338 - THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMERICA. 



[Mr. Jolin Cordeaux in paper handed in to the committee.] 



[Page 178.] House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). — Sparrows feed their young in 

 April, May, and June almost exclusively on insects ; in July, insects and soft grain. 

 "The stomachs of thirty-five young Sparrows, taken to-day from nests about my 

 house, give the following result: One part insects to two parts soft grain. The young 

 were of all sizes, from a day old to others sufficiently fledged to fly short distances; 

 some had the stomach rilled almost entirely with insects, and others with grain alone ; 

 generally, however, there was an admixture in the above proportions. The grain w as 

 not confined to the oldest birds, as tbe stomachs of two baby Sparrows, from appear- 

 ances hatched but a few hours, contained nothing but grain. One little bird had its 

 gizzard filled with a large moth, which unfolded was half tbe size of its body. Where 

 grain was present there was also a proportionate supply of small stones to assist di- 

 gestion. Those gizzards containing the largest proportion of grain had invariably the 

 most stones. The insect remains were principally those of various coleoptera and 

 many small caterpillars and grubs." (J. Cordeaux, in "Zoologist''* for 1870, p. 2287.) 

 The Sparrow also feeds on the aphides and the weevil of the bean plant ; in the au- 

 tumn and winter, on grains of wheat, oats, and barley ; also various s^eds. 



[Mr. "William Cratie Angus, picture dealer (residence in Glasgow, but notes relate to Aberdeen- 

 shire).] 



[Page 117. ] Sparrows by the end of June or beginning of July congregate into large 

 flocks, and I have known fields of barley and corn flattened by them, actually broken 

 down by the weight of Sparrows ; they are very destructive to newly-sprouted peas ; 

 I have known whole rows of peas cropped off by Sparrows. * * * When they have 

 bent down the corn it has been on the edge of the field generally, not always. The 

 earliest part of a field is not necessarily the edge of it. They generally go to the ear- 

 liest part of it, but, when disturbed, prefer the middle to the edge of it. I have 

 shot (firing both barrels) as many as seventy Sparrows feeding in the middle of a 

 field. Whether they feed in the middle or on the edge of the field depends, I think, 

 on the ripeness of the crop and the amount of annoyance they would be subjected to 

 at the edge. I think that wherever any species becomes very numerous, by force of 

 numbers it dispossesses other species. Where Sparrows are very numerous in gar- 

 dens you will find that other birds are not so plentiful. (Jul}' 10, 1873.) 



[Rev. John George Wood, F. L. S.] 



[Page 131.] I have not done very much with the Sparrow, but I have seen him in 

 the very early morning doing nothing but eating insects or larvae, picking them out 

 of the grass, the daddy-long-legs especially, which is one of the most dangerous insects 

 we have. It never struck me that the Sparrow displaced other birds. I think there 

 is no competition for food. (July 17, 1873.) 



[Mr. James Pertwee, gentleman farmer, residence in Essex.] 



[Page 149.] I can hardly describe the harm the Sparrow does me ; he does harm in 

 every possible way. He is utterly bad ; he is no good either ; he is not to be frightened 

 at all. He may do some good for a day or two while the birds are very small, but di- 

 rectly he can get soft corn or seed he will take it to his young. They are troublesome 

 birds in eA^ery way; for instance, they destroy the thatch of buildings at an astonish- 

 ing rate. They make holes in the thatch, and they turn out all the martins. I should 

 not mind giving £5 a year to be protected from them. They turn martins out of their 

 nests ; that is a very useful bird ; but they have decreased very much through the 

 Sparrows. I do not think I have known the Sparrow to persecute any other bird 

 besides the martin. This year, I am sorry to say, I have no martins' nests, or only 

 one; sometimes I have had a number under my eaves. The Sparrows w r ould take 

 every nest they could get if I had not looked after them and kept them, away as well 



