92 
THE RELATION <>F SPARROWS TO AGRICULTURE. 
About - percent of the food consists of such invertebrates as spiders 
ami some few snails. The spidos belong to such terrestrial forms as 
the Lycosidse and oilier ground-runners. There is, however, one 
notable exception in the case of a brood of nestlings. These were 
fed on a nonterrestrial spider (Argiope), a large, venomous-looking 
(though harmless) object as it rests ill ilsweb, resplendent with glossy 
black and brilliant yellow. Its gaudy color is supposed to be a 
protective device against birds. 
From the limited investigations thus far made, the dickcissel, like 
the lark sparrow, vesper sparrow, and grasshopper sparrow, proves to 
be a most useful insect destroyer, whose services to the farmer are 
important. It will be found especially helpful in keeping down grass- 
hoppers, which always threaten to become over abundant and cause 
great destruction among the crops. 
ENGLISH SPARROW. 
(Passer domesticus. | 
The English sparrow, or, more properly speaking, the house spar- 
row of Europe and Asia (see fig. L9), was introduced into the United 
States about 1850 
and has increased 
and spread until 
now it is one of 
the most abundant 
birds east of the 
Mississippi River. 
It does not, how- 
ever, occur in the 
lower part of Flor- 
ida and certain 
parts of Mississippi 
and Louisiana, nor 
in some portions of 
.Maine. .Minnesota, 
and North Dakota. 
West of the Missis- 
sippi River its range 
forms a tongue-like 
area extending to 
Fio. 19.— English sparrow. 
the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and includes Missouri, 
Kansas. Arkansas, Indian Territory, and parts of South Dakota 
Texas, < Oklahoma, and Nebraska. It is also found in isolated localities 
west of the Rocky Mountains, principally about Great Salt Lake, San 
Francisco Bay, near Portland, Oreg., and on Puget Sound, Washing-' 
ton. In Canada it is established to a greater or lesser degree in all 
the eastern provinces. It has recently penetrated to Manitoba, but 
has not pel otherwise secured a foothold to the north and west of 
