132 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA, 



One other instance may be mentioned where the Sparrow is more or 

 less useful, because it is in a direction scarcely looked for. This is in 

 the feeding on bot larvae. There is sufficient evidence that in cities the 

 bird enjoys these larvse, which it picks up from the droppings of horses. 

 The beneficial bearing of this fact is somewhat neutralized, however, by 

 the other fact that on the paved streets of our cities the Gastrophilus 

 larvae rarely, if ever, succeed in transforming; but perish from ina- 

 bility to enter the ground. 



We are thus justified in concluding that the bird will exceptionally 

 feed upon almost any insect ; but I am strongly inclined to believe that 

 the deduction made from my own examinations will hold very generally 

 true, and that, in cases where injurious insects have been fed upon, it is 

 not by virtue of any insectivorous habit or specific preference, but by 

 mere accident. Except in the cases of Locusts and meadow grasshop- 

 pers, some field insects, the Canker-worm, and some few other smooth 

 worms which affect trees, there is no evidence that the bird, notwith- 

 standing its great numbers, has been instrumental in checking any of 

 our insect pests. 



Two other circumstances for which there is sufficient evidence are 

 worthy of mention as bearing on the question under discussion, viz, 



(1) the bird's tendency to take insects already damaged or dead; and 



(2) the fact that the old birds take insects for their young rather than 

 for themselves. 



Finally, the examinations, taken as a whole, show how thoroughly 

 graminivorous or vegetarian the Sparrow is, as a rule, and I need not in 

 this connection add, from my own experience or from that of others, to 

 the verdict of "destructive" which Dr. Merriam has already so well es- 

 tablished in his last report as Ornithologist to the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



In Australia and New Zealand the farmers have been forced to poison 

 the birds by wholesale. Their most successful method is that of plac- 

 ing poisoned wheat in a bag with chaff, and allowing it to leak over the 

 tail of the cart along the road. The Sparrows are destroyed by the 

 bushel, and one paper (Garden and Field, of Adelaide, Nov., 1887, vol. 

 13, p. 76) published the following effusion, by the "Adelaide Poet Lau- 

 reate," with which I would close this report: 



What means this sadly plaintive wail, 



Ye men of spades and ploughs and harrows? 

 Why are yonr faces wan and pale? 



It is the everlasting sparrows. 



We may demolish other pests 

 That devastate the farm and garden ; 

 . But spoiled by these voracious guests, 

 Our prospects are not worth a farden. 



We can't defeat a foe like this 



AVith gunshot or with hows and arrows ; 

 We must resort to artifice 



To cope with enemies like sparrows. 



