1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 271 



I enclose herewith. I have sent you by book post a copy of the 

 work on the house sparrow, to which Miss Ormerod refers. 



If there is any further information which the society can afford 

 the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture on this or any other ques- 

 tion, I trust that you will not hesitate to apply to me. 

 Believe me, yours faithfully, 



Ernest Clarke, 



Secretary. 



The Secretary Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 

 Commonwealth Building, Boston. 



The memorandum of the consulting entomologist of the 

 society, Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, referred to in his reply, 

 is as follows : — 



Memorandum by Consulting Entomologist. 



We have no published reports here on the subject of the house 

 sparrow (the corn sparrow, to give it one of its German names ; 

 Passer domestic us, scientifically) equalling in authority or scope of 

 observation the " American Ornithologists' Union," of which the 

 verdict was given, on careful consideration of evidence, at a meet- 

 ing held in Washington on April 21, 1885, and was strongly con- 

 demnatory of favoring the sparrows. 



Nor have we such well worked out notes of observation as those 

 of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, ornithologist to the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and printed in the annual report of the 

 department of agriculture for 1886, in which he officially recom- 

 mends, from evidence given, the repeal of all laws protecting the 

 "English" sparrow. And, again, a valuable paper was submit- 

 ted by Prof. C. V. Riley, entomologist of the United States 

 department of agriculture, to the Biological Society of Washington 

 (this at a date previous to April 26, 1888), in which he also 

 proved the " worthlessness of the sparrow as an insect killer." 



We have no papers of this authority here, but there is good and 

 perfectly reliable information given on the subject in papers by 

 J- H. Gurney of Keswick Hall, Norwich, and by the late Colonel 

 Russell of Stubbers, Romford, Essex, in a small book entitled 

 " The House Sparrow," published in 1885 by Wesley & Son, of 

 Essex Street, Strand, London. Colonel Russell's observations 

 were valuable and reliable. He carried them on for upwards of 

 fifteen or twenty years, and gave evidence on the subject before 

 a committee of our House of Commons. 



I have now in my possession a series of bottles containing the 

 contents of sparrows killed by Colonel Russell during many years, 



