E-USN 



2- 



5/9/30 



Speaking of nuisances, we can't help being reminded of ENGLISH SPARROWS. 

 They are at some but not at all times a quarrelsome , 'bunch of bandits and 

 racketeers. Sparrov/s have been caught destroying the o^gs and young and usurp- 

 ing the nesting places of bluebirds, house vrens, pux'ple martins, tree swallows, 

 cliff swallows, and barn s'vallows.- They have destroyed cherries, grapes, pears, 

 and peaches and have killed buds and flov/ers of cultivated trees, shrubs, and 

 vines.. In the garden they often eat seeds as they rix)en, and nip off tender 

 young peas and lettuce. They damage r'he?.t and other grains, whether newly sown, 

 ripening, or in shocks. These misdeeds are more in evidence where the bird is 

 a nev/comer; but it settles down to a considerable extent where long establisiied .. 



But sparrows "-ere not ever thus. Then they are very young, they too have 

 good food habits. Almost all their diet the first few days of their lives is 

 made up of insects, including some of our chief oests. But that doesn't last 

 long. And after that the Food Habits Research Division his little testimony to 

 offer that is favorable. The United States Department of Agriculture acts a 

 bulletin called "The English 'Spar ro'v as a Pest." It is Farmers' Bulletin No. 

 U93-F. It tells how to kill sparrows and how to trap them v/hero they have become 

 a nuisance. One good thing you can say for English Sparrov/s is that there are 

 apparently not so many of them as there used to be, especially in eastern Str.tes. 



That is not the case with that other immigrant known as the European 

 Starling. Starlings are spreading, gradually but surely. In many parts of the 

 East there are now more starlings than there are sparrov/s. And there are some 

 of them found from Maine to beyond the Mississippi River and from southern Canada 

 to the Gulf of Mexico. 



The sc?.rcity of nesting sites in the Great Plains may check their spread. 

 The Rocky Mountains will also probably serve as a barrier for a time. But 

 eventually they may range from coast to coast . 



Starlings '-^ero introduced into this country Just forty years ago. For 

 six years, they seem to have stayed in New York City. Since then they hp.ve con- 

 tinued to multiply a.nd spread more or less steadily. 



Starlings may raise two or three broods of three to six j'-oung a year. The 

 increasing numbers forces them to reach out farther p.nd. farther for food and 

 nesting places. These birds, tliat "look like blackbirds that have lost their 

 tails" and fly in vast flocks, have not yet developed in this country the de- 

 structive food habits said to characterize them in some parts of Europe and in 

 Australia. The Food Research Division of the Biological Survey has found th^t 

 starlings, judged by food habits only, are not bad citizens. They seem to do 

 more good than harm through their feeding on insects. 



But they too are gangsters* During fall and winter they do fly in big 

 flocks, and at that time they seem to prefer to roost where they are least v/anted. 

 They have b(^en observed to att-ack and drive off such birds as the bluebird and 

 the flickef» but the latter sometimes evens the score. It is still an open 

 question \7hethcl' they will eventually cause a decrease in the total number of our 

 native birds w Conflict between the species can be reduced by providing plenty 



