Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-07-12
THE STATE.
THE SPARROW IN MICHIGAN.
Report Of the Agricultural Depart
ment's OrnitholOgist.

nrst bulletin OF the newly
ed division OF Economic Ornithologists and
Mammalogy OF the department of agricul-
ture Just ISSUED, is devoted TO the English
sparrow question, which, 10 quote Prof.
Merriam, the distinguished ornithOlogist of
the department. has grown TO be serious
problem IN economic science, particularly
80 far as the gricultural interests of the
country are concerned-and the term agri-
culture must be here understood in its
broadcast and most comprehensive sense as
including the grain growing industries,
truck gardening, fruit growing, the cultiva
ton of flowers aud Ornamental shrubs and
vines, ana even forestry
From the bulle in (Which is "A volume of
more than 400 y ges) many interesting
facts are obtained concerning the introduc-
ton, spread and habits OF this bird in
Michigan. IL now exists in every part or
the lower peninsula, but is not general III
the upper A large part of the bulletin is
given up 10 reports from different observ
ers ia the various states. Most OF the re-
ports made from Michigan indicate that
the bird bears pretty hard name in most
parts of our state, although there are some
exceptions. Postmaster Glover OF Cassopo-
lis, says. ut does not in ure fruits of
vegetables. IL is thought by some that our
immense crop of fruit is due 10 its pres
ence.h Frank Little of Kalamazoo, SAYS:
81 have an extensive garden of fruit (par-
ticuldrly grapes, vegetables, sweet corn
and flowers. While the sparrows frequent
tie street in front of nv house, ! have new
er seen them doing any harm in the gar
den
Commenting on this Prof Merriam says:
''Tnere is nothing whatever in these state
ments which is open to question. They
are statements OF fact, and as such should
be acc epted "a evidence, but IL should be
remembered that this IS merely negative
evidence, and only tends to prove that The
sparrow does not always feed upon fruit
even when readily ucce 5 bic. IL takes
nothing from the brce OF the positive evi.
dence already given, and the ony point Of
diniculty winch it raises Is the question
why the bird SHOULD eat fruit only at times
instead of at II tines, a question which
could be certainly nj fully answered ii we
had all the Data naturally pertaining 10 the
Case. Failing this, we can only say that
probably food OF other kinds was so abun
dant the sparrows took but title fruit any
where, aud Ia little was found more
easily elsewhere, or WAS taken uuobseryed
and was never missed. Or. perhaps the
very aOund nee of fruit ana the limited
numbers OF the bird, pre- .ented any notice
able ii mage. The fact that the sparrows
are not actually seen doing the mischief Is
never surprising 10 Que who has watched
shem closely, for they are among the mosU
wary and cunning OF birds. especially after
they Ia e been detected once in mischief
of any kind. These i every reason TO be
lieYe, however, that the taste for fruit is
or which at least is not he'd 10 the same eX
tent By all. -
OF the act passed by the Michigan legis
lature in lcS,, Offering a bounty OF one
cent apiece tor kngll sh sparrows In lots of
not less tn n twenty five, Prof. Merriam
says: For various reasons this law does
no. appear to answer the purpose in end d
Unques ionably the law itself is defective
in some respects. Thus, in Wayne county,
of which Detroit is the county seat, no
bountes have been paid, owing TO the fact
that the county treasurer has no authority
TO pay anYth ng except on the warrant of
the board of auditors, and the bounty act
provides only or payment on certificates
issued BY the clerk of township, village or
city. The act provi .es, fur ,aermore, that
the bountes shall be paid from the con
tingent fund OF the cOun y, and in some
cases the county supervisors have failed
to make any provision for such payment
The provlsO that not less than twenty 1--WE
heads can be presented at once, and the
necessity OF gong or sending to the county
seat are features which defer many per
sons from av diling themselves OF the act,
but, even were all these obstacles re moved
IL seems probable that the offer OF one
cent "A head would not be large enough TO
tempt many persons 10 enga &c in the bust
ness OF kihing sparrows. In reply TO re
quests sent 10 the county treasurers
throughout the state, reports have been re
ceived from forty one counties.
These reports cover large y irt OF
the area in which sparrows are most nu-
merous, and may be taken, therefore, as a
fair sample OF the whole state; yet in
twenty two of these counties NJ sparrows
whatever hay been presented for boun y.
The rgest number reported thus far from
any one county is from Kent county, $3.50
sparrOws for the first year in which the
lawn. operative. The reports from two
other counties are similarly incompe etc,
giving returns for only a small part of the
time. but by estimating as above, an APP
proxim ation to the actu Il number has been
obtained, and the total number of spar
rows killed, Tor bounties in these forty
one counties Is about 1000 or an average
of 3is for county. AS there are - couu
ties in Michigan, this gives 81 900 sp arrows,
"A number utterly insignificant, in fact not
more than were actually trapped by a
single enterprising man in indianapolis,
during the past TWO years. No data are at
hand on which 10 base even an approximate
estimate Of The total number OF sparrows
in the state of Michigan, but as there must
be many millions at east, IL is evident that
the present bounty law not only fails TO
lessen the total ut al =, but probably does
not effect the destruction OF ! per cent of
the annual increase. Doubtless the entire
$1,000 might have been killed within the
city limits OF Detroit thout making any
noticeable difference in the number of
spdrrows in that city,"
Have the Governors Approval.