278 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



bluebirds for weeks at a time, and also fight robins in order to get their nest and build 

 it over for themselves. Martins, too, are molested and driven away. (September 

 8, 1886. Present about three years.) 



Pennsylvania. — Berioyn. Frank L. Burns: I have frequently seen the Sparrow 

 fight and conquer native birds, principally the house wren, and take possession of 

 places formerly occupied by them. The most deplorable work of this pest has been to 

 drive from their accustomed haunts the black martin (Progne suuis). I know of 

 scarcely a place that is now occupied by the martin where five years ago they were 

 numerous. (January, 188G.) 



Bryn 2Iawr. A.R.Montgomery; and Radnor. W.W.Montgomery: We have sel- 

 dom, if ever, seen the Sparrow actually attack other birds, excex^t in a fight for a 

 nesting place, but have often observed their system of mobbing other birds, such as 

 the brown thrush and cat-bird. This system seems to cousist in sitting in a crowd, 

 just out of reach of the object of their dislike, and " insulting" him, following him 

 when he moves, and giving him no peace until he leaves the neighborhood. The re- 

 sult of their colonizing the neighborhood of a country house is soon apparent in the 

 gradual disappearance of the native birds. (November 8, 1886.) 



Germantown (suburb). Witmcr Stone : Goldfiuches (Sjpinus tristis). as well as rob- 

 ins, have been frequently driven from the premises by the Sparrows. (November 9, 

 1886. Present thirteen years or more.) 



Germantoun. William Rotch Wister : The English Sparrow has not driven away, 

 and can not drive away, our native birds from their former haunts. About Germantown 

 it abounds in large numbers, but robins, bluebirds, song sparrows, thrushes, and 

 wrens are more numerous than they were twenty years ago, owing chiefly to the 

 greater amount of protection in the way of shrubbery and the legal protection afforded 

 to insectivorous birds. I observed two wrens contest an earthen crock, intended for 

 a nest, with a pair of Sparrows which were already in possession when the wrens 

 arrived. In the struggle the wrens were victorious. (March, 1886.) 



Notwithstanding an immense number of Sparrows about Germantown, where Ire- 

 side, it can safely be said that robins, chipping sparrows, song sparrows, wood robins 

 [Turdus mustelinus f], and small birds generally were never so numerous. Baltimore 

 and orchard orioles are plenty. * * * I frequently hear it said that the Sparrows 

 drive off our native birds, but when cross-questioned no one can give an instance of 

 it. (November 30, 1886. Present many years.) 



Lancaster. Dr. S. S. Rath von: I have not seen it in the act of driving off our 

 native birds. Mr. John C. Linville, an intelligent farmer of Gap, in this county, 

 stated to me that the barn swallow (Chelidun erythrogaster) had entirely disappeared 

 from his premises, and that this was also the case with other birds, but that the English 

 Sparrow is abundant. Mr. Collins, of Colerain, reports the entire absence of swal- 

 lows and blackbirds. The following species were common in the suburbs of this city 

 twenty years ago, but have now all disappeared : Purple martin (Progne snbis), cat- 

 bird (Galeoscoptes caroJinensis), house wren (Troglodytes aedon), thistle finch (Spinus 

 tristis), chipping sparrow (Spisella socialis), song sparrow (Melospiza melodia),~Bn\t\- 

 more oriole (Icterus gal bid a), orchard oriole (Icterus spuHus), bluebird {Sialia sialis), 

 robin (^ferula migratoria), chimney swift (Chatura pelagica), kingbird (Tyrannus 

 tyrannus). About the time of the introduction of the Sparrow in my locality, there was 

 said to be some conflict between the English Sparrows, bluebirds, and chipping spar- 

 rows, but none of the latter two have visited me for fifteen years or more, whatever 

 the cause may be. 



There are coincidental circumstances which have a tendency to discredit the Sparrow. 

 For instance, fifteen or twenty years ago the swift (Chaetura pelagica) was very 

 abundant every summer in my immediate vicinity, but I have not noticed a single 

 individual the present year, and they have been gradually disappearing for the past 

 ten years or more ; and yet I can not see how these should ever come in conflict with 

 the English Sparrow. Again, about the same period or later, catbirds were common; 



