in the cotton fields if 

 it were introduced there, as it prefers to live in cities. This point has 

 been verified by experience. A year or so since the sparrows were in- 

 troduced into Bibb County, Georgia, with a view of destroying the cot- 

 ton-worms ; but they almost immediately forsook the plantations, and 

 were last year seen nesting about a church in the city of Macon. Ke- 

 ports have also reached us of the attempted colonization of this bkd in 



*In the special report there is given a list of the insectivorous birds occurring in 

 the cotton belt. This list was prepared by Mr. Eobert Kidgeway, oruiihologist to the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



t See paper by Dr. Elliott Coues, American naturalist, August, 1878, quoted in 

 Special Report, pp. 152-155. 



t Any person desiring to study the subject further will find a complete bibliography 

 of the sparrow controversy in the Bulletin of the Ilayden Geological and Geograiihical 

 Survey of the Territories, vol. v, No. 2, compiled by Dr. Elliott Coues. 



