192 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [VolY. 



1878. The English Sparrow [Passer domesticus] at the Bar. < Xew York Times, 



Sept. 3, 1878. 



Three letters from correspondents. 1. "G-.H. G." argues pro and con. 2. "I. H. B." reasons 

 emphatically against the birds: "talk with an Englishman, a Gennan, or an Italian, who 

 knows anything about their habits, and he will laugh at the foUy of Americans for iutroducing 

 them here." 3. "X. D." does not apparently believe that they harass native birds. 



1878. [A column or more on the Sparrow cxiiestion. ] <^ New Yorlc Times, Sept. 



2, 1878. 

 Ifot seen. 



1878. Etchings and Echoes. <[ Daily Eveninfj Travellei' (Boston), Aug. 13, 



1878. 



"Thousands of Sparrows visit the grounds about the East Boston grain elevator, daUy, and 

 it is apparent that they prefer the wheat brought from the West to the insects that swarm." 



1878. The S]iarrow [Passer domesticus] Question in England. <^ The Chicago 



Field, Sept. 28, 1878. 

 Letters from S. E. Gamett and E. Anthony, against and for the bird. 



1878. The English S]iarrow [Passer domesticus]. <^ Forest and Stream, Oct. 2, 



1878, pp. 179, 180. 



That the Sparrow may be a blessing in one place and a nuisance in another is brought for- 

 ward by a correspondent from Bay Eidge, Long Island, who signs himself "Fair Play for the 

 Sparrows." This is followed by "a delightful picture of a home surrounded by feathered 

 songsters," signed "Naturalist," who states that he has more song-birds about ViiTn than he 

 had before the Sparrows came. 



1878. An Enemy to the Sparrows [Passer domestictts]. < The Post (Wash- 

 ington, D. C), Nov. 22, 1878. 



A paragraph stating that an article entitled the "Ineligibility of the European House 

 Sparrow in America" had been sent by its author to the Commissioners of the District, 

 accompanied by a letter recommending measures to be taken to abate the nuisance. 



1879. Anon. [Brewer, T. M.] Conclusive Testimony [that Passer domesticus does 



not molest native birds]. < Boston Journal, Jan. 17, 1879. 



Mr. G. H. Coues having shortly before published a list of sixty species of birds observed in 

 Brooklyn, Kew York, where the Sparrows are abundant, T. M. Brewer anonymously regards 

 this as "conclusive testimony." Yet by parity of reason it would be maintained that hawks, 

 and owls do not molest other birds, there being several of these rapacious birds in the Ust. 

 Nor does the writer stop to consider how many more species more numerously represented 

 might have been found there but for the Sparrows. 

 1879. Bagg, E.,^'/'. a Plea for the Birds [of America, against the invasion of Passer 

 domesticus]. <^ TJtica Mornin(j Herald and Daily Gazette, Feb. 5, 1879. 

 A fair and extended statement of the case. 



1879. Browne, F. C. Advice unheeded. < Forest and Stream, Jan. 30, 1879. 



Showing that we had been duly forewarned by H. J. Bruce, who, in an article on the Birds 

 of India, after quoting Dr. Jerdon as saying that the Passer of that country was one of the 

 greatest pests, goes on to state his apprehensions that the experiment of introducing the 

 birds in America would prove ill-advised and inexpedient. Dr. Bruce's remarks wUl be found 

 in The American Naturalist, vi. 1872, pp. 468-470. 



"If the sparrow is to be introduced into America to devour the larvae of insects, it should 

 be remembered that it is for the most part a feeder on grain, seeds and buds and that it only 

 makes a business of devouring grubs during its breeding season. ... I trust that those who 

 have to do in this matter wUl act advisedly, lest they should introduce that which will event- 

 ually become as great a nuisance in its way, as the curculio and the cankerworm." Thia 

 prescience of 1872 was, as Mr. Browne says, "advice unheeded." 



1879. CoUES, E. Latest from the Seat of War in Sparrowland. <^Forest and Stream, 

 Feb. 27, 1879. 



Merely satirizing the anonsrmous article entitled "Conclusive Testimony," which appeared 

 in the Boston Journal of January 17, 1879. The writer enquires, further, respecting that 

 Napoleonic confidence in Sparrows which the Bostonians display by using coal-tar to protect 

 their trees from the insects which the Sparrow s are declared by some to have effectually 

 destroyed. 



