274 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



It is true tliey are not plentiful as formerly in Brooklyn, "but it is from the increase 

 of population. Whole streets and avenues of houses are now standing where not 

 many years ago were thick woods where I went gunning. Our birds have grad- 

 ually retired to the country, where they find quiet and congenial food; hut the Spar- 

 row has remained, as it rather likes noise and bustle, and can find fitting food, under 

 almost any conditions, anywhere. 



Go to Prospect Park, where hundreds of pretty songsters have a secure refuge, and 

 rear their young in peace. Now, I do not know any place where Sparrows most do 

 congregate as they do in this same park. It is a pleasure to me every summer to 

 watch them bathing, forty or fifty at a time, on the margins of the ponds, and I never 

 saw them interfere with our charming chats, yellowbirds, robins, catbirds, etc., 

 that come down and share the hath with their English cousins. (February 8, 1884. 

 Present about thirty-four years.) 



Canaseraga (country). E. S. Gilbert: It ha3 taken the nests of the mud swallow 

 (PetroclieUdon htnifrons), driving away the rightful owners. (August 23, 1886. Pres- 

 ent one year or less. ) * 



Constantla. Wallace D. Rhines : I have a martin-house which is claimed by the 

 martins as soon as they arrive, and is kept. I have never noticed the martins molest 

 a Sparrow except near their house. The martins arrived May 13, 1886, and found 

 their house occupied by Sparrows, and containing young and eggs. I saw the mar- 

 tins drag out the young and kill them, and also carry away the eggs. (August 23, 

 1886. Present four or five years.) 



Gansevoort. Joseph W. Shurter : I have observed instances in which the blue- 

 bird resisted the Sparrow, but most of our summer birds yield their ground without 

 an effort at defense. In two cases the bluebirds attempted to regain possession of 

 boxes put up for them, but were unsuccessful until aided by a few charges of shot 

 sent where they would do the most good. I have observed numerous contests be- 

 tween Sparrows and various other birds, in which the Sparrows were evidently the 

 aggressors, and this fact, taken in connection with the decrease of other birds, I think 

 justifies the statement that the Sparrow molests and drives away most of our song- 

 birds. (February 4, 1888. Present about eight years.) 



Ithaca. George Donaldson : I have seen it drive the bluebird from its old home and 

 occupy it ; also, downy woodpeckers from their previous abode. (1885.) 



Lockport. Lewis H. Hill I have never seen the Sparrow interfere with other 

 birds. This year we have quite a good many Sparrows and robins, and one nest of 

 wrens. Formerly we had some bluebirds aud orioles. I do not know whether the 

 Sparrow drove them away or not. (September 3, 1886.) 



Long Island City. W. F. Hendrickson: A few years ago nests of the robin and oriole 

 were very common along the roads here, and in the gardens were numbers of wood 

 thrushes, catbirds, and other birds; but now there are hardly any nests of the robin 

 or oriole to be found on the trees along the roads, and the birds are gradually becom- 

 ing scarce in the gardens. The Sparrow now builds in the woods also, and I suppose 

 that in the course of a few years more it will have entirely supplanted the other birds. 

 (October 22, 1885.) 



Lyons. J. S. Roys: It has been observed to molest and drive off robins and 

 meadow larks, and other song-birds seem to have decreased since the introduction of 

 the Sparrow. (October 26, 1886. Present several years.) 



New York. A. Church : I have seen them in villages where there was a great va- 

 riety of other birds, and they did not molest them. I have seen a robin's nest within 

 a few feet of where the Sparrow was nesting, and in one place I saw the bluebird 

 occupying one part of a Sparrow house and the Sparrow the other at the same time, 

 and the entrances to the house within three inches of each other. There was also a 

 nest of the phcebe bird within a few feet of this same house. (March 27, 1884.) 



New York. W. A. Conklin : It molests and drives away the indigo bird, bluebird,, 

 yellowbird, and wren, (July 6, 1884. Present twenty years or more,) 



