THE RELATION OF SPARROWS TO AGRICULTURE. 
INTRODUCTION. 
IMPORTANCE OF SPARROWS. 
The native sparrows are the most abundant and widely distributed 
of the small birds inhabiting the rural districts of the United States. 
Wherever there are farms these characteristic little birds may be 
found nesting in orchard, berry patch, vineyard, or hedgerow, en- 
livening the shrubbery from dooryard to outlying field with their 
songs, or in winter rising from the ground and fluttering from bush 
to bush before one who invades their haunts. As a group they are 
constantly present on cultivated land, although many of them retire to 
the South during the winter and their places are taken by other species 
from the North. 
Sparrows are well known, and have figured frequently in ornitho- 
logical literature, but the position they occupy in relation to agricul- 
ture has heretofore received only casual consideration. It is evident 
that a group of birds so abundant, so widely distributed, and in such 
constant association with farms and gardens must play an important 
part in rural economy, and that a thorough investigation of then 
food habits should be useful. The results of such an investigation 
are embodied in the present paper and amply demonstrate the value 
of these birds to the agriculturist — a value greater than that of any 
other group of birds whose economic status has thus far been investi- 
gated. The native sparrows contrast markedly in this respect with 
the introduced English sparrow, the pernicious "habits of which have 
formed the subject of a special report, 1 and are briefly treated in this 
bulletin for purposes of comparison (see p. 92). This naturalized 
sparrow is a pest wherever it is found, while the native sparrows are 
well worthy of protection and encouragement. 
CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD. 
The great bulk of the food of sparrows and other small passerine 
(or perching) birds consists of fruit, seeds, and insects. The fruit 
may be wild berries taken from shrubs or trees of no economic impor- 
tance, with little economic result whether the bird eats much or little; 
or it may be cultivated fruit, in which case, of course, it is desirable 
to know the amount destroyed. 
1 The English Sparrow in North America, Bull. No. l,Div. Ornith. andMamm., 1889. 
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