EUROPEAN TREE SPARROW, 



Passer montanus Koch. 



^N this bird Mr. Otto Widmatin writes as follows: 



"Early in 1870 a St. Louis bird dealer imported, among other birds, tw^ty 

 Tree Sparrows direct from Germany. Mr. Kleinschmidt, hearing of it, persuaded Mr. 

 Carl Daenzer, Editor-in-Chief of the Anzeiger des Westens, who was at that time 

 experimenting with the introduction of European songbirds, to contribute to the 

 purchase of these birds. Accordingly they were bought and taken to Lafayette Park, 

 in the then south-western part of the city, and Hberated April 25, 1870. All left the 

 park immediately, and none were seen again until April 24- of the following year, when 

 a single bird was seen one mile east of the park. This discovery w^as considered w^orthy 

 of mention in the public press, since at that time the introduction of the European 

 Sparrow at St. Louis was thought to be a failure. That this was an error became 

 apparent during the ensuing summer, when these discoveries were reported so often, 

 and from parts of the city so widely separated, that success could not longer be 

 doubted. 



"During the next few years bird dealers had pairs of House Sparrows sent from 

 New York, and well-meaning citizens bought them for liberation, but the exact number 

 can not be learned, since the principal parties have died. Both species increased 

 amazingly, and as early as 1875 Passer had spread over the entire sixty-four square 

 miles which make up the city of St. Louis. In the southern part the Tree Sparrows 

 predominated, and as late as 1877 no House Sparrow was seen on my premises, one 

 mile south of the arsenal, which latter point they had then occupied in large numbers. 

 Also during the winter of 1877 — '78 all of my twelve boxes set up for Sparrows were 

 in undisputed possession of the Tree Sparrows. 



"On March 28, 1878, the first House Sparrow appeared on the scene, and trouble 

 began. One pair of Tree Sparrows was dislodged and a pair of House Sparrows began 

 nest-building. That summer no increase in House Sparrows took place in my colony, 

 and the Tree Sparrows reared their broods in peace, but when the first cold October 

 nights forced the Sparrows to change their roost from the now nearly leafless trees to 

 some warm shelter, a whole flock of House Sparrows took possession of the boxes and 

 the Tree Sparrows had to leave. Thereafter the weaker Tree Sparrow had little chance 

 to gain a suitable nesting site around its old home. Only one pair continued breeding 

 for a few years longer, in a box which, besides hanging lower than the rest, had an 

 entrance which the bigger House Sparrows found uncomfortably small. It appeared to 

 me that the Tree Sparrow would be much more of a house sparrow if his stronger 

 cousin did not force him to be a tree sparrow by robbing him of every suitable nesting 

 and roosting place about human*habitations. 



"With the increase of the House Sparrow the Tree Sparrow had to yield the city 

 almost entirely to him and betake himself to the country, spreading in all directions 



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