SPARROWS. 
71 
Have any injurious insects been exterminated or materially lessened in numbers by 
this Sparrow ? 24. Have any injurious insects increased in numbers, or appeared 
where unknown before, in consequence of the destruction of other insects by this 
Sparrow? 25. Have these Sparrows in your neighbourhood been destroyed 
systematically or otherwise, and, if so, by what means? 26. What bounty, if any, 
has been offered for their destruction? 27. What is the general sentiment or 
balance of public opinion respecting the European House Sparrow in your locality ? 
28. On the whole, in your judgment, is this Sparrow an eligible or ineligible species 
in this country ? 
“ In order to secure a thorough presentation of the subject to those 
most likely to respond satisfactorily, each member of the committee 
assumed the duties of correspondence in his own section of the 
country, as well as in certain allotted sections of the entire United 
States and Canada. Copies of the letter were sent to the agricultural 
papers, to the various journals having columns devoted to zoological 
and rural matters, and to the press at large. The greater part, how¬ 
ever, was directed to individuals believed to possess facts pertinent to 
the subject. About one thousand copies were thus sent out.” 
[The replies to the first question give information as to the first 
introduction of the Sparrow in different localities, and, with the next 
paragraph, show the rate at which the pest multiplies. —Ed.] 
“ The earliest date of importation known to us is 1858, when Mr. 
Thomas A. Deblois liberated a few individuals at Portland, Me. These 
disappeared shortly afterward, and were not successfully replaced 
until 1875. In 1858 Sparrows were liberated at Peacedale, R. I., by 
Mr. Joseph Peace Hazard. They were first introduced into Central 
Park, New York city, according to Mr. Conklin, the superintendent of 
the menagerie, in the year 1864. In 1860 Mr. Eugenie Shieffiin 
turned loose twelve birds in Madison Square, New York city. In 
1868 the species was first introduced into Boston Common. In 1869 
a number were given the liberty of the parks of Philadelphia. Some¬ 
what later a successful attempt was made to establish a colony near 
*» 
Great Salt Lake, Utah, and about the same time the birds became 
resident at Indianapolis, Ind. 
“ In a period of about ten years the Sparrows reached nearly all 
the large towns and cities of New England and the Middle States, and 
many of those of the Western States, without artificial assistance. It 
also made its appearance in suburban towns and even country villages. 
From the Southern States and the Western States beyond the 
Mississippi River we have received but few returns, and most of these 
state that the Sparrow has not been observed. In Canada it has 
become generally distributed over the southern sections of Quebec and 
Ontario (it is abundant in the city of Quebec), and in 1884 several 
flocks invaded New Brunswick.” 
[Notes are given of rate of increase ; that “ there is an over- 
