THE HOUSE SPARROW. 



419 



stomachs ; Coleoptera, beetles, in 53 ; Orthoptera, locusts, &c, 

 in 9 ; Lepidoptera, as moths and butterflies, in 8; Hemiptera, 

 as plant-bugs, &c, in 6 ; Neuroptera, as (in this case) some 

 stone-flies, and Psoci, in 3 ; and Diptera, as blue-bottle and 

 house-flies, in 2. Besides these, Arachnidce, as spiders or parts 

 of spiders, or spider allies, were found in 7 stomachs. 



Most of the insects noted were in developed, that is, complete, 

 not larval or pupal condition ; and it is mentioned in the sum- 

 mary that the insects taken from the sparrows were mostly of 

 harmless species. Attention is also drawn to the fact that during 

 the year in which most of the birds were shot at Washington, 

 the shade-trees there were suffering from insect infestation ; and 

 of the four different species infesting, only two specimens of one 

 kind were found in the sparrows' stomachs investigated. 



Many other records of observation, both American and British, 

 are given in the " Bulletin," and one of the concluding sentences 

 of Dr. Riley's report is : — " Finally the examinations taken as 

 a whole show how thoroughly graminivorous or vegetarian the 

 sparrow is as a rule." 



At the meeting on April 21, 1885, at Washington, of the 

 Council of the American Ornithologists' Union, the Committee 

 rendered its final report of considerations as to the serviceableness 

 or otherwise of the English sparrow, these being based on infor- 

 mation received in reply to their circulars of inquiries sent to 

 localities of the entire United States and Canada.* The report, 

 which contains a great amount of solid information, is too long 

 for insertion here ; but relatively to the points now under con- 

 sideration, the united "verdict of the ornithologists," formally 

 given, is " that there is an overwhelming mass of testimony to 

 the effect that the sparrow drives away certain of our most 

 valued species of native birds " ; and in reply to the question on 

 the circular, " Is it an insect-eater or a seed-eater? " that every 

 reply to this question, based on dissection, agrees in attributing 

 to this bird a diet almost wholly vegetable. 



* For report given in full, see "Forest and Stream " for Aug. 6, 1885 

 (" Forest and Stream " Publishing Company, 39 Park Kow, New York, 

 U.S.A.) 



