No. 20.] THE BIRDS 0*' CONNECTICUT. 317 



caterpillars." (Weed and Dearborn, " Birds in their Relation to 

 Man.") This bird also often destroys the seeds of noxious 

 plants, as the ragweed. 



The American and White-winged Crossbills {Loxia 

 curvirostra minor and leucoptera) feed chiefly on the seeds of 

 pines, hemlocks, and spruces. None of the above species, how- 

 ever, have been shown to do any real harm, and none are usually 

 common with us. 



With the English Sparrow (Passer domesticus domesticus) 

 the case is different. Thronging in our cities and crowding yearly 

 farther into the country districts, multiplying with enormous 

 rapidity and driving our small native birds before it, this once 

 welcome foreigner has turned its warm reception into active dis- 

 like. But all attempts to exterminate it by bounty or combined 

 effort have so far been failures, and the best that can be hoped 

 for is to protect our native birds against its attacks and destroy 

 it when possible. At first only an inhabitant of cities in this coun- 

 try, this sparrow readily adjusts itself to surroundings and 

 climate, and the writer has seen it in flocks of hundreds far from 

 towns in the interior of North Dakota. " The English Sparrow, 

 or, more properly speaking, the house sparrow of Europe and 

 Asia, was introduced into the United States about 1850, and has 

 increased and spread until now it is one of the most abundant 

 birds east of the Mississippi River. It does not, however, occur 

 in the lower part of Florida and certain parts of Mississippi and 

 Louisiana, nor in some portions of Maine, Minnesota, and North 

 Dakota. West of the Mississippi River its range forms a tongue- 

 like area extending to the base of the Rocky Mountains in 

 Colorado, and includes Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Indian Terri- 

 tory, and parts of South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, and 

 Nebraska. It is also found in isolated localities west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, principally about the Great Salt Lake, San Francisco 

 Bay, near Portland, Oregon, and on Puget Sound, Washington. 

 In Canada it is established to a greater or lesser degree in all 

 the eastern provinces. It has recently penetrated to Manitoba, 

 but has not yet otherw.ise secured a foothold to the north and 

 west of Ontario. Throughout its range it abounds chiefly in 

 towns and villages, along roads, and about farms, and is not 

 found in mountainous or forested districts. 



