190 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. [Yol.Y. 



1878. "NOEMAN." Sparrow [Passer cTomesticus] and Starling. <^ Forest and Stream, 

 X. June 20, 1878, p. 379. 

 The desirability of tlieir introduction into tlie country. 



1878. NuTTALL Oenithological Club. SpaiTows [Passer domestictis]. — The Nuttall 

 Ornitliological Club decides against them. < Boston Daily Advertiser, vol. 

 cxxxi, No. 47, Feb. 23, 1878. 



The inside history of this ai-ticle is: Some time about January, 1878, Dr. Brewer -was in my 

 office in Washington, where some words on the subject grew a little heated toward the close 

 of the interview, when 1 proposed that it would be well to ask the aSTuttall Club to take up 

 and sift the matter, that we might get at the facts, if possible. The reply was complimentary 

 neither to the sincerity of my proposition nor to the ornithological ability of the Club, of 

 which he was a member. I soon after addressed to the Club a communication inviting their 

 attention to the matter, suggesting a fuU and fair discussion of the subject in open meeting, 

 and representing that the Club was specially well qualified to come to just conclusions, con- 

 sisting, as it did, of a number of working ornithologists of recognized ability and experience, 

 who were perfectly familiar with the case as presented in Boston, Cambridge, and vicinity. 

 The meeting was soon after held. ISTotice was sent to the resident members of the proposed 

 consideration of the question, and corresponding members were also invited to take part in the 

 discussion. Dr. Brewer for some reason did not attend the meeting. The report of the meet- 

 ing, constituting the present article, indicates that Mr. J. A. AUen, Mr. "William Brewster, 

 Mr. H. A. Purdie, Mr. H. D. Minot, Mr. Euthven Deane, and others, participated in the 

 discussion. Mr. Allen's views are not here presented. All the testunony here reported is 

 unfavorable to the Sparrows, but need not be here analyzed, as it is only what every competent 

 and unprejudiced observer knows; it is explicit, emphatic, and irrefragable, substantiating 

 every count that has been brought agaiast the birds. The article includes an open letter to 

 Dr. Brewer from John Diswell, M. D., stating that in 39 individuals, taken at the height of 

 the canker-worm pest, no trace of insect food could be found on dissecting; the i)ublication 

 of which letter gave offence to Dr. Brewer, who considered it an unwarrantable liberty to 

 take with his name. "At the close of the discussion a vote was taken on the question of 

 whether or not, in the opinion of those present, the further increase of the house spaiTow in 

 this country was desirable. The result was a unanimous negative." Dr. Brewer's action 

 upon the testimony thus offered by experts may be gathered from other titles in this Bibliog- 

 raphy. 



1878. Nuttall Ornithological Club. Sparrows [Passer domesticiis] brought to 

 Judgment. — Discussion of the Nuttall Ornithological Club upon the Merits 

 and Demerits of the English Sparrow in the United States. < The Country 

 (newspaper of New York), Feb. 23, 1878, pp. 245, 246, fig. 



This is the fuU report of the meeting, communicated officially by the Club, occupying nearly 

 two pages (5 columns). It gives much matter additional to that published in the Boston Daily 

 Advertiser, and is specially important in presenting at length the views of J. A. Allen, and in- 

 cluding communications from Mr. R.Eidgway and Dr. C. C. Abbott, not given in the Boston 

 report of the proceedings. Allen's carefully-considered testimony, though well guarded, is, 

 emphatically and explicitly, against the Spanows. ' ' Mr. Allen further stated, that every orni- 

 thologist of note throughout the country who has expressed himself upon the subject (and 

 nearly all have done so) has, almost without exception, declared against the Sparrow. Ifot a 

 few of them consider their rapid increase an alarming evil, which will soon call for legislative 

 action to hold it in check." 



1878. "Orxis." [G. a. Stockwell.] The English Sparrow [Passer domesticus]. — 

 His Enemies and Friends — AVhat a Port Huron Naturalist has to Say on the 

 Subject. < Port Huron Times, March 16, 1878. 



Says the writer: "The opposition to the sparrow began with Dr. Elliott Coues, a young 

 ornithologist of considerable talent, though possessing more assurance than knowledge. . . . 

 He started the baU, which has since been kicked by his satellites, in an article in the Field 

 and Forest, [quotation from Coues and Prentiss follows]. Eidiculous as the above paragraph 

 is, particularly as coming from a would-be scientist, it was immediately taken up and made 

 the battle cry of the ISTuttaU Ornithological Club. . . . Chief among this coterie of ornitho- 

 logists (?) isH.D. Minot, a youth who has the credit of publishiiin; the mo.st execrable, and 

 monstrously inaccurate, work on birds extant." After more in tais strain, there appears a 

 letter from Mr. John Galvin, disagreeing with the observations nf nearly all other persons. 

 Still more curiously, the writer continues : "As final evidence, I quote from a personal letter 

 received from Dr. Thos. M. Brewer." This letter, signed "Very cordially yours," rehearses 

 matter with which the public has become familiar. I had some trouble to ascertain the 

 authorship of this article ; I saw a letter from the editor of tlu^ paper stating that it was 

 written by G. A. StockweU ; and I saw a letter from G. A. Stockwell stating that ho did not 

 write it. 



