96 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



In many cases this superabundance of nesting places so suddenly pro. 

 vided will account for the actual increase of native birds in spite of the 

 presence of the Sparrows ; and such cases have naturally misled many 

 candid observers, who recognized the facts without considering all the 

 conditions. As bearing on this point we cite a part of Dr. J. A. Allen's 

 remarks before the Nuttall Ornithological Club, at a meeting held in 

 Cambridge, Mass., early in 1878. All of Dr. Allen's remarks were of 

 great interest and value, and should be read with care by every one 

 interested in the Sparrow question. We quote here from the report 

 printed in the Boston Evening Transcript of March 19, 1878, but select 

 only the parts referring to the Sparrow's relations to native birds : 



Mr. J. A. Alien stated that although he had hitherto purposely kept out of the 

 Sparrow controversy, it had not been from any lack of interest in the subject. He 

 had believed the question to be not so one-sided as many have assumed — that the 

 Sparrows are not quite such unmitigated pests as they have sometimes been represented 

 to be, nor, on the other hand, quite so unalloyed a benefaction as some have claimed. 

 While they have some good points, they are certainly not lacking in bad ones. Before 

 takingsideson a question of so much importance, he had waited for the accumulation of 

 evidence ; in other words, till the Sparrows had so increased in numbers that our 

 knowledge of their proclivities would enable us to judge of the results of an ex- 

 periment that at first seemed praiseworthy. The Sparrows, it is true, came to us 

 with a bad name, and many a wise one on the other side of the Atlantic had warned 

 us of the consequences of what they had termed an act of folly. * * * Having 

 had his attention called of late rather strongly to the subject, Mr. Allen had been led 

 not only to collect his own observations on this subject, but to seek information 

 from localities beyond his own immediate vicinity ; and on weighing the evidence 

 had been rather surprised at the preponderance of facts unfavorable to the Spar- 

 rows. * * * 



The destruction of a few caterpillars he regarded as almost the sole good that can 

 be adduced in their favor. Their presence in small numbers, and especially in win- 

 ter, is indeed cheery and pleasant ; but, when in force, their harsh chatter becomes 

 a positive nuisance, and even in summer renders the notes of other birds singing in 

 neighboring trees almost indistinguishable. In regard to the unfavorable side of the 

 score, the list of charges is a long one, and the greater part are too well attested to 

 admit of reasonable doubt. 



First in the list is their unfavorable influence upon our native birds. Ordinarily, 

 so far as his observations extend, he believed that they were not violently aggressive, 

 but readily became so whenever there was a conflict of interest and occasionally with- 

 out provocation. The little Chipping Sparrows commonly associate with them on 

 terms 6f intimacy and harmony, and rarely had he seen them pursue or attack other 

 birds when meeting with them at a distance from their own domiciles. But that 

 they do, by their abundance and petulance, tend to crowd out and supplant our 

 native birds seems nearly unquestionable, since the latter disappear wherever tho 

 House Sparrows become abundant. Upon such species as have a preference for nest- 

 ing sites similar to their own, they do exert, however, a most positive influence. 

 These are Bluebirds, White-bellied Swallows, Purple Martins, and Wrens — birds of 

 attractive ways, agreeable notes, and highly insectivorous in their diet. When the 

 Sparrows were first introduced into Cambridge, probably at least a dozen bird-houses 

 were put up to each pair of Sparrows. The result was that the native species just 

 mentioned found abundant nesting places, and at once became more numerous than 

 formerly. As the Sparrows rapidly increased, they very naturally possessed them- 

 selves of the bird boxes and forced their former occupants elsewhere, He cited the 



