see only one side of the case the various pubhcations on the 

 sparrow are recommended, several volumes of which have been 

 published. Chief among these is Bulletin No. 1 of the Division 

 of Economic Ornithology and ^Mammalogy of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, by Walter B. Barrows, entitled the 

 "English Sparrow in North America," a report of more than 

 400 pages. In this bulletin, which was regarded at the time 

 as "the most important treatise ever published upon the 

 economic relations of any bird," evidence regarding the habits 

 and destructiveness of the sparrow was brought together from 

 all parts of the United States and from Europe, Australia and 

 New Zealand. The testimony against the sparrow from all 

 these countries is overwhelming. Two other works devoted 

 entirely to this species had been published previously in the 

 United States, one in 1878 by T. G. Gentry, entitled "The 

 House Sparrow at Home and Abroad," the other in 1879 by 

 Dr. Elliot Coues, on "The Present Status of Passer domesticus 

 in America, with Special Reference to the Western States and 

 Territories." Since Bulletin No. 1, referred to above, was 

 published other investigations of the sparrow have been made 

 by scientists, and all have resulted unfavorably to the bird, 

 notwithstanding the fact that it devours army worms, cotton 

 boll weevils, brown-tail moths and other pests. Baron von 

 Berlepsch, who has established the most successful European 

 experiment station for the protection of birds, conserves practi- 

 cally all small land birds, but finds it necessary to destroy this 

 sparrow in order to give the other birds a chance. The tre- 

 mendous destruction to grain in the fields caused by this 

 sparrow in grain-growing regions, its cost to poultrymen, its 

 injuries to fruit and garden crops are well known. Where it 

 has become numerous it has destroyed quantities of fruit, in- 

 cluding grapes, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, 

 blackberries, peaches, apples, pears, plums, tomatoes, apricots 

 and figs. Young plants, including peas, beans, cabbage, lettuce, 

 radishes, corn and other vegetables, are torn to pieces or eaten 

 to the ground. Garden seeds, including those of many vege- 

 tables and flowers, are scratched up when planted or eaten on 

 the stalk. There is scarcely a garden fruit or vegetable which 

 does not suffer more or less from the attacks of this bird. 

 Buds and blossoms of numerous plants are destroyed by it. 



