EFFECTS OX THE BLUEBIRD. 83 



reports, against three hundred and seventy-seven complaints of moles- 

 tation. 



The following" are examples of the testimony relating to the Blue- 

 bird : 



From B. T. Ganlt. Chicago. 111.: 



I have repeatedly seen the English Sparrow drive Martins from their boxes and 

 Bluebirds from their nests, in both eases destroying the eggs and pulling the nests to 

 pieces. (October 29. 1885.) 



From H. H. Miller, Sandy Spring. Montgomery County. Md.: 



I know of an instance where two pairs of Bluebirds fought for two weeks to keep 

 their boxes, but were beaten in the end: also of a case where the hole in a Wren's 

 box was too small for the Sparrows to get in, and they pulled out the nest and broke 

 the eggs. (February 16. 1887. Present about eight years.) 



From John L. Hnber, Tell City. Perry County. Ind. : 



The Bluebird and Martin resisted the first and second year, but the Sparrow proved 

 victorious, and after the second year they did not come back. (Oetober r. 1886. Pres- 

 ent about tweive years.) 



From Walter B. Hall, Milwaukee, Wis. : 



I put up about a dozen boxes this year, and native birds started to build in nearly 

 all. One Bluebird succeeded in raising a brood, and that because bo close to the house 

 that I could interfere when a right began. All the other houses were stuffed with 

 straw, and young Sparrows were hatched in them, the rightful owners having tied. 

 (August 23, 1SS6. Present about six years.) 



From Clarence L. Cate, Spencer, Worcester County, .Mass. : 



There is a bird-house on my heu-coop in which a pair of Bluebirds have nested for 

 three years without being molested : but the Sparrow has at last driven them oil. and 

 now occupies the house. I know of one case where it has driven away the Orchard 

 Oriole. (October, 1886. Present about eleven years.) 



From L. Bucnewitz, Wolcott, Scott County, Iowa : 



Bluebirds and Martins attempt to reclaim former nesting-sites. I had to kill a 

 Sparrow in order to give a Bluebird back his little house : Martins can defend them- 

 selves. (Octobers. 1886. Present about four years. ) 



From Jerome Troinbley, Petersburg!!. Monroe County, Mich. : 



A pair of Sparrows last spring appropriated one of my bird-boxes, occupied, the 

 previous year by Bluebirds. When the latter arrived they immediately declared war, 

 and in three or four days had vanquished the foreigners. (August '23. 1886. Present 

 about nine years.) 



From Daniel S. Wadsworth, Hartford, Conn. : 



It does not drive away our native birds : I have seen it battle with Bluebirds, but 

 not successfully. A Sparrow had occupied a hole in an apple tree when the Bluebird 

 came, but after several battles the latter took possession of the hole and reared its 

 young there. (October 11. 1886. Present about eight years.) 



Other evidence will be found interspersed in the testimony relating 

 to martins, swallows, and wrens, where the conditions are often iden- 

 tical and the results practically the same. 



Probably the Purple Martin resists the Sparrow more successfully 

 than any other box-inhabiting species, mainly owing to its size and to 

 the fact that ituests in communities, and hence is able to make a more 

 equal tight; yet when we compare the soft, weak bill, short legs, and 



