18 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



Col. William Rhodes, of Quebec, Canada, states that in 1854 he in- 

 troduced English Sparrows at Portland, Me. (Forest and Stream, Vol. 

 VIII, p. 1G5). Others were introduced there in 185S by I>ir. Thomas 

 Amory Deblois, and about the same time Mr. Jos. Peace Hazard intro- 

 duced them at Peace Dale, E. I. These last birds came from Liver- 

 pool, England, and some escaped in Boston where they were landed. 

 Nothing seems to have been heard of the escaped birds, however, and 

 ten years later they were first regularly introduced into Boston Com- 

 mon. In 1860, twelve birds were turned loose in Madison Square, 

 New York City; in 1864, they were introduced to Central Park, and 

 two years later two hundred were set free in Union Park, New York 

 City. About the same time they w r ere first fully established in the city 

 of Quebec, Canada, although one or two apparently unsuccessful at- 

 tempts had been made previously. 



In 1867 forty pairs were imported at New Haven, Conn , and the 

 same year a colony was established at Galveston, Tex. In 1868 about 

 twenty Sparrows were liberated on Boston Common, followed by 

 more the next year, while at the same time twenty were released in 

 Charlestown, Mass., only a mile or two away. This year (1869) wit- 

 nessed the importation, in one lot, of a thousand Sparrows by the city 

 government of Philadelphia ; and this probably is the largest single im- 

 portation of Sparrows ever made to this country. The same year twenty 

 pairs were brought from Europe to Cleveland, Ohio, and sixty-six pairs 

 from New York to Cincinnati, Ohio. Within the next two or three 

 years they were introduced at San Francisco, Cal. ; in 1873 a colony 

 was imported and liberated at Salt Lake City, Utah; and about two 

 years later they w^erc introduced at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and at various 

 points in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 



Tn many of the cases thus far mentioned it is positively known that 

 the Sparrows w^ere brought to this country from the Old World, and 

 mainly, if not entirely, from Great Britain and Germany. But no 

 sooner had they become fairly numerous at any of these points than 

 people began to take them thence to other places, sometimes in large 

 numbers, but more often only a few pairs at a time. In most cases these 

 few birds were carefully watched, protected, and fed, and so multiplied 

 rapidly, forming new colonies from which the birds spread steadily 

 without assistance, and more rapidly by successive transportations by 

 man. This important factor in the rapid increase and wide distribution 

 of the Sparrow in America has been too generally ignored, and it is only 

 within the past year that we have come to realize something of the mag- 

 nitude of the " craze" which led so many people to foster and distribute 

 this serious pest. None of our circulars relating to the Sparrow asked 

 distinctly for information about its importation or introduction, but 

 only for the date of its first appearance. In most cases, therefore, cor- 

 respondents have simply given the information asked, and only an oc- 

 casional observer has alluded to the manner of its coming. 



