232 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



In NOVA SCOTIA the Sparrow was reported present, in the autumn of 1886, at the 

 following places : 



Locality. 



First 

 appeared. 



Observer. 



Locality. 



First 

 appeared. 



Observer. 



Halifax (1884) ... 

 Kentville 



18751 

 1881 



J. Matthew Jones. 

 T. A. H. Mason. 



Two Rivers 







B. B. Barnbill. 



It was reported not present at one place in Nova Scotia: Prof. A. H. Mackay states 

 that it was not present at Pictou in the autumn of 1886. 



In PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND the Sparrow was reported only from Charlotte- 

 town, where Francis Bain saw half a dozen January 10, 1887. 



It was reported not present at the following place in Prince Edward Island : 



Locality. 



Observer. 



Locality. 



Observer. 





James Hunter. 













In the autum of 1886 the Sparrow was not known to have reached any of the towns 

 in MANITOBA or NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



It was reported not present at "Winnipeg by A. McArthur and L. H. Smith, and at 

 Qn'Appelle by George F. Guernsey. 



RATE OP INCREASE ; CHECKS, NATURAL ATO ARTIFICIAL. 



The testimony relating to the rate of increase of the Sparrow and the 

 checks which affect such increase more or less, is by no means as full 

 and specific as could be desired, and its character is such as to preclude 

 the possibility of summarization. The following replies, selected from 

 upwards of two hundred received, will serve to show the general char- 

 acter of the whole. 



California. — San Francisco. F. Gruher: On the average it raises two broods a 

 year, and five or six young to a brood. In some instances three broods are raised, and 

 rarely seven to eight young. (March 5, 1885.) 



Connecticut.— JSfcw Haven. Louis B. Bishop: A single pair will rear in a season 

 four or five broods, aggregating twenty or thirty young. (August 23, 1886.) 



New Haven. Robert D. Camp : I have seen four broods raised in a single season. 

 (April, 1887.) 



District of Colvmbia.— Washington. Walter B. Barrows: On the evening of 

 August 11, 1887, the city was visited by a short but severe thunder-storm, which proved 

 very destructive to English Sparrows. The rain began to fall about an hour before 

 sunset, and in little more than an hour the precipitation amounted to more than an 

 inch. It was accompanied by a high wind, which in some parts of the city was strong 

 enough to twist off or uproot a few shade trees. A second but lighter shower, with- 

 out much wind, occurred during the night. On the following morning it was found 

 that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Sparrows had perished in this city alone. A 

 large proportion of the Sparrows which are not nesting (mainly young ones) pass the 

 night together in large companies, frequently congregating to the number of five 

 hundred or a thousand in some large tree or group of trees where they resort reg- 

 ularly. Under such a group of trees, near the main entrance of the Smithsonian Build- 



