BIRDS. 



127 



121. Nuttall Ornithological Club. Sparrows [Passer domesticus]. — The Nuttall 



Ornithological Club decides against them. <Boston Daily Advertiser, CXXXI, 

 No. 47, Feb. 23, 1878. (Anonymous.) 



"The inside history of this article is: Some time about January, 1878, Dr. Brewer was 

 in my office in Washington, where some words on the subject grew a little heated toward the 

 close of the interview, when I proposed that it would be well to ask the Nuttall Club to take 

 up and sift the matter, that we might get at the facts, if possible. The reply was compli- 

 mentary neither to the sincerity of my proposition nor to the ornithological ability of the 

 Club, of which he was a member. I soon afterward addressed to the Club a communication 

 inviting their attention to the matter, suggesting a full and fair discussion of the subject 

 in open meeting, and representing that the Club was specially well qualified to come to just 

 conclusions, consisting, as it did, of a number of working ornithologists of recognized ability 

 and experience, who were perfectly familiar with the case as presented in Boston, Cambridge, 

 and vicinity. The meeting was soon after held. Notice was sent to the resident members 

 of the proposed consideration of the question, and corresponding members were also invited 

 to take part in the discussion. Dr. Brewer for some reason did not attend the meeting. 

 The report of the meeting, constituting the present article, indicates that Mr. J. A. Allen, 

 Mr. William Brewster, Mr. H. A. Purdie, Mr. H. D. Minot, Mr. Ruthven Deane, and others, 

 participated in the discussion. Mr. Allen's views are not here presented. All the testimony 

 here reported is unfavorable to the Sparrows, but need not be here analyzed, as it is only 

 what every competent and unprejudiced observer knows; it is explicit, emphatic, and irref- 

 ragable, substantiating every count that has been brought against the birds. The article 

 includes an open letter to Dr. Brewer from John Dixwell, M. D., stating that in 39 individuals, 

 taken at the height of the canker-worm pest, no trace of insect food could be found on dis- 

 secting; the publication of which letter gave offence to Dr. Brewer, who considered it an 

 unwarrantable liberty to take with his name. At the close of the discussion a vote was taken 

 on the question of whether or not, in the opinion of those present, the further increase of the 

 house sparrow in this country was desirable. The result was a unanimous negative."— 

 Coues, I. c. 



122. Nuttall Ornithological Club. Sparrows [Passer do?nesticus] brought to Judg- 



ment. Discussion of the Nuttall Ornithological Club upon the Merits and 

 Demerits of the English Sparrow in the United States. <The Country (news- 

 paper of New York), pp. 245-246, Feb. 23, 1878. 



"This is the full report of the meeting, communicated officially by the Club, occupying 

 nearly two pages (5 columns). It gives much matter additional to that published in the 

 Boston Daily Advertiser, and is especially important in presenting at length views of J. A. 

 Allen, and in including communications from Mr. R. Ridgway and Dr. C. C. Abbott, not 

 given in the Boston report of the proceedings. Allen's carefully considered testimony, 

 though well guarded, is, emphatically and explicitly, against the Sparrows. 'Mr. Allen 

 further stated, that every ornithologist of note throughout the country who has expressed 

 himself upon 1jie subject (and nearly all have done so) has, almost without exception, de- 

 clared against the Sparrows. Not a few of them consider their rapid increase an alarming 

 evil, which will soon call for legislative action to hold it in check.'" — Coues, I. c. 



123. The Sparrows [Passer domesticus]. <Evening Transcript, Mar. 19, 1878. (By 



H. A. Purdie.) 



"Covering a copy of The Country of February 23, 1878, which contained the full report 

 of the Nuttall Club's proceedings, Mr. J. A. Allen's testimony having been omitted from the 

 report as published in Boston. Mr. Allen's testimony follows." — Coues, I. c. 



124. [Range of the Fish Crow in New York and New England]. <Bull. Nutt. Ornith. 



Club, II, p. 47, Jan., 1878. 



125. Persistency in Nest-building by a Pair of City Robins [Turdus migratorius]. < 



Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, III, pp. 103-104, Apr., 1878. 



Rebuilt their nest five times when it was removed by a human friend of the birds, owing 

 to the unsafe nature of the site on account of cats. 



