44 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



On the grounds of the Department of Agriculture the Sparrows have 

 been carefully watched for several years, and they have been seen to 

 eat buds and blossoms of many kinds, and at almost all seasons. The 

 following observations recently made by a member of the Division illus- 

 trate several of the points just mentioned : 



On the 22d of February while crossing the grounds of the Department of Agricult- 

 ure, my attention was attracted by the chattering of a large Hock of Sparrows, which 

 had gathered in a clump of shrubs, mainly the Japanese jessamine (Forsytliia viridis- 

 sima). There were thirty or more bushes, leafless as yet, but heavy with flower buds, 

 which already began to show the yellow. 



The day was sunny and calm, and on walking quietly up among the bushes the 

 Sparrows were found preening themselves and nipping off the flower buds in almost 

 every bush. Some of the birds were giving their entire attention to their feathers, 

 while others were equally devoted to the buds. Beneath many of the bushes the ground 

 was thickly strewn with the green and yellow remnants of buds, and under a few 

 of the bushes, near the center of the group, they lay eo thickly as to entirely obscure 

 the ground, while the branches above were completely stripped of buds, except near 

 the tips. The birds seemed to prefer to sit quietly near the center of each bush and nip 

 all the buds within reach, and no Sparrows were seen eating buds near the tips of the 

 branches, which were so slender as scarcely to sustain their weight. 



On alarming the birds, they flew into some poplars near, where it was easy to es- 

 timate their numbers, and there proved to be between two hundred and fifty and 

 three hundred birds in the flock. 



In April, when the flowers of ForsyiMa were well expanded, the bushes which had 

 suffered most showed the effects very plainly, but as those around the edge of the 

 group, and particularly the outer branches, suffered least, the general effect was not 

 noticeably impaired. The incident, however, serves to show the Sparrow's fondness 

 for flower buds and the danger to be apprehended from its work on the blossoms of 

 fruit trees. 



During the last ten days of February and the whole of March scarcely a day passed 

 when Sparrows were not seen eating the buds of shade trees throughout the city. 

 Frequently a dozen would be seen at work in a maple or elm tree, and one could 

 stand below them within two or three yards and see every motion made, even catch- 

 ing the mutilated buds in his hand as they fell. The buds of poplars, cotton- 

 woods, box-elders, maples, elms, and several other species were constantly destroyed 

 in this way, and the Sparrows seemed to take particular pleasure in pulling to pieces 

 the catkins of the various species of poplar. 



Since the middle of April, when the peach blossoms began to unfold, the Spar- 

 rows are to be seen at all hours of the day hoppiDg or creeping about the peach trees, 

 and leaving little but worthless buds behind. For two or three days past I have 

 been watching with a powerful field-glass a dozen or more peach trees in full blossom, 

 and less than a hundred yards from my windows. The glass enables me to see dis- 

 tinctly the stamens in the blossoms, and they are frequently seen sticking to the bills 

 of the Sparrows as they move deliberately about among the branches destroying 

 thousands of blossoms. Occasionally a flock of a dozen or more is to be seen in a sin- 

 gle tree, but ordinarily they forage singly or in squads of three to six. So far as can 

 bo seen by the unaided eye, all seem to be similarly employed, and every one thus far 

 watched with the glass has proved to be destroying blossoms or buds at the rate of 

 five to ten a minute. One bird, an adult male, was seen to cut into andruis nineteen 

 blossoms on one spray in less than two and one-half minutes. He began at the base of 

 the shoot and nipped all within reach, then climbed slowly upward, parrot fashion, 

 destroying every bud on the twig as he went, until the tip was nearly reached, when 

 his weight proved too great, and losing his balance in trying to reach the terminal 

 flower he fluttered off to another branch to begin again. This bird, like others oh- 



