286 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



New Haven. Robert D. Camp : I am positive that the Sparrow hills a great num- 

 ber of the canker- worms which infest our elm trees. I have seen the female bird 

 alight on the perch of its house in front of my window with seven worms in its beak 

 at once, and from my observations I should say that it would average three worms in 

 every eight minutes during the day while raising its young. (April, 1887. Present 

 fifteen years or more.) 



New Haven. A. C. Sheldon: When feeding their young I have seen them resting 

 on oar window-shelf with from one to five worms in their mouths at a time. The 

 worms were alive and wriggling, and were about three thirty-secouds of an inch in 

 diameter by seven- eighths of an inch in length, and of a clear green color. The Spar- 

 rows, after resting a moment, llew to their nests, where I have seen them feeding these 

 worms to their young. (April, 1887. Present fifteen or sixteen years.) 



South Woodstock. Mrs. G. S. F. Stoddard: I have never seen them feed on insects, 

 though watching them often in different places. (January 22, 1887.) 



District of Columbia.— Mount Pleasant. William Ho] mead : They are of no ben- 

 efit to the farmer. They will only feed on insects when they can not get grain. Since 

 the introduction of the Sparrow our gardens aud fields have been devastated by in- 

 sects, especially those which attack the cabbage, and only in the couutry, where the 

 Sparrows are not numerous aud our native birds are, can cabbage be raised. (No- 

 vember 8, 1886. Present fifteen years or more.) 



Washington. S. M. Clark: They do not feed upon larvae, but supply them to their 

 young ; I have watched them closely in this regard. (January 11, 1886.) 



Washington. James Halley: For several evenings past I have seen the Sparrows 

 catching the white moths of the web-worm, eating some and carrying others to their 

 young. I saw at least twenty carried off by one pair of Sparrows in a short time. 

 The moths only begin to leave their cocoons toward sunset, and do not fly much until 

 it begins to grow dark, so that few birds can get them, and the Sparrows are surely 

 doing some good in destroying them. (May 11, 1887.) 



(Specimens of this moth were brought to the Department by Mr. Halley, and proved 

 to be Hijphantria textor, the moth of the fall w r eb-worm, one of the species which has 

 been most injurious to the shade trees in Washington. Mr. Alexander McKericher, 

 assistant gardener at the Department of Agriculture, was with Mr. Halley at the time 

 the Sparrows were catching the moths, and testifies that he has seen them doing so 

 at other times, as well as catching seventeen-year locusts aud other insects.) 



Washington. George Henning: I have seen it carry worms, cicadas, Mayor shad 

 Hies, aud other insects to its young. (March 6, 1834. Present fourteen or fifteen 

 years. ) 



Washington. H. W. Henshaw : In 1885, during the prevalence of the seventeen- 

 year locusts in this city and vicinity, the English Sparrow was observed to attack 

 and destroy these insects in very considerable numbers. The same facts were ob- 

 served by Messrs. R. Ridgway, C. V. Riley, and others. 



Washington. William Saunders, superintendent of garden and grounds, IT. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture: Some insects are eaten, mainly by the young in the nests. 

 I have seen the old birds carry caterpillars (not hairy), black beetles, and grasshop- 

 pers to their nests. I do not think they will touch hairy caterpillars. (April 13, 1887. 

 Present sixteen or seventeen years. ) 



Washington. Walter B. Barrows: Perhaps twenty times during the present sum- 

 mer I have seen a Sparrow with an insect of some kind in its bill. The insects which 

 could be identified were: Cicadse, once or twice; cut-worms, several times (two speci- 

 mens identified by the assistant entomologist as Nephelodes violans), once or tw T ice 

 snatched from robins by the Sparrow; moths of the fall web- worm (Hyphantria), two 

 or three times, aud larger moths twice ; three May flies {Ephemerae), siugly ; one good- 

 sized grasshopper. Sparrows were also seen to chase butterflies of several species 

 and frequently appeared to be catching or chasing insects too small to see. (August, 

 1887. ^ 



