204 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April S, 1888, 



Although we went on the range horrified at the waste- 

 ful methods of the buffalo hunters and fully resolved to 

 save all the meat of those we killed, the cutting up of 

 one animal convinced us that although the tough mass 

 of bones, sinews, muscle and gristle forming the shoul- 

 ders of the buffalo, Would unquestionably make as hot 

 soup as any other meat, all the flesh we had any use for 

 was found in the hams ani loins. This was superb. 



When on the move they seened to dread the valleys 

 and to expect their foes tneie. They would often rush 

 madty down a gentle slope and for a few jumps up the 

 opposite hill, buc not meeting with trouble would quickly 

 drop into a walk, and before the top of the hill was 

 gained would be moping along as though their foes were 

 entirely forgotten. Again, while they did not seem to 

 care which way they ran. once in a while they appeared 

 to insist, pig-like, on one particular direction fdr their 

 rush, and we were soon agreed in conceding to them the 

 right of way. While looking at him broadside the buf- 

 falo appeared the most ungainly animal, yet when turn- 

 ing to face the hunter the great bull fronted him squarely 

 and raised his massive head high in the air, majesty 

 itself seemed to envelop him and his resemblance to a 

 colossril black lion was perfect. He was, on the whole, a 

 stupid brute. It appeared to us that any true sportsman 

 must soon tire of their slaughter, and we questioned their 

 being more difficult or dangerous to kill than Texas cattle. 

 They are gone, and it is well to remember that however 

 perfectly adapted to their surroundings and fitted for the 

 use of the savage Indian, their peculiarities, notably their 

 stupidity and intractability, completely unfitted them for 

 the changed conditions of life on the range since its oc- 

 cupation by the civilized race, Orin BELKNAP. 



Every person who is sufficiently interested in the National 

 Park to do h.s share toward securing protection for it, is in- 

 vited to send for one of the Forest and Stream's petition 

 blanks. They are sent free, 



NOTES ON THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



(Passer domesticus.) 



THE marvelous rapidity with which the English spar- 

 row has multiplied and is multiplying on this conti- 

 nent, its evident capability of spreading still further and 

 the probability of its eventually occupying the whole of 

 agricultural America to the exclusion of many beneficial 

 species of native birds, combined with the reiterated and 

 increasing clamor of complaints against the species, have 

 at length induced several of the State Departments of 

 Agricuituie in America, first, to accept the fact that this 

 bird is a tremendous power in the agricultuial economy 

 of the country; second, to follow with the question, is it 

 a power for good or for evil? 



It is woithy of notice that there are still many persons 

 who deny that the sparrow can ever make its influence 

 felt in this country in any economic direction. For the 

 benefit of these I will briefly refer to the depredations of 

 the species in England, where not only the cities, but also 

 the villages and barnyards are poptdous with sparrows; 

 and in the south of England the farmers are compelled 

 to expend considerable sums annually to keep down the 

 hordes of these marauders, for the experience of centu- 

 ries has taught the farmer that the sparrow is an unmiti- 

 gated nuisance. I myself have seen acres and acres of 

 grain fields in southern England that have been so thor- 

 oughly devastated by sparrows that they were not worth 

 the cutting. All investigations that have ever been con- 

 ducted in England have, so far as I can learn, resulted in 

 a verdict most unequivocally damnatory of the sparrow; 

 and yet, in the face of this, private persons and cor- 

 porations, swayed not by facts, but by the same foolish 

 sentiment which prompted the introduction of the Scot- 

 tish thistle to Van Dieman's Land, have introduced 

 and encouraged this pest in this, the greatest of agricul- 

 tural countries. What wonder that the English farmer 

 stared in blank amazement when first he heard of it, or 

 that he failed to account for the action except on the 

 assumption that America had been visited by a wave of 

 temporary insanity. 



It has been often argued that, so far as we Canadians 

 are concerned, the sparrow can never give us much 

 trouble, as the climatic and other conditions are sufficient 

 to prevent its increasing to the same extent as in 

 England. But unfortunately the facts are sufficient to 

 entirely di-pel this i lusion. The first time that I saw 

 the sparro v in Toronto was, I think, in 1874, when a 

 single pair was observed. Smce then it has gone on in- 

 creasing until now, the natural sources of maintenance 

 are taxed to the utmost, and each successive brood as it 

 attains maturity is compelled to migrate to some distant 

 locality where the struggle for fife is less severe. This 

 process of multiplication and migration has gone on 

 yearly, each of our large cities being centers of supply, 

 until now every town and nearly every village in Ontaiio 

 is thoroughly stocked with sparrows, and when this occu- 

 pation is complete they will unquestionably spread over 

 the intervening farm lands. 



