EVIDENCE. RELATION TO INSECTS. 299 



the common housefly as they find in horse and cow manure. I have never observed 

 them searching for insects. (September 13, 1885. Present about eleven years.) 



Philadelphia. A. L. Elwyn: Flies, mosquitoes, etc., it eats in great numbers. I 

 have noticed the Sparrows on my pear trees with great care. In the blossoming sea- 

 son they may often be seen plunging their bills deep down into the flowers. I believe 

 they do this to get at some insect or worm, and am satisfied that the trees were pre- 

 served and bore largely through these little birds. (October 11, 1885.) 



Pottstown. John H. Steele : I have very seldom seen it eat insects. In a very few 

 instances I have known it to take grubs of moths and butterflies, when it could find 

 no fruit. (August 19, 1886. Present about sixteen years.) 



South- Bethlehem. Robert W. Barrell: I have seen it destroy the seventeen-year 

 locust to quite a large extent, but never saw it feed on auy other insect. (September 

 16, 1881) 



West Chester. Dr. B. H. Warren : He is emphatically a seed-eater. In the case of 

 one hundred dissections, vegetable material was greatly in excess of insects as a mat- 

 ter of diet. Out of fifty dissections made during March, April, May, and June, forty- 

 seven showed cereal and vegetable food, while one stomach contained a single coleop- 

 terous insect. (January, 1887.) 



Rhode Island. — Bill's Grove. Fred T. Jencks : I have seen it feeding upon canker- 

 worms, though very seldom. (November 6, 1886.) 



Newport. Charles H. Lawton and John J. Peckham : It feeds upon insects, spi- 

 ders, and tree lice to some extent. (November 4, 1886. Present about eleven years.) 



Peace Dale. R. G. Hazzard, second: The bird is omnivorous, but feeds its young 

 chiefly on insect larvae. (May 26, 1884. Present about twenty-six years.) 



Westerly (suburb). B. F. Maxon : After oats are harvested it feeds some on young 

 grasshoppers. (March, 1887. Present about thirteen years.) 



South Carolina. — Charleston. Dr. G. E. Manigault : It eats both seeds and in- 

 sects (flies and grasshoppers), but feeds its young chiefly on the grain from horse 

 droppiugs. (August 24, 1884.) 



James Island. W. I. Hinson : We expected great benefits from its attacks on the 

 cotton worm, but it does not seem to disturb it. Ifc does not feed upon insects, ex- 

 cept on the caterpillars on trees around buildings. (November 2, 1886. Present four 

 years. ) 



Tennessee. — Lawrenceonrgh. W. T. Nixon : I have observed the old birds feeding 

 their young on white grubs which proved to be maggots from a dead animal. (Feb- 

 ruary 21, 1887. Present about two years.) 



Utah. — Provo City. Jas. G. Kenney : It was expected that it would be destruc- 

 tive to the codling moth, but it is not. (November 15, 1886. Present about six years.) 



Vermont. — Lunenbngh. Dr. Hiram A. Cutting: It feeds upon both seeds and in- 

 sects, eating the cabbage-worm and the larvae of various flies. It feeds its young 

 on cabbage-worms and other insect larvae, and on seeds. It has taken all the cab- 

 bage-worms from my cabbage field. The bots in horses have become almost unknown, 

 and it is the prevailing opinion that the Sparrow eats the larvae as they come from 

 the horses. (August 19, 1884. Present four years.) 



Saint Johnsbnry. Rev. Henry Fairbanks : It is chiefly a seed-eater. I have watched 

 it a great deal without seeing it take insects. (February 5, 1884. Present eight or 

 ten years.) 



West Paudet. Dr. Frank H. Braymer : It is a seed-eater, and I think it eats very 

 few insects, worms, etc. It eats a few small green worms and small grasshoppers, 

 and carries them to its young. (February If), 1884. Present nine or ten years.) 



Virginia. — New Market. George M. Neese: Last summer the Sparrows went in 

 large flocks to the fields and destroyed a great many of the grasshoppers that were 

 here in millions devastating every green thing that lay in their path. (December 30, 

 1885. Present about eleven years.) 



