INJURY TO APPLES. 57 



From George B. Holmes, Fern wood, Cook County, 111. : 



Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries Lave suffered among my neighbors, and 

 cherries have also been damaged. 



From A. Ford, Bronson, Bourbon County, Kans. : 



It destroys berries and all other small fruits. It will clean out a blackberry patch 

 very quickly. They come into a garden by hundreds, and in a few days you have no 

 cherries or other fruit. (October 11, 1886. Present about two years.) 



From J. Leouardson, New Haven, Macomb County, Mich.: 

 It eats grapes and black-caps. The latter suffer most in this locality, gardeners 

 losing one third of their crop. (Autumn, 1885.) 



INJURY TO APPLES, PEARS, PEACHES, AND OTHER FRUITS. 



After once getting a taste of fruit it seems that they sometimes prefer 

 it even to grain, or at least add large quantities of it: to their other food. 



Mr. Jabez Webster, nurseryman and fruit-grower, of Centralia, Ma- 

 rion County, 111., writes : 



I have seen flocks of fifty or more stay about my raspberries, constantly flying 

 backwards and forwards, taking quarts of the best fruit, and coming very close to 

 the pickers. * * * Last year I observed that after they had feasted on my straw- 

 berries, raspberries, ripe gooseberries, and cherries, they were all at once flying from a 

 stubble-field close by and alighting in my early apple tiees. I thought I would see 

 what they were after, thinking it might possibly be insects, but, alas, they were peck- 

 ing holes in some ripe apples on the very tops of the trees. Some Cornell's Fancy and 

 Bed June were from one-fourth to one-third eaten, and the foliage aud limbs in the 

 tops of the trees were white with their excrement. This they kept up for several 

 days, pecking holes only in the very ripest apples- (December 21, 1836. Present about 

 seven years.) 



From a score of reports of injury to apples we select tbe following: 

 From A. B. Ghere, Frankfort, Clinton County, Ind. : 



I have seen them in large numbers feeding on small fruit * * * and pecking 

 early apples. (August 27, 1886. Present about eight years.) 



From Bell Irwin, Bad Axe, Huron County, Mich. : 



The plums and apples in my own garden were attacked by it and somewhat in- 

 jured. (September 15, 1886. Present about four } T ears.) 



The following detailed account of injury to apples comes from Mr. F. 

 M. Webster, of La Fayette, Ind., who watched the birds carefully at 

 their work, and testifies only what he has actually seen. Under date 

 of August 25, 1886, he wrote: 



The English Sparrow is destroying my apples. I have several trees in my garden, 

 and as soon as the fruit gets mellow they peck holes in it, and it either drops to the 

 ground or decays on the trees. I can hardly get a single apple fit to eat; they have 

 destroyed nearly, if not quite, three-quarters of this variety. A neighbor across the 

 way is troubled in the same manner. 



In reply to a request for further information, Mr. Webster wrote : 



I am not able to state now whether they show any preference as to flavor, for only 

 one variety of my fruit is asyetripe enough to tempt them ; but they almost invariably 

 select the largest and best apples, either because they are fastidious, or perhaps be- 

 cause they can better stand upon them while at work. I do not think they attack the 



