24 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



be found along" these railways, and the Sparrows naturally follow 

 wherever food is found. To a lesser degree carriage roads have served 

 the same purpose, the food furnished in the latter case being mainly the 

 partially digested grain in horse droppings. 



This gradual spread may take place at any season of the year, but 

 probably is most pronounced in late summer and autumn, for reasons 

 which will at once appear. It has been repeatedly remarked that when 

 Sparrows are first introduced to a new region it is impossible, without 

 actual confinement, to keep them on a farm near a town or city. They 

 soon abandon the country for the city, and, except at harvest time> sel- 

 dom return to the farm where they were introduced until the city becomes 

 crowded. This may mean until there is no longer an ample supply or 

 food for all the Sparrows, or, more commonly, it means until there are 

 no longer enough convenient breeding places for all. In most cases it 

 is the young which are thus crowded out, and consequently in mid- 

 summer and early autumn flocks of young birds may be met with far 

 out in the country, wherever food is abundant, and when this food fails, 

 or the ground becomes covered with snow, they retreat to the nearest 

 towns, villages, or even farm-houses, often at considerable distances 

 from the places where they were reared. But, in most cities, a time 

 arrives at last when more Sparrows collect in winter than can possibly 

 find nesting places in spring. Then, when all desirable places Lave 

 been occupied, the remaining birds are forced to go to other towns or 

 villages, or to nest in the county. 



In this way the country for miles about large cities becomes fairly 

 crowded with Sparrows, if the food conditions are favorable, and then 

 the Sparrow shows his great power of adaptation by constructing nests 

 for himself in trees. Twenty years ago there were few places in this 

 country where any such Sparrow nests could be found, but today they 

 are common almost everywhere, aud frequently they are used as places 

 of shelter and retreat in severe winter weather, as well as for breeding- 

 places in summer. At first, evergreen trees are preferred, and a bulky 

 nest, hardly more than a large, irregular heap of straw and rubbish, is 

 built ; but as such trees become crowded, or as the Sparrows gain skill 

 in building, other trees are used, and often the nests are smaller and 

 more symmetrical. The nests of native birds also are often utilized as 

 foundations, the rightful owners being driven off first. In places where 

 Sparrows find abundance of food and congenial surroundings, they in- 

 crease to such an extent that these nests seriously disfigure the shade 

 trees, and by their filth even injure them. Mr. Ridgway, of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, says: 



The English Sparrow has "been in Wheatland, Inch, since 1877, and is now very 

 abundant. I recently counted twenty-one of its large nests on one oak tree by the 

 roadside, a little distance outside of the village. (Washington. D. C, February 11, 

 1868.) 



It may seem superfluous to many readers to introduce any evidence 

 showing that the Sparrow is not confined to cities, but so many persons 