Tne severity of the winter was confidently pointed out 

 as an efficient check, but there is every evidence to prove 

 that the sparrow can Jive as far northward as wheat can 

 be grown with success. At Bracebridge and Gravenhurst 

 the species has long been established, and at North Bay, 

 Lake Nipissing, which I visited in January, 1887, 1 found 

 the English sparrow in full force and possession. In 

 response to a request for information, Mr. John Bourk 

 sends the following interesting note: 



"From all I can learn the English sparrow came here, 

 North Bay, during the winter of 1885 6. I think the first 

 of them came in grain cars from the East. The first I 

 noticed were in a car at the station, and only two of them. 

 They most have bred here, as they are increasing or have 

 increased during the past summer. There has been a 

 flock of about one hundred around our yard all winter, 

 and as you know, it has been extremely cold. I missed 

 them for about two weeks m the 1 itter part of February, 

 but they returned the first part of March. They lived on 

 hayseeds and pickings from manure piles during the win- 

 ter, I have not noticed what they live on in the summer, 

 nor whe'e they nest. They are at Mattawa and very 

 numerous at Pembroke. They have been at the latter 

 place, I think, for five years. I have never known them 



to die from cold. They seem to be as hardy as the snow- 

 bird." 



This, together with the facts that the sparrow is each 

 year occupying more exclusively the regions between the 

 centers and the advance posts, and that it is dispossessing 

 our native birds, should leave no doubt in any candid 

 mind that ultimately agricultural Canada will be as com- 

 pletely over-run by the English sparrow as is agricultural 

 England at the present time. For if the other birds of 

 England, wmich have been subjected to the same long 

 severe process of specialization, are unable to hold their 

 own against the invader, much less can our native 

 species, which have been but recently brought into con- 

 tact with civilization and its attendant hardships. 



Since none but actual personal observations are desired 

 in this connection, I pass over a multitude of hearsay 

 cases and state what I have seen of the sparrow's en- 

 croachments. 



The only native species which I myself have seen dis- 

 possessed by the invader are pewee (Sayornis phoe.be), 

 chipping sparrow (Spizella socialis), white-breasted 

 swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), house wren (Troglodytes 

 aedon), robin (Merula migratoria) and bluebird (Sialia 

 sialis). The aggression has never, so far as I have seen, 

 taken the form of actual onslaught, except in the case of 

 a pair of white-breasted swallows which were forcibly 

 dispossessed of their completed nest in a pole house. 

 More usually the native bird is merely "crowded out" 

 through its inability to compete with the more highly 

 specialized sparrow in the struggle for existence. On 

 the other hand, although several native species of pre- 

 datory birds (as falcons, hawks, shrikes, etc.) are reported 

 as preying on the sparrow, I have never seen any but 

 the pigeon falcon (Faleo columbarius) and the spar- 

 row hawk (F. sparverius) actually engaged in the work 

 of destruction, and as these birds seldom enter or live 

 about the large towns their influence as a check is at 

 present but trifling. 



From a fuller working out of the lines of argument 

 sketched, if not from the facts herein stated, I think that 

 it will be admitted that the species under consideration 

 will very soon make itself felt as an economic power in 

 the country if it has not already done so. It then lies 

 with us to decide, Is it a power for good or for ill? Is 

 it boon or bane? 



Passing over the unanimous and strongly adverse ver- 

 dict of the agricultural interest in Britain and in other 

 European countries, and the overwhelming body of con- 



demnatory evidence of our own market gardeners and 

 fruit growers, as well as naturalists, I will add my own 

 observations. 



First— We have abundant and conclusive evidence that 

 our own birds, as a whole, are eminently beneficial to 

 agriculture, and we have further proof that these birds 

 are retreating before the sparrow, which, of itself, should 

 be sufficient to condemn the invader unless it can be 

 shown that it is even more beneficial than the native birds. 



Second — But, on the contrary, as above stated, in Eng^ 

 land, where the species has already attained the position 

 it is rapidly approaching in Ontario, the havoc it makes 

 in the grain fields is something past belief, and in the 

 aggregate constitutes a heavy tax on the already hard- 

 pressed farmers of that country. 



