USEFULNESS OF SPARROWS. 



467 



employed his leisure time in many pursuits, 

 and while ornithology may be called his 

 principal " hobby," he has gone rather ex- 

 tensively into gardening and horticulture 

 generally — extensively, considering the size 

 of his lot on Central avenue, but the amount 

 of fruit and flowers there produced is a sur- 

 prise and pleasure to all his summer visi- 

 tors. His well-known love for these pur- 

 suits and his knowledge of horticulture gen- 

 erally has occasioned his recent election to 

 the chairmanship of the committee who 

 have in charge the care of the street trees in 

 London. 



Mr, Saunders received his education prin- 

 cipally in London, though two or three 

 years were spent in boys' colleges else- 



where. As it was considered best for him 

 to enter the drug business so long con- 

 ducted by his father, he was sent for two 

 years to the Philadelphia College of Phar- 

 macy, where he graduated with the highest 

 honors. Soon after his return to London 

 he was taken into partnership with his 

 father, but on the latter being appointed 

 Director of the Experimental Farms of the 

 Dominion, Mr. Saunders retired from the 

 retail business and entered into the whole- 

 sale exclusively. 



On the establishment of the Western 

 University he was appointed to the chair of 

 Chemistry, which he held until the claims of 

 his own business forced him to relinquish 

 the position. — Canadian Entomologist. 



USEFULNESS OF SPAEEOWS 



JUDD (U. S. Biol. Survey) in Bui. 15 

 reports upon results of observations 

 upon the feeding habits of the various spar- 

 rows found in the United States, as studied 

 both in field work and by examination of 

 stomach contents. The result was unfavor- 

 able' to the English sparrow, because of his 

 grain-eating habits, which more than coun- 

 terbalance all his usefulness in eating insects 

 or weed seeds. In the stomachs of 82 Eng- 

 lish sparrows, for example, insects consti- 

 tuted- only 2 per cent, and seeds 98 per cent, 

 of the food ; while of the entire food for he 

 year it was found that grain constituted 74 

 per cent. ! 



But, aside from this foreigner, our spar- 

 rows are most useful in destroying weed 

 seeds, such as rag weed, pigeon grass, 

 smartweed, crab grass, lamb's quar- 



ter, chickweed, etc. The work is 

 chiefly done in the fall, winter, and early 

 spring; indeed, during this time the seeds 

 of various weeds constitute about three- 

 fourths of their food, if we may judge by 

 the observations made upon no less than 

 twenty specimens of native sparrows. The 

 ragAveed is one of the most troublesome 

 weeds on the fruit farm, growing up so late 

 in the season and giving the whole place 

 such an untidy appearance, so that a bird 

 that feeds upon its seeds is surely a friend. 

 From Mr. Judd's observations it is shown 

 that the native sparrows may destroy 90 

 per cent, of the seeds of the ragweed within 

 two months, and he found that as a rule the 

 weed seeds were cracked, or otherwise in- 

 jured, so that they cannot germinate when 

 vented from the body. 



