456 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



chiefly west of the coast range; breeds both on Vancouver and 

 the mainland. (Fannin.) Common summer resident at ChilKwack, 

 B.C. (Brooks.) Very common at Hastings, Port Heney and Agas- 

 siz, B.C., in April, 1889; very abundant at Chilliwack and Hunting- 

 don, B.C., feeding on the seeds of the crab-apple, in the autumn 

 of 1 901; tolerably common near Victoria and quite common at 

 Comox, Vancouver island, in June, 1893. (Spreadborough.) Found 

 breeding on the coast of British Columbia. (Rhoads.) 



518. Cassin Purple Pinch. 



Carpodacus cassini Baird. 1854. 



"Western States, from the eastern base of the Rocky mountains 

 to the Pacific coast, and north to British Columbia. (Ridgway.) 

 A few examples, probably of this species, were found breeding in 

 the interior of British Columbia. (Rhoads.) Both sides of Coast 

 range, B.C. (Fannin.) Summer resident at Soda creek, and pro- 

 bably also at Quesnel, B.C., 1901. (Brooks.) Taken at Spence 

 Bridge and Kamloops in June, 1889; one specimen seen at Trail, 

 B.C., near the International Boundary, in May, 1902; common 

 everywhere in coniferous woods at Fernie and Elk9, B.C., in May, 

 1904; quite common at Penticton, B.C., in April, 1903, feeding in 

 the tops of buU pine (Pinus ponder osa), on their seeds ; saw one there 

 June, 1905. (Spreadborough.) 



CCXI. PASSER Brisson. 



520. House Sparrow. 



Passer domesticus (Linn^us) Koch. 181 6. 



This species has become naturalized in all Canadian cities, towns 

 and small villages and in many farm-yards, where it, lives in winter 

 in affluence on the oats found in the droppings of horses. It is 

 qxiite abundant in the autumn, but whether it finds a scarcity of 

 food or abundance it is always in evidence in spring, and where it 

 once gets a foothold it retains it and spreads further. It is abun- 

 dant everywhere in the eastern provinces, in the settled parts of 

 Quebec and Ontario, and, although spoken against everywhere, it 

 destroys an enormous quantity of noxious weeds in waste grounds 

 and vacant places in cities and their suburbs, by eating their seeds. 



