BIRDS 301 



The English Sparrow. — The English sparrow is an example of 

 a bird introduced for the purpose of insect destruction, that has 

 done great harm because of its relation to our native birds. 

 Introduced at Brooklyn in 1850 for the purpose of exterminating 

 the canker worm, it soon abandoned an insect diet and has driven 

 out most of our native insect feeders. Dirty and very prolific, it 

 has worked its way from the East as far as the Pacific coast. In 

 this area the bluebird, song sparrow, and yellowbird have all 

 been forced to give way, as well as many larger birds of great 

 economic value and beauty. The English sparrow should be 

 exterminated. 



Geographical Distribution and Migrations. — Most of us are 

 aware that some birds remain with us in a given region during the 

 whole year, while other birds appear with the approach of spring, 

 departing southward with the warm weather in the fall of the 

 year. Such birds we call migrants, while those that remain the 

 year round are called residents. 



In Europe, where the problem of bird migration has been 

 studied carefully, migrations appear to take place along well- 

 defined paths. These paths usually follow the coast very exactly, 

 although in places they may take the line of coast that existed in 

 former geological times. This seems to show that when a path 

 has been established, it is handed down from one generation of 

 birds to the next and so to successive generations. 



In this country the migration routes are comparatively un- 

 known. It has been found that the Mississippi Valley, a former 

 arm of the sea, forms one line of migration, while the north Atlantic 

 seacoast is another route. There is opportunity for a careful 

 observer to learn much of the spring or fall migrations in the 

 particular part of the country in which he resides. All information 

 thus obtained should be sent to the secretarv^ of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union or to W. W. Cooke of the Biological Survey, 

 who has done much to establish what we already know about bird 

 migration in this country. 



It has been recently shown by the Department of Agriculture 

 that the southern movement of migratory birds in the fall of the 

 year is not due entirely to the advent of cold weather. It is 



