1918.] The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 69 
The so-called “ avian rat,” the ubiquitous house-sparrow, has pro¬ 
bably received more attention from naturalists than any other wild 
bird, but in spite of all the deprecatory language that has been applied 
to it this bird has its redeeming features. It has been allowed to 
increase to such an extent that it has become one of the worst bird pests 
we have. 
In the writer’s investigations upon this species, commenced in the early 
part of 1910 and completed in May, 1914, 404 adult birds were examined 
and 329 nestlings. Of the former, 207 were shot in or near orchards, 
138 in agricultural districts, and 59 in suburban districts. The stomach- 
contents of the birds from the fruitgrowing districts showed that the bulk 
of the food consisted of the caterpillars of injurious insects and weed-seeds ; 
in only twenty-three cases were the remains of blossom-buds discovered, 
and in twenty-seven cases wheat-grains. There is only one conclusion that 
we can come to as regards this record—viz., that this much-maligned 
bird is distinctly beneficial in such districts. Unfortunately, when we 
examine the record of 138 specimens from agricultural districts we find a 
very different result. Remains of insects occurred on only twelve occasions, 
whereas wheat-grains were found on 115, and the remains of other grains 
forty-three times. The fifty-nine specimens from suburban districts showed 
a very mixed diet. The stomach-contents of the 329 nestlings consisted 
almost entirely of insect-remains.* 
From the above somewhat exhaustive record it would seem clear that 
in all agricultural districts sparrows should be given no quarter, whilst in 
fruitgrowing districts and towns they are far too plentiful. 
It frequently happens that when a particular species of bird becomes 
too plentiful it changes its food habits, and this to a large extent is what 
has happened in the case of the birds scheduled under this heading. The 
missel-thrush and blackbird have increased enormously in recent years, and 
both have become serious pests to fruitgrowers. The damage occasioned 
by the greenfinch and chaffinch is chiefly to newly-sown seed and sprouting 
corn : both species are too numerous. Each year we hear more of the 
damage done by the starling and the rook. During the past ten or 
twelve years the former species has greatly increased, such increase being 
largely due to migration and to the protection afforded wild birds gene¬ 
rally. At present it commits a large amount of damage, but if it were 
considerably reduced in numbers it would prove, as in the past, a most 
useful bird. 
There is no longer any doubt as to the great value of the barn-owl 
and the brown or tawny owl to the agriculturist, and yet they are 
destroyed wholesale by gamekeepers and others. Or take the case of 
the plover : it would be difficult to exaggerate the value of this bird to 
the farmer — the good it does cannot be overestimated; and yet the 
farmers of this country are annually watching its gradual reduction with 
indifference. 
Many species of birds that otherwise are beneficial are active agents 
in the dispersal of weed-seeds. In some species the seeds are ground 
up in their muscular gizzards, but in others this action is so slight that 
many of the seeds pass through the body uninjured. Thus such birds 
as the blackbird, thrush, house-sparrow, bullfinch, and greenfinch are 
now known to be great distributors of weed-seeds, and such must 
be taken into consideration in any attempt rightly to fix their economic 
status. 
* Journ. Board Agric., vol. 21, 1914, pp. 618-23. 
