section, which is given by the writers he so loudly con- 

 demns (' House- Sparrow/ p. 12 et seq.). 



The Sparrow does harm in many other ways, but 

 these need not be here considered : the chief charge 

 against it is that it eats corn, corn when it is newly 

 sown, corn soft and milky, corn ready and ripe to be 

 harvested, and corn which is thrown out for fowls. 



The Sparrow is a bird which is annually increasing 

 in this country, as it is in other countries where it has 

 been introduced, and the question is becoming a serious 

 one for farmers, who, with the present low price of 

 wheat, are hard put to make two ends meet, without 

 this new and feathered item against them in their 

 balance-sheet. 



Recent investigations have conclusively shown that 

 the Sparrow does not destroy nearly so much insect- 

 life as was supposed*. IT RESTS WITH ITS ADVOCATES TO 



SHOW THAT THIS AMOUNT OF INSECT-LIFE (WHATEVER ITS 

 EXACT PROPORTION MAY BE) WOULD, IF SPARED, DO MORE 

 HARM THAN IS DONE BY THE SPARROWS THEMSELVES TO 



CORN. Old Sparrows, as a rule, do not eat insects f. 

 The larvce which form the customary food of young 

 Sparrows are, for the most part, species which prey 

 on shrubs and plants, but not on corn, such as Teras 

 contaminana, Triphcena pronuba, and Pontia brassicce%. 



* In support of this statement I need only refer to the table of 

 dissections ('House-Sparrow/ p. 12 et seq.). 



t But they may occasionally be seen to catch and give their 

 young ones insects, long after those young ones are able to fly. 

 It may here be mentioned that Mr. T. Wood has observed adult 

 Sparrows picking Sitones (Weevils) off peas, and eating them them- 

 selves. The Sitones, he explains, "are the small beetles which 

 nibble away the leaves of beans and peas, frequently reducing the 

 plants to mere skeletons" ('Our Bird Allies,' p. 164). 



J For the identification of these larva I am indebted to Mr. C. 

 G. Barrett. 



