ENGLISH SPARROW 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 90 



Many kinds of foreign birds have been introduced into the United 

 States with the hope of having them become acclimated to their new sur- 

 roundings. In many cases this action was taken by persons who doubt- 

 less were actuated by the desire to have around them certain forms of 

 bird-life that they had been accustomed to see and enjoy about their 

 European homes before migrating to these shores. 



Linnets, Bullfinches, Skylarks, and many other birds, interesting on 

 account either of their singing, or of the striking character of their 

 plumage, have been liberated in the United States and Canada. Game- 

 birds, especially the Hungarian Partridge, the little 

 European Quail, and various species of Pheasants, 

 swell the list of foreign birds. As a rule these im- 

 ported species did not thrive in their new surroundings, and after a short 

 time were seen no more. 



The most striking exception to this rule has been the House Sparrow 

 of Europe, which in this country has acquired the incorrect title of "Eng- 

 lish" Sparrow. The first importation of these birds appears to have been 

 made in the year 1850, by the directors of the Brooklyn Institute. Eight 

 pairs were that year liberated in Brooklyn, New York. In a bulletin on 

 the English Sparrow issued by the Department of Agriculture in 1889 a 

 statement by the Hon. Nicholas Pike is quoted, in which he gives an 

 account of this early attempt to naturalize English Sparrows in this 

 country. He writes: 



"It was not till 1850 that the first eight pairs were brought from Eng- 

 land to the Brooklyn Institute, of which I was then a director. We built 

 a large cage for them, and cared for them during the winter months. 

 Early in the spring of 1851 they were liberated, but they did not thrive. 



"In 1852 a committee of members of the institute was chosen for 

 the re-introduction of these birds, of which I was chairman. Over $200 

 was subscribed for expenses. I went to England in 1852, on my way to 

 the consul-generalship of Portugal. On my arrival 

 in Liverpool I gave the order for a large lot of Spar- . pa T OW . 

 rows and song-birds to be purchased at once. They 

 were shipped on board the steamship Ru-rofm, if I am not mistaken, in 

 charge of an officer of the ship. Fifty Sparrows were let loose at the 

 Narrows, according to instructions, and the rest on arrival were placed 

 in the tower of Greenwood Cemetery chapel. They did not do well, so 



