b THe eAgULD TU BO Neg se lLe i alia: 
ing near East St. Louis, the high 
bottomland between the Illinois 
and Mississippi Rivers, and the 
extensive flatland of the Spring- 
field-Jacksonville area. This spe- 
cies is very fond of livestock and 
it goes to reason that these farming 
areas contribute largely to _ its 
spread. On the other hand, the 
topography of Missouri below St. 
Louis, as well as the dense sub- 
urban population, retards its future 
growth here. This land is, for the 
most part, forested with oak and 
hickory, rather hilly, and not very 
suitable for farming; therefore, 
it is not the preferred habitat of 
this species. 
The distribution of the European 
Tree Sparrow is spotty owing to 
the discontinuous dispersal of suit- 
able habitat. A good example of 
this distribution can be seen by 
contrasting Assumption Valley 
near Affton — which has a rela- 
tively large population — with 
Antonio some ten miles. south 
where the species is quite rare. 
The great change in habitat is 
dramatically illustrated in_ this 
example since Affton is rather flat 
and contains some truck farms and 
vacant lots while Antonio is for- 
ested uncleared land for the most 
part. The disappearance of vacant 
lots in St. Louis-proper has un- 
questionably reduced the numbers 
of the European Tree Sparrow 
here. 
In South St. Louis, flocks of 75 
birds were not uncommon in the 
winter as long as vacant lots would 
provide weed seeds, but now these 
birds are rare due to disappearance 
of their food supply. Although the 
species’ present range covers some 
8,500 square miles, I doubt that 
they are distributed throughout a 
quarter of this area. 
The population of the European 
TABLE I 
Summary of Christmas Bird Count Figures on the Numbers of Wintering 
European Tree Sparrows Within a Fifteen Mile Radius of Three Localities 
Extending from the Year 1949 - 1962 
From. "Audubon Field Notes" 1949 - 1961 
St. Charles County 
Pere Marquette State Park 
East St. Louis 
Missouri Calhoun County, Illinois Illinois 
1949 18 * * 
1950 ts 76 Wy 
Weyl 21 12 54 
1952 3 16 36 
1953 * 4 41 
1954 aay 2 * 
WEISS x 7 66 
O56 IS) 25 46 
USS 7/ 48 None * 
1958 6 ii * 
TI59 12 u eS 
1960 8 None oe 
1961 106 None cd 
O62 a Not available ts 
* No Count Taken 
