The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-07-18

WHAT THE LITTLE NANDALS FEED UPON-DE-
sTRUCTIvE INSECTS THAT THE ENGLISH
ALIEN DISDAINs AS FOOD-A SCIENTIST
WHO ENJOYS SPARROW POT-PIE.
philadelphia Timesl
Chief among the Obligations which each
applicant to the recently-formed Anti-Spar-
row Association OF Germantown assumes
on his election to membership is that he
shall deposit with the secretary stipu-
lated number Of sparrow-headS during
each year, and also TO seek for and destroy
as many eggs of the bird as he may be able
TO find. The members make frequent visits
TO the haunts of the little yandals, and as
soon rs 4 nest is seen 1t is torn TO pieces
and the eggs in it taken away or broken.
Thomas Gentry, WHO'S connected with this
Association, was seen at the Academy Of
Natural Sciences yesterday and questioned
in relation to the best method OF getting
rid OF the troublesome httle intruders. "
don't know Of a better way" he said, "Of
depicting their numbers than by the plan
we have adopted in Germantown. II SINH
lar societies were to be organized in the
different parts OF the State. who would
work rs assiduously aS we do, | think we
could reduce the species very largely in a
season. But people who have no grain
fields, and who suffer no loss nor trouble
through the rayages OF the pests, are in
clined 10 give them sort Of sentimental
sympathy which is entirely uhmerited and
abused. | have been deVoting years to the
study Of the habits and tastes OF the spar
rows, and | have failed, even with the
closest scrutiny, to discover single re-
dccming trait OF character IN them. They
are not OF the slightest benefit
WHAT sPARROws FEED UPON.
"Don't they prey ugon bugs which de-
strOy vegctation?"
"No. In all my experiments in yivi-
section have never found that they did.
They destroy certain species OF beetles
and carniverOus insects. but / never knew
them to eat or even XIII the herbiverouS
ones"
cit has beeu claimed by some farmers
that il their determination continues the
HeSsiap fly, which is so destructive TO
wheat, will increase in numbers. Do the
SparrOws kill these flies 2"
"Oh, that is not so. | never heard OF
sDarrOws having a fondness for them.
They won't eat them. And another rea-
son is that the sparrows don't go to the
wheat at the same time the HesSian flies
are lDtIt. Olc SltNltn vi tllC llitS tdi lIN
leaves and another prefers the grain itself,
but they begin on the wheat about the
middle OF July and remain until about the
first OF August. while the grain is young
and milky. The sparrowS, you know.
don't trouble the wheat until it is far past
that growth and is ready to he or has been
cut. The fly is little insect about m eighth
Of I'M inch long, and is not altogether
unlike a mosquito. Nor will the sparrow
eat caterpIlars, although the popular be-
lief is that it does. A fat caterpillar ought
to be very inviting mOrSel iOr it to de-
YOUR; but, strange to say, the bird dis
dains it. The sparrow-hawk and the
.butcher-bird will each attack and Kill
the English sparrow, but, unfortunately
for the people, these two kind OF assailants
are not numerous enough. While the SPAR
rows are very pugnaciouS toward each
other, ! don't think they fight much with
other birds.
A