121 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



bird. He mentioned an exhibition of 100 stomachs of young Sparrow > 

 by Dr. Edwards Crisp before the British Association at Birmingham 

 in 1865. Not 5 per cent, of them contained insect food. 



Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett opened the crops of the young, and found 

 that at certain times they were full of insects, while at other times they 

 contained only vegetable food, or a mixture of both. 



Mr. George Swaysland killed many nestling Sparrows, and generally 

 found grubs in their stomachs, or little beetles that run across the foot- 

 paths. 



Mr. John Oordeaux opened the crops of 35 young Sparrows of 

 various ages, and on an average found two parts of soft grain and 

 one part of insects. 



Mr. James Pertwee says the Sparrow is utterly bad. His gooseberry 

 and currant bushes have their leaves eaten up, notwithstanding the 

 numerous Sparrows in close vicinity. 



An important European work to be mentioned in this connection is 

 " The House Sparrow," by an ornithologist, J. H. Gurney, jr., including 

 chapters by "a Friend of the Farmers," Ool. 0. Russell; and "The En- 

 glish Sparrow in America," by Dr. Elliott Coues. (London : William 

 Wesley & Son, 1885.) 



Mr. Gurney gives in a tabular form the results of many dissections 

 made during a whole year, both of adult and juvenile specimens. He 

 writes : " To give a summary of this table in a few words, it may be said 

 that about 75 per cent, of an adult Sparrow's food during its life is corn 

 (meaning wheat and small grains) of some kind. The remaining 25 

 per cent, may be divided as follows : 



Seeds of weeds. 

 Green peas...'. . 

 Beetles 



Per cent. 



10 



4 



3 



Caterpillars .. 

 Insects which 

 Other things . 



fly. 



Per cent. 



2 



1 



" In young Sparrows not more than 40 per cent, is corn, while about 

 40 per cent, consists of caterpillars, and 10 per cent, of small beetles. 

 This is up to the age of sixteen days. Where green peas abound, as in 

 market gardens, they form a much larger proportion of the Sparrow's 

 food than the 4 per cent, here stated." He further states that young- 

 Sparrows in the nest are generally fed on caterpillars and other insects, 

 particularly in August, yet a good many were opened in June aud July 

 without finding such food. He feels sure that, while very young, their 

 diet is quite as much unripe grain and vegetable matter as caterpillars. 



Col. O. Kussell collected Sparrows from a wide extent of country to 

 examine the contents of their stomachs. He found that the Sparrows 

 destroyed even fewer insects thau he had supposed. " The food in the 

 old ones was almost all corn during the whole year; green peas were 

 also found in them in summer j and in May and June, when corn is 

 scarce, a few wild seeds, chiefly of grass. No insect has been found by 

 me in a Sparrow between September and March. I have not often found 



