OPINION OF THE NUTTALL CLUB. 147 



are not quite such unmitigated pests as they have sometimes heen represented to be, 

 nor, on the other hand, quite so unalloyed a benefaction as some have claimed. While 

 they have some good points, they are certainly not lacking in had ones. Before 

 taking sides on a question of so much importance, he had waited for the accumulation 

 of evidence in other words, till the sparrows had so increased in numbers that our 

 knowledge of their proclivities would enable us to judge of the results of an experi- 

 ment that at first seemed praiseworthy. The sparrows, it is true, came to us with a 

 bad name, and many a wise one on the other side of the Atlantic had warned us of the 

 consequences of what they termed an act of folly. 



The introduction of the European house-sparrow to the principal cities of the Atlan- 

 tic seaboard and to many of those of the interior, he continued, has been made mainly 

 within the last ten or twelve years ; but in consequence of their remarkable power of 

 reproduction and their pampered lives, protected, as they have been, from all natural 

 checks upon their increase, and at the same time provided with an abundance of food 

 and innumerable resting sites, they have already so multiplied in many places that 

 they have begun to spread into the adjoining rural districts. While to some degree 

 annoying, even in the cities, by their harsh cries and ceaseless clamor, and other not 

 wholly agreeable acts, the report comes to us that they are already rendering them- 

 selves obnoxious to the farmer and horticulturist by their attacks upon the crops. 

 An equally serious charge against them is their influence upon our native birds, for 

 the increase of the sparrow is everywhere coincident with a decrease of our far more 

 desirable native species. 



Having had his attention called of late rather strongly to the subject, Mr. Allen had 

 been led not only to collect his own observations on this subject, but to seek informa- 

 tion from localities beyond his own immediate vicinity ; and on weighing the evidence, 

 had been rather surprised at the preponderance of facts unfavorable to the sparrows. 

 As regards the favorable side of the case, he stated that he had no doubt that the 

 sparrows, in no small degree, held in check the canker-worms and other obnoxious 

 caterpillars. During the last three or four years he had had very favorable opportu- 

 nities for observations. During this period the elms in the vicinity of his house have 

 had no other protection than that afforded by the English sparrows, yet they have 

 retained their foliage in excellent condition, while other trees not many yards distant, 

 unfrequented by the sparrows, and also in no way protected, have.been almost wholly 

 stripped of their leaves. The canker-worm moths laid their eggs freely on all the 

 trees here referred to, and the eggs hatched on all in apparently equal abundance ; 

 bnt when the sparrows were in sufficient force, they checked their ravages before 

 they had time to do serious harm. He had observed the sparrows, day after day, dur- 

 ing the canker-worm season hunting among the leaves for caterpillars and seizing 

 them. So far as regards this part of the subject, there is neither influence nor guess- 

 work, but visual proof. The destruction of a few caterpillars, however, he regards aa 

 almost the sole good that can be adduced in their favor. Their presence in small 

 numbers, and especially in winter, is indeed cheery and pleasant ; but when in force 

 their harsh chatter becomes a positive nuisance, and even in summer renders the notes 

 of other birds singing in the neighboring trees almost undistinguishable. 



In regard to the unfavorable side of the score the list of charges is a long one, and 

 the greater part are too well attested to admit of reasonable doubt. First in the list 

 is their unfavorable influence iipou our native birds. Ordinarily, so far as his obser- 

 vations extend, he believed they were not violently aggressive, but readily became so 

 whenever there was a conflict of interest, and occasionally without provocation. The 

 little chipping sparrows commonly associated with them on terms of intimacy and 

 harmony, and rarely had he seen them pursue or attack other birds when meeting with 

 them at a distance from their own domiciles. But that they do, by their abundance 

 and petulance, tend to crowd out and supplant our native birds seems nearly unquestion- 

 able, since the latter disappear whenever the house sparrows become abundant. Upon 

 such species as have a preference for nesting-sites similar to their own, they do extxrt, 



