The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-07-27
The Sparrow and the Fly
WHAT THE LITTLE vANDALs FEED ur,

| WHAT THE LITTLE NANDALS FEED UPON.
Chief among the obligations which
each applicant to the recently formed
auttsparrow association of German
town assumes on his election to men,
bership is that he shall deposit with
the secretary stipulated number of
sparrows 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 vaudals
and as soon as a nest is seen it is torn
to pieces and the eggs in it taken away
or broken. Thomas Gentry, who is
connected with this association, was
seen at the Academy of Natural Scien-
ces lately and questioned in rela-
tion to the best methods of getting rid
OF the troublesome little intruders. 81
don't know of a better way" he said,
'of depicting their numbers than by
the plan we have adopted in German
town. II similar societies were to be
organized in the different parts of the
State, who would work as asiduously
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 trou5lc through
the ravages of the pests are inclined to
give them sort of sentimental sympa-
thy which is entirely unmerited and
abused. | have been devoting years to
the study of the habits and tastes Of
the sparrows, and | have failed, even
with the closest scrutiny, to discover
single redeeming trait of character
in them. They are not of the slightest
benefit.
WHAT sPARRows FEED UPON
"Don't they prey upon bugs which
destroy vegetation p
"No. In all my experiments in vivi-
section | have never found that they
did, They destroy a certain species of
beetles and carnivorous insects, but l
never knew them to eat or even kill
the herbivorous ones
at has been claimed by some farm
ers that il their determination contin-
ues the Hessian fly, which is so destruc.
tive to wheat, will increase in mum
bers Do the sparrows kill these
flies 2"
"Ob, that is not so. | never heard
of sparrows having fondness for
them. They won't eat them. And
another reason is that the sparrows
don't go to the wheat at the same time
the Hessian flies are there. One spe-
cies of the flies eat the leaves and
another prefers the grain itself, but
they begin on the wheat about the mid
die 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
be or has been cut The fly is little
insect about an eighth of m inch long
and is not altogether unlike mosqui-
TO. Nor will the sparrow eat caterpil-
lars, although the popular belief is that
it does A fat caterpillar ought to be
a very inviting morsel for it to devour,
but, strange to say, the bird disdains it.
The sparrow-hawk and the "Dutcher
bird will each attack and kill the Eng
lish sparrow, but, unfortunately for the
people, these two kinds of assailants
are not numerous enough. When the
sparrows are very pugnacious toward
each other, don't think they fight
much with other birds.
sPARRows IN A ror-rIE.
''The fact that sparrows drive away
various other kinds of birds, the speak
er went on, Sis not due to their fight
ing spirit, but to the reason that they
multiply so fast that they cover sec
ton OF the country so completely and
their foraging is so thorough that the
other birds have to 60 elsewhere to get
subsistence. They will lay thirty or
forty eggs and will hatch nearly every
one of them. A friend :of mine who
lives in the country and about whose
house great many sparrows
flock told me that he had discovered
that. there were many lice in his
rooms. They were undoubtedly brought
OH the premises by the sparrows. The
city sparrow is much less cleanly IN his
habits than his country cousin. And
he is of very little use as bug destroy
er, because he becomes general sea-
venger and feeds upon offal, garbage
and other refuse to be found in the
streets. But | have been told that
sparrows make very good eating.
Mr.. Cresson, of the Academy of
Natural Sciences, told the reporter that
while out cunning one day he fired
into a flock of sparrows, mistaking
them for reed birds. He killed large
number of them and had them cooked
in pie, and he declares that he relish
ed them quite as much as though they
had been reed birds indeed. lie rec
ommends them to sportmen as excel
lent eating-Despatch to Philadel.