Bird Study 85 



back is brown streaked with black; the tail is brown, rather short, and not 

 notched at the tip ; the wings are brown with two white bars and a jaunty 

 dash of reddish brown. The female has the head grayish brown, the 

 breast, throat and under parts grayish white; the back is brown streaked 

 with black and dirty yellow, and she is, on the whole, a "washed out" 

 looking lady bird. The differences in color and size between the English 

 sparrow and the chippy are quite noticeable, as the chippy is an inch 

 shorter and far more slender in appearance, and is especially marked by 

 the reddish brown crown. 



When feeding, the English sparrows are aggressive, and their lack of 

 table manners make them the "goops" among all birds; in the winter 

 they settle in noisy flocks on the street to pick up the grain undigested by 

 the horses, or in barnyards where the grain has been scattered by the 

 cattle. They only eat weed seeds when other food fails them in the 

 winter, for they are a civilized bird even if they do not act so, and they 

 much prefer the cultivated grains. It is only during the nesting season 

 that they destroy insects to any extent ; over one-half the food of nestlings 

 is insects, such as, weevils, grasshoppers, cutworms, etc.; but this good 

 work is largely offset by the fact that these same nestlings will soon give 

 their grown-up energies to attacking grain fields, taking the seed after 

 sowing, later the new grain in the milk, and later still the ripened grain in 

 the sheaf. Wheat, oats, rye, barley, com, sorghum and rice are thus 

 attacked. Once I saw on the upper Nile a native boat loaded with millet 

 which was attacked by thousands of sparrows; when driven ofl^ by the 

 sailors they would perch on the rigging, like flies, and as soon as the men 

 turned their backs they would drop like bullets to the deck and gobble 

 the grain before they were again driven off. English sparrows also 

 destroy for us the buds and blossoms of fruit trees and often attack the 

 ripening fruit. 



The introduction of the English sparrow into America is one of the 

 greatest arguments possible in favor of nature-study; for, ignorance of 

 nature-study methods in this single instance, costs the United States 

 millions of dollars every year. The English sparrow is the European 

 house sparrow and people had a theory that it was an insect eater, but 

 never took the pains to ascertain if this theory were a fact. About 1850, 

 some people with more zeal than wisdom introduced these birds into New 

 York, and for twenty years afterwards there were other importations of 

 the sparrows. In twenty years more, people discovered that they had 

 taken great pains to establish in our country one of the worst nuisances 

 in all Europe. In addition to all the direct damage which the English 

 sparrows do, they are so quarrelsome that they have driven away many 

 of our native beneficial birds from our premises, and now vociferously 

 acclaim their presence in places which were once the haunts of birds with 

 sweet songs. After they drive off the other birds they quarrel among 

 themselves, and there is no rest for tired ears in their vicinity. There are 

 various noises made by these birds which we can understand if we are 

 willing to take the pains: The harassing chirping is their song; they 

 squall when frightened and peep plaintively when lonesome, and make a 

 disagreeable racket when fighting. 



But to "give the devil his due" we must admit that the house sparrow 

 is as clever as it is obnoxious, and its success is doubtless partly due to its 

 superior cleverness and keenness. It is quick to take a hint, if sufficiently 



