EXPERIENCE WITH THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 143 



the sparrow would use the oat crop in the spring. I shall be thankful for any informa- 

 tion as to this, and also on such efforts as may already have been made to introduce 

 the sparrows in the cotton-growing districts. 

 Very truly yours, 



W. T . 



SELMA, ALA., July 28, 1879. 



Here is another of the same drift : 



DEAU W; : * * * The first field has an orchard on one side and forest trees on 

 two other sides, and I observe numbers of yellow orioles (?) everywhere among the 

 cotton very busy searching the stalks. This circumstance is, I think, explanatory of 

 the paucity of the caterpillars in that field, although the cotton is older and consider- 

 ably larger than the other, and the worm first appeared there. I am of the opinion, 

 furthermore, that we have here the key to the method of warfare that is to be waged 

 against the destructive pest birds ! I think it is possible that the English sparrow 

 may be the only thing that can save us from the incalculable losses wrought by the 

 worm, and I hope that the department will distribute a number of them to reliable 

 agents at different points and have results noted and made public, &c. 

 Very respectfully, 



GEORGE W. SMITH VANIZ. 



CANTON Miss, July 26, 1879. 



Before taking the course outlined by these gentlemen, the subject needs 

 to be carefully looked at on all sides. There are, in the first place, argu- 

 ments against the good to be accomplished by such a course, and, in the 

 next place, strong evidences of probable harm. Prof. F. H. King, of 

 Eiver Falls, Wis., in a letter of recent date has the following on this 

 point : 



If you will not deem it presumptuous in me, allow me to suggest that it is barely 

 possible that the English house sparrow will not thrive in the warm cotton districts. 

 This caution is brought to mind by the fact that the sparrow in Europe does not live 

 in Spain or Italy, and, by what appears to be a fact in this country, that they are 

 spreading westward from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia much faster than south- 

 ward, and further by the fact that in the Northern States and in Europe wherever 

 they take up their abode there they spend the winter. 



One other peculiarity in the habits of this bird appears to me to argue seriously 

 against its general usefulness to the cotton-grower. It is peculiarly partial to cities, 

 and the larger the city the better. Fiom these haunts, so far as I am yet able to learn, 

 it only makes occasional flights to the immediately adjacent country when food at 

 home is scanty. 



This latter point has been verified by experience. A year or sp since 

 the sparrows were introduced in Bibb County, Georgia, with a view of 

 destroying the cotton- worms ; but they almost immediately forsook the 

 plantations, and were last year seen nesting about a church in the city 

 of Macon. 



For the past few years a spirited discussion has been going on rela- 

 tive to the merits and demerits of the English sparrow in the. North, 

 and, in spite of a strong resistance on the part of the friends of the 

 sparrow, the general tide of scientific opinion seems to be setting against 

 them. There can be no better place for collecting the opinions of the 

 leading participants in this discussion than here in answer to the many 