From my own observation the sparrow is pre-eminently 

 a grain eater, though, as will be seen from the appended 

 tabular statement, it varies its diet in the springtime 

 with buds, in the early summer with insects — some of 

 them noxious— and in the late summer with fruit and 

 grasshoppers. The taste for grasshoppers, however, seems 

 to be almost, if not wholly, confined to the young fledg- 

 lings. When in the nest they are fed, I believe, entirely 

 on insect food, so that after having flown they continue 

 to subsist on the same for a time, ultimately becoming as 

 granivorous as their parents. 



The following list of gizzard contents is, on the whole, 

 the most favorable to the species of any I have seen; this 

 may be accounted for by the fact that all the birds were 

 shot in the suburbs of Toronto, in localities at consider- 

 able distances from any grain fields, so that a miscellan- 

 eous and consequently a creditable diet was inevitable. 

 For the identification of the gizzard contents throughout 

 and for other assistance, I am indebted to the kindness of 

 Dr. Wm. Brodie, of Toronto. 



I affix also an estimate made by the above gentleman 

 of the economic value of the gizzard dissections. It is 

 understood that ten points are allowed for each, and 

 when the dissection presented neither good nor bad 

 features, it was entered as 5 on each side. Whenever the 

 grain found had evidently been taken from manure, it 

 was entered as a good feature, for no harm was done, and 

 viewed as a scavenger the bird was beneficial. The fact, 

 however, that the question of appetite alone is on trial, 

 may make many, like myself, dissent from such a valu- 

 ation. In many other particulars my opinions differ from 

 those of my friend, but I make no alterations, as he alone 

 is responsible for the two columns of "points." 



Contents of Gizzard. 



For Ag. 



Remarks. 



1884 



1884 

 1884 

 1887 

 1887 

 1887 

 1S87 

 1887 

 1887 

 1887 

 1887 



1880 

 1880 



1887 

 188/ 

 18S7 

 1887 

 1887 

 It 87 

 1837 

 1881 

 1881 

 1880 



1885 



1880 

 1885 

 1885 



1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 3885 



1885 



1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 



1885 



1885 

 1K85 



1885 



1885 



1885 

 18 in 

 1885 

 1888 



1885 



1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 

 1885 



1885 



1885 

 1885 



Mar. 24. 

 Mar. 25. 

 April 7. 

 April 8. 

 April 8. 



April 8. 

 April 16 

 April 16 

 April 16 

 April 18 

 April 18 



April 19 



April 19 



April 23 

 April 23 



April 23 



April 24 

 April 25 

 April 2o 

 April 25 

 April 25 

 April 28 

 May 3.. 

 May 7. 

 May 14.. 

 May 17.. 



May 



June 2, 



July 18. 

 July 29. 



July 29. 



July 30. 

 July SO. 

 July 30. 

 July 30. 

 July 81. 

 Aug. 1. 

 Aug. 1. 

 Aug. 1. 



Aug. 1. 



Aug. 1. 



Aug. 4. 

 Aug. 4. 



Aug. 5. 



Aug. 5. 



Aug. 6. 



Aug. 7. 



Aug. 8. 



Aug. 8. 



Aug. 8. 



Aug. 9. 

 Aug. 11. 

 Aug. 15. 

 Aug. 15. 



Aug 15. 

 Aug. 15. 

 Auk. ft. 

 Aug. 17. 

 Aug. 17. 

 Aug. 17. 

 Aug. 18. 

 Aug. 19. 



Aug. 19. 



Aug. 20. 



Aug. 20. 

 Aug. 20. 



S ad. 

 ¥ ad. 



t ad. 



£ ad. 

 £ ad. 

 ¥ ad. 

 S ad. 

 ¥ ad. 



£ ad. 



Flock of a dozen devouring buds of the soft maple 



Flock engaged as above 



Flock engaged as above 



Unrecognizable mass of vegetable matter 



Nothing but sand 



J Seeds of some boragmaceous plant and the usual mass of 

 "I vegetable matter 



A mass of broken down vegetable matter 



Nothing but gravel 



A mass of grain, vegetable matter, egg shells and road pickings 



The same, with particles of wheat 



One entire oat, particles of win at and some gravel 



One entire oat, a mass of vegetable matter, including wheat and 

 some sharp gravel 



A mass of vegetable matter, including wheat particles and 

 gravel 



Buds of trees and broken grain, evidently the refuse of horses. . 



Flower buds of soft maple 



9 ad. 

 S ad. 

 ¥ ad. 

 £ ad. 

 £ ad. 



¥ ad. 



t yg. 

