46 
have established the fact that, as a family, they are among the most 
persistent of insect feeders and at the same time molest no product 
of the farm. Their presence should be fostered at every opportunity, 
and there is reason to believe that as our western country becomes 
more thickly settled these gentle birds may become as familiar about 
dooryards as are their eastern relatives. 
ENGLISH SPARROW. 
(Passer domesticus. ) 
From its enormous abundance throughout much of the weevil- 
infested region of Utah, as well as from the fact that, individually, 
it is a most effective enemy of the alfalfa weevil, the English or house 
sparrow must be placed very high in the scale of weevil enemies. 
There is no bird in which the people of Utah are 'more interested than 
this much-criticized foreigner and. as its efficiency as an insect de- 
stroyer has frequently been questioned, special pains have been taken 
to present as thorough a consideration as possible of the relation of 
the sparrow to the alfalfa weevil. 
The English sparrow presents a problem in Utah somewhat dif- 
ferent from that in many other parts of its range. Though by no 
means uncommon in the city streets, the never-ceasing chatter of hun- 
dreds of these birds heard along country roads and about farmyards 
readily makes an observer realize that in many rural sections of the 
Salt Lake Valley this species is by far the most abundant. 
A factor partly responsible for this condition is the presence on 
almost every farm of one or more straw-thatched sheds for hous- 
ing live stock and in these the birds nest. (See PL I. fig. 2.) These 
sheds are constructed usually with the ceiling about 8 or 9 feet 
from the ground. The framework is made of heavy logs overlaid 
with limbs and smaller boughs, and upon this the straw is placed 
to a depth of 2 to 5 feet. Into the straw the sparrows dig holes about 
the size of one's arm and sometimes extending inward for a foot 
or 18 inches. Masses of nest material also may be found placed upon 
the beams or limbs used in the framework. Frequently upward of 
100 nest holes, both occupied and deserted, may be found in a roof 
about 20 or 30 feet in dimensions. Lombardy poplars, cottonwoods. 
and box elders, abundant in the valley, are also favorite nesting sites. 
FOOD OP TOVXG BIEDS. 
For investigating the food habits of young English sparrows 1.039 
stomachs, mostly of nestlings, are available. These were secured as 
follows: First half of May. 16: second half. 530; first half of June, 
382: second half. 36; first half of July, 40: and second half, 35. 
The bulk of this material was collected from the middle of May to 
the middle of June, which about coincides with the period of 
greatest abundance of these young birds as well as of the larval form 
of the weevil. The largest number was from the vicinity of Murray. 
