46 BULLETIN 107, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



have established the fact that, as a family, they are among the most 

 persistent of insect feeders and at the same time molest no product 

 of the farm. Their presence should be fostered at every opportunity, 

 and there is reason to believe that as our western country becomes 

 more thickly settled these gentle birds may become as familiar about 

 dooryards as are their eastern relatives. 



ENGLISH SPARROW. 



(Passer domesticus.) 



From its enormous abundance throughout much of the weevil- 

 infested region of Utah, as well as from the fact that, individually, 

 it is a most effective enemy of the alfalfa weevil, the English or house 

 sparrow must be placed very high in the scale of weevil enemies. 

 There is no bird in which the people of Utah are more interested than 

 this much-criticized foreigner and, as its efficiency as an insect de- 

 stroyer has frequently been questioned, special pains have been taken 

 to present as thorough a. consideration as possible of the relation of 

 the sparrow to the alfalfa weevil. 



The English sparrow presents a problem in Utah somewhat dif- 

 ferent from that in many other parts of its range. Though by no 

 means uncommon in the city streets, the never-ceasing chatter of hun- 

 dreds of these birds heard along country roads and about farmyards 

 readily makes an observer realize that in many rural sections of the 

 Salt Lake Valley this species is by far the most abundant. 



A factor partly responsible for this condition is the presence on 

 almost every farm of one or more straw-thatched sheds for hous- 

 ing live stock and in these the birds nest. (See PL I, fig. 2.) These 

 sheds are constructed usually with the ceiling about 8 or 9 feet 

 from the ground. The framework is made of heavy logs overlaid 

 with limbs and smaller boughs, and upon this the straw is placed 

 to a- depth of 2 to 5 feet. Into the straw the sparrows dig holes about 

 the size of one's arm and sometimes extending inward for a foot 

 or 18 inches. Masses of nest material also may be found placed upon 

 the beams or limbs used in the framework. Frequently upward of 

 100 nest holes, both occupied and deserted, may be found in a roof 

 about 20 or 30 feet in dimensions. Lombardy poplars, cottonwoods, 

 and box elders, abundant in the valley, are also favorite nesting sites. 



FOOD OF YOUNG BIRDS. 



For investigating the food habits of young English sparrows 1,039 

 stomachs, mostly of nestlings, are available. These were secured as 

 follows: First half of May, 16; second half, 530; first half of June, 

 382; second half, 36; first half of July, 40; and second half, 35. 

 The bulk of this material was collected from the middle of May to 

 the middle of June, which about coincides with the period of 

 greatest abundance of these young birds as well as of the larval form 

 of the weevil. The largest number was from the vicinity of Murray, 



