42 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



J. Percy Moore, of Philadelphia, Pa., writes : 



A lady living in Doylestown, Pa., mentioned to ine that she had seen the Spar- 

 row wantonly pull off the leaves of a silver maple growing in front of her house. 

 (August 11, 1885.) 



October 11, 1885, I saw a number of the same species pulling off the leaves of the 

 common locust tree. They seemed to be biting off and eating the fleshy bases of the 

 leaf stems. Large numbers of leaves were thus treated and let fall to the ground. 



Benjamin F. Hess, of Phoenix, IS". Y., writes : 



I have many times seen a flock in a shade tree biting off the leaves and letting them 

 fall. (August 25, 1836.; 



Dr. Howard Jones, of Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, writes: 



They tear from walls by their weight the fin-leafed ivy, hundreds of them often 

 alighting at one time among the branches. (August 19, 1886.) 



Charles M. Clapp, of Albion, Ind., writes : 



Lr-st spring they would alight on the young grape-vine sprouts and break them off. 

 (October 14, 1886.) 



DESTRUCTION OF BUDS AND BLOSSOMS. 



But serious as is the injury occasioned by the filthy habits of the 

 Sparrow, it sinks into insignificance beside the destruction of buds 

 and blossoms in winter and spring. This, like the preceding charge, is 

 one which many of the Sparrow's friends admit without argument, but 

 there are still a few who believe that in destroying buds the bird is only 

 seeking and destroying insects hidden within, while a still smaller num- 

 ber deny that the Sparrow ever eats enough buds to do any harm. 



The most which can be said for the Sparrow in extenuation of this 

 habit is that the damage done does not seem to be serious iu all 

 cases; but, even if this be true, it is an extremely weak defense, for the 

 injury is sure to increase as the Sparrows become more numerous. The 

 greatest damage will result from the presence of large numbers of 

 Sparrows among a few fruit trees, and where these relations are re- 

 versed little damage is like to ensue. 



It has been claimed that the buds or blossoms taken by the Sparrow 

 cause no loss of fruit, since only a small proportion of blossoms could 

 develop fully under any circumstances. But this claim is based on the 

 assumption that the bird takes but a small proportion of the buds on 

 any tree, and that the loss is evenly distributed ; whereas, in point of 

 fact, there is no such equalization of the loss, but entire twigs or 

 branches are stripped at a single visit, and the consequent loss of fruit 

 is inevitable. A thousand blossoms might be picked by hand from a 

 peach tree without lessening the crop in the least, but if the same num- 

 ber of blossoms were destroyed by Sparrows it could not fail to affect 

 the yield of that tree materially. 



A point more frequently made, and with far less evidence in its favor, 

 is the claim that Sparrows select only the buds or blossoms which are 

 infested with insects. There is scarcely a shadow of evidence on which 