 £ yg. 



£... . 



a 



a 



¥ 



t 



¥ 



£ yg.. 



£ 



? 



£ yg.. 



£ yg- 

 t yg.. 



? yg.- 



? yg-- 



¥ 



* yg-- 

 £ yg.- 

 ? yg.- 



¥ 



¥ 



£ yg-- 



¥ . ... 

 ¥ 



s yg.- 



¥ 



¥ 



¥ 



S .. .. 

 £ 



Ad... 

 Ad... 



I Sepds of Chenopodium, oats, elderberries, seeds of Amaran- 

 < thus, larvae (ahout %in. lone) of a geometrid morh and frag- I 

 ( ments of Coleoptera -i 



One oat and a large mass of buds with sharp gravel 



One oat and a mass of vegetable matter 



Unrecognizable vegetable mass and sand 



The same 



The broken claw of a large Coleoptera. egg shells and sand. . 



Broken grain 



About 10 grains of oats, besides egg shells and sand 



Buds and oats 



Broken oats, buds and tender blades of grass 



Broken grain and buds 



Four measuring worms (Gcometridai) 



Broken grain, flowering buds and Coleoptera. . 



Fragments of oats and clover seeds. 



Seeds of timothy and other grasses 



Fragments of Coleoptera and of brick.. 



Vegetable remains, gravel and fragments of brick. 



Same as last, plus fruit 



Oats, unripe grass seeds and gravel 



Buds.. 



Wheat and other seeds 



Mass of buds and fragments of grain . 



Young grasshoppers 



A mass of broken Indian corn 



i Seeds of Carcx polygonum convolvulus and five young grass- 

 I hoppers 



Three grasshoppers - 



One grasshopper and some Indian corn 



Nothing but gravel 



Tender grass shoots and grasshoppers 



The same 



Three or four grains of wheat and some sand. 



Grass shoots and fragments of seeds 



Grass shoots and grasshoppers 



Sand, grass and broken cereals 



Broken grain and fragments of egg shells of barn fowl 



Wheat, grass blades, buds and gravel 



Indian corn, wheat and other seeds 



Oats, Carcx and other seeds 



Remains of a grasshopper and some gravel 



Grass seeds, gravel and seeds of Car ex. 



Purrants, buds, grass shoots and gravel 



Grass shoots and gravel 



Buds, coal, glass and egg shells of barn fowl 



Broken corn, wheat and oats (horse refuse). 



The same ' 



Grasshoppers and seeds of Carex. 



Seeds of Carcx, grass snoots and broken grain (horse refuse), 



J Broken grain (uoise refuse), corn, grass shoots aud shells of ( 



I barn fowl eggs f 



j Broken oats (pickings from horse manure) and fragments of 

 ( grasshoppers 



The same , 



The same 



5 



5 



q 



in 







10 







10 







10 







10 



10 







5 



5 



6 



4 



in 







10 







10 







10 







5 



5 



8 



2 



8 



2 







W 



4 



6 



8 



2 







10 



4 



6 







10 



3 



8 





8 



to 







2 



8 







10 



4 



6 



i 



6 



10 







10 







10 







9 



1 



8 



2 



10 







10 







10 







j Not actually dissected but care- 

 ( fully watched.— W. B. 



Same remark applies. 



Same remark applies. 

 J Within a week of laying. Throat 

 I showed a dusky streak. 



| Sexual organs fully developed. 



Sexual organs fully developed, 

 j Sexual organs hardly showing any 

 I sigDS of enlargement. 



This represents the combined con- 

 tents of 20 gizards, all from the 

 same flock.— W. B. 



I One of a large flock similarly f eed- 

 ! ing. 



Just beginning to show black 

 throat patch. 



This and the preceding, though 

 both evidently birds of this vear, 

 show a remarkable development 

 of the sexual organs, suggesting 

 the possibility of then- breeding 

 this season. 



Evidently breeding still. 

 About to lay. 



, New feather on chin just showing 

 ") black. 

 In first plumage,mottled on rump. 

 Apparently a nestling. 

 ( Corn, probably from manure, on 

 I account of season. 



I Containing one egg ready to be 

 , laid, and several less fully de- 

 ( \ eloped. 

 Throat with faint dusky patch. 



I Just getting 

 I no sign of 



the black chin patch; 

 sexual activity. 



' A dult, yet apparently of a this 

 i year's brood. 



In extreme of moulting. 



I Shot in St. Matthew's ward in the 

 f city. 



