EVIDENCE. — EFFECTS OX NATIVE BIRDS. 273 



Bay Bidge. J. A. Perry : It is supposed by many persons that the English Sparrow 

 is highly destructive to our native songbirds, and the regret has frequently been ex- 

 pressed on that account that they should be suffered to live and accumulate in such 

 vast numbers. But the writer, who has had ample opportunity to observe the habits 

 of these birds, is confident that the opinion entertained of their destructiveness is a 

 popular prejudice, and is not substantiated by facts. Large numbers have made the 

 rural residence of the writer their home for many years, as have also some fifteen or 

 twenty tribes of songsters, and not a single instance has been observed of a conflict 

 between them. The Sparrows quarrel among themselves, but they do not appear to 

 interfere, in a belligerent way, with other tribes of birds. (For the Journal of Com- 

 merce. New York City, January 24, 1880.) 



Bay Bidge. B. C. Townsend: As regards the peaceful relations of the English 

 Sparrow to other birds, my experience confirms the testimony of my neighbor, Mr. 

 J. A. Perry, with the exception of a single case. There were certain swallows build- 

 ing their mud-nests under our front porch, whicli nests they attacked with great 

 violence and destroyed, driving the birds away. The simple' attempt to destroy the 

 nest of wrens upon the rear porch was unsuccessful, as the little wrens fought with 

 great desperation, and finally drove them entirely away, remaining during the season, 

 and rearing two broods of young. (March 27, 1S86.) 



Bingliamton. H. J. Gaylord : The bluebird, martin, and wren will resist encroach- 

 ments if in possession, and sometimes with success. I have on my place ten or twelve 

 bird-houses for bluebirds, wrens, and martins. If the Sparrow is in possession of a 

 box it will invariably hold it, as the other birds will not contest their rights. (Octo- 

 ber 7, 1886. Present about fifteen years.) 



Brooklyn. Olive Thorne Miller: I have closely watched the birds around my house 

 in Brooklyn for four years. The first and second years there were at least two pairs 

 of robins and one or two pairs of Baltimore orioles which nested in my neighborhood, 

 and which I saw and heard every day. The third year there was one pair of robins and 

 one pair of orioles, and the fourth there have been neither robins nor orioles, except 

 as rare visitors from some other neighborhood. I have noticed also in Prospect Park 

 [Brooklyn] that as the Sparrows penetrate farther in the native birds retreat. From 

 my windows I have mauy times seen Sparrows follow a robin or an oriole from tree 

 to tree, flying closely after him, and alighting when he alighted, not attempting to 

 touch him, but evidently annoying him very much, for he always appeared uneasy, 

 and never staid long. There is near me a bitter-sweet shrub, and every year, in 

 October and November, when it is full of berries there come to it several thrushes, 

 I think the hermit thrush (T. jja77rts?'). I have to-day seen Sparrows collecting in the 

 trees near, all violently calling, in their loud, harsh way, as they do when danger ap- 

 proaches. On looking closely I saw two thrushes, which have been about for a week 

 or more, trying to eat the berries. Every time one of them flew a Sparrow would fly 

 after it. The thrush was auuoyed and would leave the bush where it was eating, and 

 alight on the fence. The Sparrow would alight too, and be ready for instant flight 

 the moment the thrush started. 



I once saw Sparrows in the same way attempt to mob a cat-bird, but a cat-bird is 

 not to ,be worried, and he easily put to flight the whole party. From what I have 

 seen of them, I think Sparrows keep away other birds partly by annoying them in 

 the way I have mentioned, and partly by filling with their nests and noisy broods 

 every nook and corner in which our own birds could build. I have seen them per- 

 sistently follow and hustle robins, thrushes, and orioles. Cat-birds are not so easily 

 driven off, and will generally stand their ground. Mobbing is the Sparrow's favorite 

 method, and I have seen it employed against a solitary red squirrel that had lived for 

 two or three months in the trees of the neighborhood, and even against a cat which 

 climbed a vine where nests were placed. (1884.) 



Brooklyn. Hon. Nicolas Pike: Though the Sparrow is a most pugnacious bird, I 

 do not think it drives our birds away, for it is my belief most are a match for him. 

 8404— Bull 1 18 



