276 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



arities partly embryonic and partly typically avian ; that their 

 adaptation to an aquatic life and the fact that they do not 

 come into competition with other birds have allowed of 

 their survival ; and that as regards their systematic position 

 it is necessary to place them in a group (Eupodornithes) 

 equivalent to that of the remaining groups of birds^ viz. 

 Saururae, Ratitze^ Odontotormse, and Carinatse. 



47. Merriam on the Misdeeds of the British House- Sparrow. 



[Report of the Ornitliologist, C. Hart Merriam, M.D., for the year 1886, 

 Annual Rept, of the Dept. of Agriculture, AVashiugton, D.C., for 1886, 

 p. 227.] 



The heading which we have selected virtually expresses the 

 gist of the present Report ; and if, as it has been cynically 

 remarked^ the misfortunes and mistakes of our neighbours 

 and relations are to be contemplated with a certain amount 

 of satisfaction^ the perusal of these pages will afford a grim 

 pleasure to those who believe in the desirability of non-inter- 

 ference with the workings of Nature. Our foolish Austra- 

 lian and New-Zealand oifspring^ and our far 'cuter American 

 cousins, are alike paying the penalty for neglecting what the 

 Duke of Argyll has felicitously taught us to recognize as 

 "A Great Lesson."' Sentimentality was, we believe^ the 

 reason for the transportation of the Sparrow to Australia ; 

 while a mistaken belief that the bird would rid the Trans- 

 atlantic cities of the caterpillars which destroyed the foliage 

 of the trees in the streets and parks was the utilitarian 

 motive for the introduction of this pest to the United States. 

 In 1850 the Hon. Nicolas Pike and other Directors of the 

 Brooklyn Institute commenced the importation ; in 1852 

 larger numbers were brought over; in 1858^ and at subse- 

 quent dateSj colonies were imported in Maine, Rhode Island, 

 New York, Pennsylvania, &c. ; and by 1870 the species was 

 so firmly established in the Eastern States, that it began the 

 western march which, as shown by the coloured map at- 

 tached to this Report, extends to Kansas and southward to 

 Georgia. The evidence as to its destructiveness to grain, 

 and the injury Avhich it inflicts by driving away harmless 



