INJURY TO GRAPES. 55 



From Samuel N. Khoads, Haddonfield, Camden County, N. J.: 



It injures the grape and cherry most. The injury to the former is often great, and 

 the more provoking because the Sparrow only tastes the finest of fine bunches. 

 (September 9, 188G. Present about twenty-eight years.) 



From Dr. George J. Fisher, Sing Sing, X. Y. : 



They eat large quantities of our best grapes. (March 18, 1887. Present about 

 twenty years.) 



From William F. Doertenbach, Cleveland, Ohio : 



On September 14, 1836, I saw a flock of about 150 Sparrows in a vineyard, and 

 the owner said they did a great deal of damage to the grapes by pecking holes in 

 them, making many unfit for market. (November 8, 1886. Present about thirteen 

 years. ) 



From W. B. Hall, Wakeman, Huron County, Ohio: 



It feeds upon the grape, puncturing the skin in the same manner as the Oriole, and 

 thus giving bees a chance to work on the pulp. (December 24, 1886. Present about 

 five years.) 



From W. 1ST. Irwiu, South Salem, Boss County, Ohio : 



After the wheat was out of their reach they commenced work on our Seckel pears, 

 then ou the Bartletts, and then on the grapes. 



They only worked on one side of the pears, but took pulp and seed of the grapes, 

 leaving the skins hanging on the vine. They seemed to like the Venango or Miner's 

 seedling best of all, and the Delaware next, though they even cleared up the wild 

 frost-grapes in the woods. (December 26, 1887.) 



From W. B. K. Johnson, Allentown, Pa.: 



I discovered this last fall that the English Sparrow takes ripened grapes. A flock 

 of three hundred or four hundred Sparrows came into my vineyard for several days. 

 One day I saw one cut a grape, and upon examination I found that at least half a ton 

 were ruined. The Sparrows made a cut in each grape about three-eighths of an inch 

 long, seemingly to get a little juice, going thus from one berry to another until whole 

 vines were ruined, always preferring thin-skinned and sweetest varieties. (Febru- 

 ary 7, 1888.) 



From Witmer Stone, Germantown, Pa.: 



It frequently despoils whole grape vines of their fruit, and hacks and pecks the 

 bunches so that they have to be protected by paper bags. (November 9, 1886. Pres- 

 ent twenty years or more.) 



From Dr. B. H. Warren, State Ornithologist, West Chester, Chester 

 County, Pa. : 



It consumes grapes, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. * * * The 

 variety of grape known commonly as the Concord, in West Chester and vicinity, is 

 particularly subject to the ravages of the Sparrow. Mr. Samuel Hannum, of West 

 Chester, a thoroughly reliable and close observer, says : ''The Sparrows destroy a 

 large proportion of my Concord grape crop by attacking the fruit and destroying the 

 seeds." (January, 1887.) 



The testimony on this subject which comes from Australia, and which 

 is printed in full in another part of the Bulletin, should be carefully read. 

 It is sufficient here to state that in the vicinity of Adelaide, South Aus- 

 tralia, where the English Sparrow has become very abundant, it is 

 almost impossible to raise grapes. One fruit grower says: "In the worst 

 parts of their haunts the grapes were literally cleared from the vines." 



