INSECT DIET OF YOUNG. 103 



many of which are undoubtedly caterpillars, in eighty-eight more. Fifty 

 observers speak of grubs or larvae; fifty-two of grasshoppers; and then 

 we have moths, millers, and butterflies with fifty-nine; flies, thirty-two, 

 beetles, twenty-seven, and spiders, twenty-six ; while, lastly, one hun- 

 dred and eighteen reports state that the Sparrow eats " insects," but 

 fail to specify the kinds. 



Unquestionably the information in many of these reports is of little 

 consequence. It is assumed to be in most cases the result of personal 

 observation, but many of the reports contain internal evidence that the 

 information is derived from other sources, while still others appear to be 

 hasty inferences from entirely insufficient data. But the same might 

 be said for many of the reports relating to the Sparrow's relations to na- 

 tive birds, with the difference, however, that the names and habits of 

 insects are less commonly known than those of birds, while the small 

 size of many insects is apt to lead a careless observer to believe that 

 the Sparrow, when searching on the ground and picking up anything 

 too small to be readily seen, is always eating insects. 



ARGUMENT FROM ALL AVAILABLE DATA. 



The fact that more than a hundred observers state that they have 

 never seen a Sparrow touch even a single insect is certainly surprising, 

 and can only be explained by one of two hypotheses : either they are not 

 close observers, or their opportunities for observation have been lim- 

 ited. Certainly when suitable insects are abundant, Sparrows usually 

 take considerable numbers to their young; yet it is equally certain that 

 in our large cities thousands of Sparrows are reared annually without 

 ever tasting insects. When bread, cooked meat, or other soft food is 

 obtainable the old birds are content to give the young such food, and 

 even when insect food is fairly abundant it is not always utilized. 

 Thus Colonel Russell states that in England he once examined the 

 stomachs of forty-seven nestling Sparrows taken at one time from one 

 farm yard, and found the remains of but six small insects in the entire 

 lot, the crops in most cases being filled with green peas and grain. On 

 the other hand Dr. Schleh, professor in the College of Agriculture at 

 Herford, Germany, after examining " the crops of a large number of nest- 

 ling Sparrows sent to him from different parts of the country," finds 

 that " while in the nest, and for a week after leaving it, their food con- 

 sists entirely of insects, grubs, etc. Two weeks after leaving the nest 

 their food still consists of forty-three per cent, of animal food; a week 

 later of thirty-one per cent., and after that age of only nineteen per 

 cent, of animal ingredients. " Unfortunately we do not know the num- 

 ber of dissections on which these figures are based, but they are far 

 more favorable to the Sparrow than any others we have seen, and can 

 scarcely be regarded as nearer the average than the above figures of 

 Colonel Russell, which perhaps indicate the other extreme. 



