EVIDENCE — INJURY TO GRAIN CROPS. 257 



New Yurie City. IIou. Robert B. Roosevelt: It is pretended that lie devours enor- 

 mous quantities of growing grain and threatens a famine in the land. His diminu- 

 tive proportions are of themselves a tolerably conclusive reply to that accusation ; 

 moreover, he does nothing of the kind with us on Long Island, whatever may be kis 

 habits elsewhere. I have never seen a single one in the fields of grain. (August 8, 

 1886.) 



Fainted Post. A. H. Wood : It collects in large flocks in the fall, when it attacks 

 fields of ripe wheat and oats, and is very destructive. (August 22, 1885. Present 

 about nine years.) 



Pcnn Tan. G. C. Snow: I have seen flocks of Sparrows alight on heads of wheat 

 when ripe, or nearly so, eating the grain and breaking it down. (September 6, 1886.) 



Rochester (suburbs). H. M. Jennings, gardener and seedsman: I have found it 

 very destructive to graiu crops. (February 12, 1887. Present about twelve years.) 



Rochester. P. C. Reynolds: It is very destructive to wheat. (September 2, 1886. 

 Present about twenty-one j^ears.) 



Sing Sing. Dr. A. K. Fisher: The Sparrows are very destructive to grain, both in 

 the field and after it is placed, in the stack. They prefer wheat, hence in this local- 

 ity, where little wheat is grown, the loss is comparatively much greater than in 

 localities where it is a staple crop. (1885. Present about nineteen years.) 



Southampton. G. H. White: If grain is shocked up in the lot for a few days, the 

 Sparrow will shell the tops of the shocks all out. It also shells it in the field some- 

 what. (August 23, 1886. Present ten or eleven years.) 



Syracuse (city and country). Edwin M. Hasbrouck: I have seen large flocks, often 

 numbering hundreds, in the oat, wheat, and buckwheat crops. (August 20, 1886. 

 Present twenty-two or twenty-three years.) 



West Brighton. C. M. Raymond : For two years we had a field of oats, and when 

 ripe an immense flock of Sparrows would settle on it and feed all day long. (Septem- 

 ber, 1886.) 



Westport. George C. Osborne : I have commonly seen flocks of hundreds settle in 

 an oat or wheat field and begin their mischief by eating the grain. (November 5, 1886. 

 Present about ten years.) 



Ohio. — Avondale. Charles Dury : I endeavored to seed a patch of ground about 50 

 by 30 feet with a mixture of clover and other seed, but the Sparrows picked up every 

 seed, and I was obliged to go over the place again and reseed it and cover the seeds 

 with earth, and though I shot more than one hundred Sparrows from the spot they 

 persisted in returning to the place as long as a seed remained in sight. (February 3, 

 1888.) 



Canton (country). J. F. Niesz : Some of the fields of wheat are almost stripped for a 

 distance of several rods from the fences. Oat-fields are likewise injured. (September 

 6, 1886. Present about three years.) 



Cleveland. William F. Doertenbach : September 14, 1886, I saw a large flock of 

 Sparrows in a wheat-field, and the owner said they did considerable damage. The 

 only means he had taken to prevent their depredations was shooting them, but this 

 did not lessen the number. (November 8, 1886. Present about thirteen years.) 



Cleveland. S. R. Ingersoll : I have often seen large flocks of these pests settle 

 down on newly-cut oats and wheat and eat.large quantities of the grain. (September 

 1, 1886. Present about fourteen years. ) 



Cleveland. Dr. E. Sterling: About the 25th of July the early broods begin to 

 gather in flocks of* from fifty to four hundred. They go into the country for 5 miles 

 around, eating every seed and grain that is ripe, and returning at night. They keep 

 this up until November. (August 18, 1886. Present about seventeen years.) 



College Hill (6 miles fro&i Cincinnati). II. A. Koch : In the summer of 1884 I 

 noticed a field of wheat along a roadside. A large flock of Sparrows had perched on 

 the fence- alongside, and the birds were continually flying in and out of the wheat, 

 which was just about ripe. I found that for about 15 feet in from the road a large 



8401— Bull 1 17 



