88 ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



devouring dead fish and other refuse along our coast line 

 and in our harbors. 



71. Birds injurious to man. We have discussed briefly 

 in the preceding sections some of the ways in which birds 

 are of incalculable value to man. It must be admitted, 

 however, that some birds are of doubtful value, while others 

 are positively injurious. As an example of a bird, which, 

 to say the least, is a nuisance, we may mention the common 

 English sparrow. This bird was first introduced from Eng- 

 land into the United States in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1851, 

 because it was expected to attack some of our injurious in- 

 sects. These sparrows have multiplied so rapidly that now 

 they are found practically everywhere in the United States. 

 " As destroyers of noxious insects, the sparrows are worse 

 than useless." Thus, for instance, the stomach of a single 

 cuckoo (Frontispiece) was found to contain more insects than 

 did the stomachs of 522 English sparrows. 



But even more serious are the positive charges that have 

 been proved against this bird. It pecks at and destroys 

 the young buds of trees, and later injures many fruits while 

 they are ripening. It causes great losses in the grain fields 

 from the time of planting to that of harvesting; and worst 

 of all is the fact that it molests and drives away our native 

 song and insect-eating birds. 



The crow (Fig. 74) is another bird that on the whole is 

 probably more injurious than beneficial for the following 

 reasons : " (1) Crows seriously damage the corn crop, and 

 injure other grain crops, usually to a less extent. (2) They 

 damage other farm crops to some extent, frequently doing 

 much mischief. (3) They are very destructive to the eggs 

 and young of domesticated fowls. (4) They do incalculable 

 damage to the eggs and young of native birds. (5) They 



