100 YEARBOUK UF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



I'x'sides the United States, New Zealand and Australia have suffered 

 considerably from the English sparrow, and in some of the colonies of 

 Australia it is considered second only to the rabbit as a pest. It seems 

 to have been introduced on the North Island of New Zealand in 18G6, 

 by the Wanganui Acclimatization Society. > By 1870 it began to be 

 numerous, and twelve years later threatened to spread over the whole 

 island, becoming established in the most inaccessible regions, in spite 

 of its usual partiality for cities and towns. In Victoria the sparrow 

 was introduced about ISGo, and probably appeared soon after in 

 Queensland, New South AVales, South Australia, and Tasmania, but 

 data are lacking as to the date of its first appearance in these colonies. 

 It has increased so rapidly that, in order to hold it in check, " Sparrow- 

 destruction" bills have been passed in several of the colonies during 

 the last ten years. 



Thus far the sparrow has not gained a foothold in Western Australia, 

 and radical measures have been adopted to prevent its introduction. 

 Its importation was prohibited by the " Destructive birds and aninmls 

 act," passed in 1893, and when a few birds were discovered in Perth in 

 January, 1898, prompt measures for their extermination were taken 

 by the bureau of agriculture. All that could be found were shot, and 

 attention was called to the necessity of stamping out the pest before 

 it spread beyond control. 



The English sparrow has also found its way into many other distant 

 corners of the earth. It is gaining a foothold in Argentina, and has 

 been carried to remote islands. In the Indian Ocean it is present on 

 Mauritius, about 400 miles east of Madagascar, and on the Comoro 

 Islands, off the southeast coast of Africa and 350 miles northw^est of 

 Madagascar. It was first reported from Grand Comoro in 1879. In 

 the Pacific Ocean it has been introduced on the Chatham Islands, some 

 500 miles east of New Zealand,^ probably on New Caledonia, and on 

 the Hawaiian Islands. In the latter group it is reasonable to sup- 

 13ose that it was introduced by way of San Francisco in the early 

 seventies, since it was reported to be numerous at Honolulu in 1879. 

 In the Atlantic Ocean it is j)resent on Bermuda, the Bahamas, and 

 Cuba. It was sent to Bermuda from New York about 1874, and two 

 years later was given the same protection accorded to other birds, 

 its destruction being punished by a fine of 5 to 20 shillings. Ten 

 years after its introduction it had increased so enormously that a 

 bounty was offered for its destruction, and between 1884 and 1886 

 about £530 (82,050) were expended, without causing any appreciable 

 decrease in its numbers, notwithstanding the short time the bird had 

 been present and the fact that the islands have an area of less than 

 20 square miles. It is said to have been imported into Cuba, and in 



' Rept. New Zealand Dept. Agriculture, 1897, Div. Biology, p. 8. 

 •-'Ibis, 1893, p. 543. 



