418 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Much of Col. Russell's collection of contents of sparrows was 

 long preserved in spirit or preservative medium, in small glass 

 jars, and clearly proved the enormous proportion of wheat grains 

 they contained. 



With regard to detailed account of amount and nature of the 

 insect contents found in stomachs of sparrows, the official account 

 of the U.S. Board of Agriculture, prepared under the direction 

 and verification of Dr. C. V. Riley, Entomologist to the Depart- 

 ment, gives the fullest information of any we are aware of up to 

 date.* This report is based on examination of stomach-contents 

 of 522 sparrows by Dr. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist to the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of these, which were 

 examined in the Ornithological Division, ninety -tioo alone ivere 

 found to contain insects. By stomach-contents is included not 

 only what is taken from the crop, but also that taken from the 

 gullet and the mouth. Of the above 522 stomachs, 338 of birds 

 killed on ground (avoiding roads) near Washington were in many 

 cases examined within an hour or two after death ; the remaining 

 184 were sent to Washington in alcohol. 



The report gives first a list of the specimens containing 

 insects, giving age of sparrow (as adult or young) ; also sex, date 

 of death, locality where killed, and name of insects found. 

 This is followed by a very important section, which we much 

 need similar details of here, namely, the " habits of the insects 

 concerned." In this the insects found are classed under heading 

 of the scientific names of the orders to which they belong, as 

 whether beetles, flies, moths, and butterflies, or others ; with 

 notes of their life-history or habits where known, so that it can 

 be told whether the insect is injurious or helpful ; as, for instance, 

 in the case of a species of Tiphia, of which one kind destroys 

 grubs of May-beetles, and Myzine sexcincta, of similar habits ; 

 of the first of which remains occur in ten stomachs ; of the 

 second, in thirty. Also notes are given of presence, presumably 

 unimportant, of kinds of which little but the name is known. 

 All of the principal orders of insects were represented, namely, 

 Hymcnoptcra, that is, bees, ants, parasite wasps, &c, in 59 



* See " Insectivorous Habits of the English Sparrow (Passer domes tic us). " 

 By C. V. Riley, Ph.D. [From " Bulletin No. I., Div. of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture," entitled " The English Sparrow in 

 America." 



