1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 43 



ings. The nest is composed of dried grasses, pieces of 

 string, etc., lined with an abundance of feathers. The dull- 

 whitish eggs, from four to seven in number, are thickly 

 spotted and streaked with different shades of brown. In 

 this locality at least two and probably more broods are 

 reared in a season. The English sparrow, as this species is 

 commonly known throughout the United States, is univer- 

 sally despised by farmers, fruit growers and naturalists, 

 because of its pernicious habits. In the spring it feeds 

 largely on the buds of fruit trees, bushes and vines, chief 

 among which may be mentioned the pear, apple, peach, 

 plum, cherry, currant and grape. Different garden prod- 

 ucts, such as lettuce, beans, peas, cabbage, berries, pears, 

 apples and grapes, are greedily fed upon. The sparrow 

 greatly damages the corn crop, tearing open the husks, 

 devouring the tender part of the ear, and exposing the 

 remainder to the ravages of the insects and the atmospheri- 

 cal changes. It alights on fields of whea^, oats and barley, 

 consuming a large quantity, and, by swaying to and fro on 

 the tender stalks and flapping its wings, showers the 

 remainder on the ground. In addition to a much-varied 

 vegetable diet, the sparrow has been known to kill and 

 devour the young of other small birds. Our native song 

 and insectivorous birds, viz., the robin, bluebird, wren, 

 chippy, song sparrow, red-eyed vireo and some few others, 

 which were formerly plentiful residents in oitr lawns, parks 

 and gardens, have rapidly and steadily diminished since 

 the hosts of pugnacious sparrows have appeared. This 

 species is more or less gregarious at all seasons of the year. 

 When not engaged in rearing their young, they are always 

 observed in flocks. In the late summer and autumn they 

 assemble in flocks of hundreds, and daily repair to the wheat 

 and corn fields in the vicinity of cities and towns, where 

 they commit serious depredations that are only checked by 

 harvesting the crops. 



The white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, the crim- 

 son finch, pine and rose-breasted grosbeaks, and the two 

 species of cross-bills, feed to a considerable extent on the 

 buds and blossoms of different trees and bushes ; they also 

 devour numerous kinds of insects. At times other than 



