NUTTALL CLUB ON THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 145 



werr to be seen by thousands on both trees, houses, and fences. These caterpillars 

 were the larvaj of the tussock plumed or vaporer moth, the Orgyla leuco stigma of ento- 

 mologists. The city forester, Mr. Galvin, soon had a force of men removing the 

 cocoons and killing the crawling things, for the sparrow gave both a wide berth. 

 The ravages of these pests among the foliage was so great that in some instances whole 

 trees were "chewed up," although each tree had one or more occupied bird-boxes. In. 

 the Advertiser of December 6 there appeared a communication headed " Justice to 

 the Sparrow." It was, in part, a reply to the July article above referred to. This 

 writer claimed, on the authority of Mr. Galvin and two policemen, that the cater- 

 pillars had been wholly restricted to a nai-row strip north of the path leading from 

 Winter to Spruce street, or to about one-tenth of the common. This Mr. Purdie pos- 

 itively denied. Again, the writer called particular attention to the fact that the 

 November rains, soaking the cocoons, rendered yielding and pliable these envelopes, 

 impervious to any bird, and firmly glued to the trees when dry ; the sparrows were 

 thus enabled to devour the clusters of eggs in these "receptacles," which they were 

 seen doing?" Mr. Purdie replied that the wingless female imago of Orgyia, crawling 

 from the inside simply to the outside of her cocoon, deposits there her eggs, covering 

 them with a frothy matter, which, on drying, becomes brittle. The eggs are thus 

 easily accessible to a strong-beaked bird like the sparrow. The cocoons everywhere 

 conspicuous are not "impervious," but often so thin and slight that the inclosed in- 

 sect can be seen through the walls. The larva? are greatly subject to the attacks of 

 various parasites, and entomologists know that in collecting the cocoons in winter in 

 order to destroy them, none but such as have the egg masses glued upon them need 

 be taken, as all others contain the empty male chrysalis, some friendly parasite, or 

 spiders and their eggs. Therefore, it was these foes of the tussock moth, the bene- 

 ficial spiders, that the sparrows were so eagerly hunting after, when they attacked 

 the "contents" of the cocoons. 



As to our native birds, Mr. Purdie was confident of their diminished numbers since 

 the introduction of the foreign sparrow. Formerly he had observed about fifty species 

 of small birds on and about the public garden and common in Boston at different sea- 

 sons of the year, and from fifteen to twenty were summer residents, raising their young 

 in the midst of the city. Now, these birds do not visit the city. 



Mr. H. D. Minot said the house-sparrows were quarrelsome and noisy. He had seen 

 them drive away and sometimes even kill other birds and eat sound leaf and fruit 

 buds. They often frequented infested trees, especially where they have no boxes, 

 without disturbing the worms. Trees could better be protected by artificial means. 

 Last summer those elms about Harvard College which were properly tarred but not 

 frequented by the sparrows were almost intact, while most of the trees outside, not 

 cared for except by these birds, were largely or wholly stripped of foliage. As shown 

 in Europe, it is the tendency of small wild birds, if not persecuted, to draw nearer to 

 man and civilization. As this country becomes more thickly settled, our native species 

 would have iucreased (not decreased) in the neighborhood of cities, and have sup- 

 plied our needs as insect-destroyers, had we not checked them by introducing a for- 

 eign sparrow which was now spreading far and wide and driving native birds of much 

 greater value before it. As regards the testimony of Dr. Thomas Brewer, the sparrows' 

 chief advocate, he stated emphatically, and from long personal observation, first, that 

 the indigenous birds on Boston Common had materially decreased within five years, 

 both in numbers and variety, robins alone yet holding their own ; second, that Mr. 

 Galvin, the city forester, and the police to whom Dr. Brewer had referred, were not 

 competent witnesses in this case; and third, that, as to the green appearance of the 

 common in September, it should be borne in mind that a tree may be defoliated in 

 June or July and well clothed again in autumn. The dirty habits of the sparrows, 

 Mr. Miuot thought, and the uusightliness of their boxes, greatly counteracted the 

 pleasure to be derived from all their supposed virtues. 



Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, jr., of New York, said that some years ago sparrows were 

 10 C I 



