234 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



exhaustive study of their food habits should first be made 

 in their native home, and all the possibilities of their intro- 

 duction should be well considered. 



The English Sparrow and the Gypsy Moth. 

 The English sparrow has been seen to feed on all forms 

 of the gypsy moth ; yet this bird in its relations to disjjar 

 is injurious rather than beneficial to man. That its name 

 appears so frequently in the records of observations is due to 

 the fact that it has been for years the most common bird in 

 villages and cities of the infested region, and that it is known 

 to many observers who would be unable to identify most 

 other birds. 



The sparrow was introduced into Boston Common in 1868. 

 It is recorded that in 1871 it had reached Somerville, and 

 in 1873 Lynn and Cambridge. It undoubtedly appeared in 

 Medford about the same time, as Somerville adjoins both 

 INIedford and Cambridge, while Lynn is some ten miles east 

 of Boston.* 



While it is no doubt true that native birds were a great 

 factor in holding the moth in check during the first eight or 

 ten years of its existence in this country when its numbers 

 were few, it is equally true that the rapid distribution and 

 increasing numbers of the English sparrow later from 1875 

 to 1885 in the region infested resulted in driving out many 

 native birds. The bluebirds, wrens, house swallows and 

 martins were the first to leave, for as the sparrows multiplied 

 they took by force the bird houses and cavities formerly occu- 

 pied by these birds, compelling them to seek nesting-places 

 elsewhere. As the sparrows further multiplied, their quarrel- 

 some disposition impelled them to attack and drive away other 

 birds found around their nesting-places. What they could 

 not do singly they accomplished by force of numbers, until 

 comparatively few native birds were able to breed in the 

 immediate vicinity of the towns and villages. It is undoubt- 

 edly true that the sparrow did something toward compensat- 



* See " The English sparrow in America," United States Department of Agricult- 

 ure, 1889, page 21. I am informed by Mr. Walter Wright of Medford that his 

 father, Elizur Wright, liberated several pairs of sparrows in Medford about that 

 time. 



