HOW TO DESTROY ENGLISH SPARROWS. 
INTEODUCTIOir. 
In its economic relations the English sparrow among birds is com¬ 
parable to the rat among mammals. It is cunning, destructive, and 
filthy. This sparrow was introduced into America about sixty 3 ^ears 
ago, and is now distributed generalh" over the eastern half of the 
United States and southern Canada and locally w^estward to the 
Pacific coast. This rapid dissemination is a result of the bird’s har¬ 
diness, extraordinary fecundity, diversity of food, aggressive disposi¬ 
tion, and almost complete immnnit}^ from natural enemies through 
its sagacity and its preference for thickly settled communities. 
Its natural diet consists of seeds, but it eats a great variety of other 
foods. ^Yliile much of its annual fare consists of waste material 
from the streets, in autumn and winter it consumes quantities of 
weed seed, and in summer numerous insects. The destruction of 
w'eed seed is undeniably in the sparrow-’s favor. Its record as to 
insects is not so clear. There is substantial evidence that it eats 
certain harmful insects quite freely when these are abundant, but 
that it habitually seeks insects, or that it prefers them to seeds or 
other vegetable food, is not borne out liy the evidence. Out of 522 
English sparrow stomachs examined by the Biological Survey,® 47 
contained noxious insects, 50 contained beneficial insects, and 31 con¬ 
tained insects of little or no economic importance. This report shows 
conclusively that, aside from the destruction of weed seed, there is 
very little to be said in the sparrow’s favor. 
On the other hand, much can be said against the bird. It destroys 
small fruits, as cherries, grapes, pears, and peaches. It also destroys 
buds and flowers of cultivated trees, shrubs, and vines. In the gar¬ 
den it eats seeds as they ripen, and nips off temler young vegetables 
as they appear above ground, peas and lettuce being especially sub¬ 
ject to attack. It damages wheat and other grains when newly 
sowed, ripening, and in shocks. It reduces the numbers of some of 
oU. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Economic Ornithology and Mam¬ 
malogy, Bulletin 1, The English Sparrow in North America, j). 143, 1889. An exhaus¬ 
tive account now out of ])rint. 
17347—Bull. 383—10 - 2 
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