96 THE EELATION OF SPAREOWS TO AGRICULTURE. 



In cities the grain that enters into their food is composed so largely 

 of the semi-digested oats in horse droppings in the streets that it 

 should not be allowed to weigh against the species appreciably in esti- 

 mating the character of its food habits. But in rural districts it is 

 largely drawn from man's supply. There is scarcely a grain crop 

 which English sparrows do not habitually injure. They pillage the 

 fields by thousands and cause great damage. 



It appears, therefore, that there is little to be said in favor of the 

 English sparrow. Its insectivorous habits are creditable as far as 

 they go, but they are insignificant because the diet is almost exclu- 

 sively vegetable ; and while it is in the vegetable fare that the value of 

 most sparrows consists, yet in the case of the English sparrow the 

 damage to grain far overbalances the benefit of weed-seed destruc- 

 tion. Adding to this the injury it causes to buildings and statues in 

 cities, there is no escape from the conclusion that the bird is a serious 

 pest the extermination of which would be an unmixed blessing. 



The obnoxious character of the English sparrow is widelj^ recognized, 

 and numerous attempts, by means of bounties and otherwise, have 

 been made to rid the country of its presence, but with little success. 

 The wariness of the bird, its hardihood, and its prodigious fecundity 

 have thus far rendered all such efforts futile. 



In the city of Boston, during 1899, a crusade was inaugurated 

 through the efforts of the American Society of Bird Restorers. From 

 March 13 to April 5, six men were employed in the Common and Pub- 

 lic Garden destroying the nests and eggs. Five thousand nesting 

 holes were plugged up, -1,000 nests destroj^ed, and 1,000 eggs broken, 

 but no birds were killed. It is claimed that nearly half of the spar- 

 rows which normally breed on the Common and Public Garden were 

 driven away. In May only 250 to 300 pairs of siDarrows were found, 

 while the number of pairs counted in the parks before the sparrow 

 war began amounted to 500. 



Much is always to be learned from an experiment of this kind, and 

 other cities should profit by Boston's experience. There is reason to 

 believe, however, that the present rax3id supplanting of horse j)ower 

 by electricit}^ will, by reducing the food suppl}^ of the birds, do more 

 toward diminishing their numbers in the city parks than any plan 

 for restricting their reproduction. 



The amount of expense that may profitably be incurred in com- 

 bating the sxDarrow will depend on circumstances, as in the case of 

 the house rat and mouse; but it should be borne in mind that the 

 bounty system has proved to be only an extravagant failure. 



