Frei.p Notes 129 
THE VILLAGE HNGLISH SPARROW IN THE GRAIN-RAISING REGION.— 
In the admirable article by Mr. Frank C. Gates, which appeared 
in the last Wilson Bulletin, in speaking of Havana, Illinois, there 
occurs the following: ‘The town, itself, is surprisingly free from 
weed patches of more than a very limited extent. For this rea- 
son, perhaps, the Hneglish sparrows, which are naturally attracted 
to the dwelling places of man, not finding sufficient food there, 
flock in groups of 25 to 150 and invade the wheat and clover 
fields. It was noticed repeatedly that whenever English sparrows 
invaded crop land it was virtually always in good-sized flocks.” 
This calls forth two questions: Does the English sparrow eyer 
eat weed seed to any appreciable extent when a grain diet is pro- 
eurable? And is not the habit above described, one that is common 
to all English sparrows in the grain-raising belt? 
Year after year my observations have been, that as soon as the 
kernels of growing grain are of edible size all the village spar- 
rows, not held by nest duties, fiock daily to the nearest grain 
fields; and that there is no cessation of their visits until the last 
shock of oats, rye, and barley has been taken to the threshing ma- 
chine. Frequently, with the flocks may be seen young birds not 
yet able to feed themselves, to which their mothers. bring food, 
sometimes feeding them with six or eight insertions of the Dill, 
each insertion unquestionably showing the delivery of a_ kernel 
of grain. The toll upon the farmers’ unharvested crops in the 
aggregate must be a vast amount. At this season, while driving 
along country roads, one sees the Hneglish sparrows that usually 
swarm about the farmers’ pig-pens and chicken yards have de- 
serted these resorts for a time and have betaken themselves to the 
grain fields. 
This “avian rat” proves a pest to the poultry raiser, because 
of its pilfering the soft foods prepared for little chicks. Some 
people have dealt successfully with the thief by catching it in 
traps placed on the tops of the coops. For this purpose mouse- 
traps are used—the sort that consists of a wire spring fastened 
upon a small block of wood; merely one more device against the 
forces of the mighty. 
National, Towa. ALTHEA R. SHERMAN. 
Rare GBrrps ar Cannon, Onto.—The spring migration of 1911 
has been especially interesting here, because of the visitation of 
seyeral rare species. These were, with one exception, water fowl, 
and were observed chiefly on Meyer's Lake, a sheet of water about 
three-quarters of a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, sit- 
uated two and one-half miles west of Canton. 
