21 



tkm to interfere with the larvae. Whilst I was watching them a bumble bee flew close 

 over them. They instantly seemed to become frantic, jerking violently, whilst a number 

 of them stampeded, going over the edge of the leaf with a bound. I s av one rubbing the 

 back of its head on the leaf ; it seemed to be quite conscious that it had long tufts of 

 hair to deal with. In the operation it raised its head well up, turned it a full half round, 

 then brought it down slanting, bending all the tufts to one side, pressing hard, then 

 sweeping rapidly the other way, and this it did several times without stopping. I saw 

 one throw itself completely over on its back, and wriggle after the manner of a dog 

 scratching its back on the ground, even to the raising of the centre of its body, and 

 rubbing only its head and rump. 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



BY W. E. SAUNDERS, LONDON, ONTARIO. 



The sparrow question, as it is now familiarly termed, has certainly been a much 

 debated one of late, and while not a few persons to whom the bird is an old acquaintance 

 agree that all statements to its detriment are malicious slanders, still the bulk of evidence 

 as well as of opinion is strongly against it, and by almost, if not quite all of those who are 

 in the best position to know, the sparrow is unhesitatingly and sweepingly condemned. 



This decision has not been reached without due consideration and ample evidence. 

 Both in the United States and on our side of the line, time and money have been freely 

 spent in solving the problem, although most of the work has been done by our neighbours. 

 Their Division of Zoology, in the Department of Agriculture, issued blank forms con- 

 taining questions bearing on all points of the subject at issue, and these forms were sent 

 to everybody known to those in charge, who would be likely to possess information of 

 value in deciding the result of the investigation. When the reports were gathered in, it 

 was found that while the sparrow was introduced at only a few points, chiefly along the 

 Atlantic seaboard, it had increased so rapidly that it was fast covering the continent ; in 

 fact, last year the new territory reported covered was about 500,000 square miles, which 

 nearly equalled its total distribution for 1886, so that in a few years, probably three at 

 the outside, we shall see it covering our whole continent. One of the greatest objections 

 to its presence is that it crowds out and drives away our native birds, and in this respect 

 the results of its residence among us are even worse than the effects of the summer visits 

 of the cowbird, about whom a few words may be allowed in passing. 



It is a matter of public notoriety that the cowbird leaves the hatching of its eggs 

 and the care of its young to the tender mercies of other birds, usually smaller than 

 itself, but it is not so well known that very often this intruder, by its large size and 

 rapid growth, absorbs the attention of its foster parents, and the legitimate occupants of 

 the nest are first starved and then thrown out of the nest, the result often being that 

 when the intruder is full grown it is the sole occupant of the nest, having caused the 

 death of from three to five small birds, any one of whom would far exceed its murderer 

 in usefulness. 



Therefore, every farmer would be doing a service to himself if he would endeavor to 

 lessen the number of cowbirds in his neighbourhood, and thereby directly increase his 

 stock of insect-eating birds in the succeeding summer. 



There is, however, a bright side to the cowbird question, and that is found in the 

 fact that while the supply of the celebrated reed bird of New York and adjacent cities, 

 consists chiefly of red-winged and rusty blackbirds, the number of cowbirds entering 

 into it is no small one, and as the other birds decrease we may hop© to see the latter 

 species form a larger proportion of the total bulk consumed, until its numbers becomes so 

 far reduced that we shall not seriously notice its baneful presence. 



But no such hope comes to our relief when we consider the ways of the sparrow. 

 They do not utilize the attentions of other birds to rear their young — if they did there 

 would be a limit to their increase, as there are few nests of our native birds containing 

 eggs after the beginning of July — but this foreign intruder extends its work as long as 



