168 BIRDS 



bush. Sparrows are found and are increasing in the Chatham Islands, 

 which are distant 450 miles from the nearest point of New Zealand, 

 and where they are self-introduced. 



Mr T. W. Kirk gives much important information as to its rate 

 of increase in his note on the breeding habits of the sparrow in New 

 Zealand. The following is a summary of his facts: 



The breeding season begins in spring, the first brood appearing 

 in September, and the last in April. There are never less than five 

 eggs in a nest, but usually six or seven. Incubation lasts 13 days. 

 The young are fed in the nest for eight or nine days, then return to it 

 for two or three nights and afterwards shift for themselves. In five 

 instances fresh eggs were found in the nest along with young birds, 

 and the author thinks that the young birds do the chief work of 

 incubation of succeeding broods. In at least one instance, marked 

 birds reared in September were themselves breeding at the end of 

 March. 



Calculating from nests which were watched, the author thinks that 

 the average annual increase is five broods of six each, and this is a 

 low estimate. Allowing for deaths at the rate of one-third of the 

 whole annual increase, then one pair will produce n pairs at 

 the end of the first year; 121 pairs at the end of the second year; 

 1131 pairs at the end of the third ; 14,641 pairs at the end of the fourth ; 

 and 161,051 pairs, or an actual increase of 322,100 birds in five years, 

 without taking into account : (i) the early broods which are themselves 

 breeding ; (2) the fact that more than five broods are probably hatched 

 in a year; and (3) that often more than six eggs are hatched at a 

 time 1 . 



Food of the Sparrow. The average farmer's opinion on this 

 subject is valueless ; he only sees the harm that is done at sowing time 

 and in harvest, and concludes on very imperfect evidence that 

 the bird is only a grain-feeder. Mr T. W. Kirk says: " I have myself 

 dissected fifty-three birds, taken at all seasons of the year, and am 

 forced to admit that the remains of insects found in them constituted 

 but a very small portion of the total food." Unfortunately Mr Kirk 

 does not say where he took the birds which he examined. He himself 

 dwells in or near a large town, and the chances are that a considerable 

 amount of the food of the sparrows would be from households, grain 

 from horsedroppings, etc. Mr Kirk's communication was made to 



1 Some idea of the abundance of small birds in the farming districts of New 

 Zealand may be gathered from such facts as the following. One trapper in the 

 Rakaia district received a cheque for 54. gs. -^d. for the month of July, 1918, 

 which represented 17,429 heads. The Ashburton County Council commenced 

 buying birds' heads on iyth June, 1918, and by the middle of August had paid away 

 495- I 7*- 8rf., representing 158,681 small birds, chiefly sparrows and skylarks. 



