T y6 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



It appears, therefore, that there is little to be said in favour of 

 the English Sparrow. There is no escape from the conclusion 

 that the bird is a serious pest, the extermination of which would 

 be an unmixed blessing." 



Perhaps you may consider I have dwelt too much upon the 

 harm done by certain birds, and I would not have you go away 

 with the idea that most small birds should be shot down. Nothing 

 is further from my thoughts, nothing would be more costly to the 

 country. I have been able to tell you nothing of the good, useful 

 qualities of our numerous small birds, because in this country such 

 detailed information does not exist; no prolonged scientific exami- 

 nation of bird stomachs has been made here yet. Therefore, 

 while we surmise that most of our small birds do us immense 

 good, we have no proof on scientific lines to support our belief. 

 Again, we must go to America for details. In his notes on one 

 of the American Sparrows, Mr. Beal shows that the stomachs of 

 these birds in winter are crammed with the seeds of weeds, and 

 he estimates that in the State of Iowa alone, if there are only 10 

 birds (Tree Sparrows) to a square mile, not less than 175 tons of 

 weed seed are consumed by this single species in a single season, 

 basing his calculations on the modest estimate that each bird eats 

 one-fourth of an ounce per day for a winter season of 200 days. 



Again, " during the outbreak of Rocky Mountain locusts in 

 Nebraska in 1874-1877, Professor Samuel Aughey saw a Long- 

 billed Marsh Wren carry 30 locusts to her young in an hour. At 

 this rate, for seven hours a day, a brood would consume 210 

 locusts per day, and the passerine birds of the eastern half of 

 Nebraska, allowing only 30 broods to the square mile, would daily 

 destroy 162 million 771 thousand of the pests. The average 

 locust weighs about 15 grains, and is capable each day of 

 consuming its own weight of corn and wheat crops. The locusts 

 eaten by the nestlings would, therefore, be able to destroy in one 

 day 174 tons of crops which, at 10 dollars per ton would be worth 

 1,740 dollars/*?/- day. This case may serve as an illustration of 





