13 



There were probably some bushels of this seed on the ground 

 in the fall, but by spring hardly one could be found, and only 

 a very few scattering plants grew there the following spring. 

 This plant is merely a cultivated variety of a common wild 

 grass or weed, hence its attractiveness to birds. 



Juncos and tree sparrows came in greatest numbers. They 

 not only destroyed the millet seed, but they also found and ate 

 practically all of the weed seeds remaining. The sparrows 

 eat, usually with avidity, the seed of many of the worst weeds 

 known. Dr. Judd mentions the following weeds which are 

 troublesome in fields and hoed crops, and which are eaten by 

 some twenty species of sparrows: ragweed; several species of 

 the genus Polygonum, including bindweed; smartweed and 

 knotweed; pigweed; nutgrass and other sedges; crab-grass; 

 pigeon-grass; lamb's-quarters; and chickweed. 



Chickweed, ragweed, smartweed and purslane are among 

 the weeds whose seeds have been freely eaten by sparrows in 

 our garden. Purslane is so tenacious of life that branches 

 cut off by the hoe and thrown on the soil will at times take 

 root and grow lustily. Chickweed is particularly prolific, 

 because of its deceptive habit of blossoming and developing 

 seed at the same time. In all these weeds the farmer will 

 recognize foes worthy of his steel. Some of the sparrows are 

 also particularly useful as insect destroyers, as we shall see 

 later. 



While speaking of sparrows, lest error be promulgated, it 

 should be definitely stated that the house sparrow or English 

 sparrow cannot be included in the list of birds beneficial to the 

 garden. This bird feeds on grain to the amount of more than 

 two-thirds of all its food; is destructive to peas and other 

 garden vegetables, as well as fruit; and destroys comparatively 

 few insects. It eats perhaps less than half as many weed seeds 

 as any of our common native sparrows, and makes itself gen- 

 erally so disagreeable as to prevent many other birds from 

 breeding in the neighborhood it inhabits. 



Our work, in conjunction with that of the birds, had been 

 so efficient in exterminating the weeds that during the winter 

 of 1901-02 it frequently was necessary to scatter chaff and 

 hayseed from the barn floor around the dooryard, to provide 



