INSECT-EATING HABITS. 99 



amine carefully all the evidence printed herewith and fail to be con- 

 vinced of the justice of the verdict. Much favorable evidence has been 

 submitted, and it leaves no doubt that Sparrows generally carry some 

 insects to their young; that the young after leaving the nest continue 

 to eat insects for a time, and occasionally even when fully adult. In- 

 stances are given where the Sparrow has done good service by destroy- 

 ing large numbers of the army- worm, cabbage-worm, canker-worm and 

 other span-worms, as well as grasshoppers, and some other insects; but 

 these are exceptional cases, readily accounted for when all the circum- 

 stances are known, and showing, in most instances, not that the Spar- 

 row is habitually insectivorous, but that it follows the rule which Prof. 

 S. A. Forbes has indicated for many other seed-eaters, viz, that when 

 suitable insects are extraordinarily abundant these birds substitute in- 

 sect food to some extent for their more natural diet of seed and grain. 



Except when feeding the young, Sparrows can scarcely be said to 

 have any habit in relation to insects. Certain individuals ma} r acquire 

 a taste for certain insects, or even for insects in general, and many 

 Sparrows seem to delight in chasing large winged insects, such as but- 

 terflies, grasshoppers, and cicadas, and when their clumsy efforts in 

 this direction are successful they usually, though not always, eat or 

 take to their young the insects captured ; but as a rule adult Sparrows 

 which are not feeding young do not hunt for insects, and if they catch 

 them at all, it is only because they chance to come in their way while 

 seeking other food. 



The following facts should be borne constantly in mind while study- 

 ing this question. In the first place, there are many beneficial as well 

 as injurious insects, and the Sparrow does not appear to discriminate 

 between them. 



Again, the injurious insects, such as span-worms and smooth cater- 

 pillars, which the Sparrow sometimes destroys in numbers, are pre- 

 cisely such insects as are always acceptable to other birds ; while there 

 are many other injurious insects, such as hairy caterpillars, which the 

 Sparrow never touches, but which some other common birds devour 

 greedily. As almost all these native birds have been lessened in num- 

 bers, or entirely driven away from places where Sparrows are abundant, 

 the bearing of these facts is obvious. 



Finally, there is no species of injurious insect that the Sparrow has 

 been known to destroy, even in small numbers, which is not much oftener 

 devoured by native birds. Thus the Sparrow does no kind of beneficial 

 work as an insect destroyer which would not be much better done by 

 native birds; while its presence prevents other birds from accomplish- 

 ing many kinds of work which the Sparrow does not undertake at all. 



The reply so often made to this argument, namely, that native birds 

 never would stay in towns as the Sparrow does, shows the most pitiable 

 ignorance of facts. In most towns where there is vegetation subject to 

 the attacks of insects^ native birds are sure to be found unless driven 



