Evening star., 1899-04-19
THE PESTlFEROUS SPARROW
He is Now Engagedin Nipping Off the Peach
Blossoms.
Interesting Facts Set Forth I'm n Bull
letin From the Agricultural
Department..

It behooves owners of peach trees to be-
ware about this time of the visits of the
English sparrows to their trees. The
pesky little "Passer domesticus," as the
ornithologist calls the sparrow, spoil
a promising peach crop in less time than
it takes to tell of it. A white frost on
May day is net in it with the "Passer do
mesticus' as a causer of the annual fail
ure of the peach crop.
Some citizens who have peach trees in
their back yards have noticed, with the
advent of the blossoms on the trees, that
the sparrows swarm over the branches,
picking off the blossoms. The ornitholo-
gists say that the birds eat the embryo
peach.
This abominable habit of the Passer do
mesticus is referred to in an old bulletin
issued by the Department of Agriculture
al extract from which says:
ON the grounds of the Department OF
Agriculture the s4arrows have been care
fully watched for several years. and they
have been seen to eat buds and blossoms
of many kinds, and at almost all seasons.
The following observations made by a
member of the division illustrate several of
the points just mentioned
"On the 22d of February, while crossing
the grounds of the Department of Agricul-
ture, my attention was attracted by the
chattering of a large flock of sparrows,
which had gathered in a clump of shrubs,
mainly IHe JdflateS6 IeSSdHine Ut OESy lHId
viridissima There were thirty or more
bushes, leafiess as yet, but heavy with
flower buds which already began to show
the yellow.
Nipping Off the Buds.
THE day was sunny and calm, and on
walking quietly up among the bushes the
sparrows were found preening themselves
and nipping off the flower buds in almost
every bush. Some of the birds were giving
tbej,~ tire thair ha,-
while others were equally devoted to the
buds. Beneath many of the bushes the
ground was thickly strewn with the green
and yellow remnants of buds, and under a
few Of the bushes, near the center of the
group, they lay thickly as to entirely
obscure the ground, while the branches
above were completely stripped of buds, eX-
cept near the tips. The birds seemed to
prefer to sit quietly the center of
each bush and nip all the buds within
reach, and no SparrowS were seen eating
buds near the tips of the branches which
We're so slender as scarcely to sustain their
weight.
"On alarming the birds, they flew into
some popiars near, where it was easy to
estimate their numbers, and there proved to
be between two hundred and fifty and three
hundred birds in the flock.
IN April, when the flowers of Forsythia
were well expanded, the bushes which had
suffered most showed the effects very plain
ly, but as those around the edge of the
group, and particularly the outer branches,
suffered least, the general effect not
noticeably impaired. The incident low
ever, serves to show the sparrow's fond
| ness for flower buds and the danger TO be
apprehended from its work on the blossoms
of fruit trees.
During the last ten days of February
and the whole of March scarcely Gay
passed when sparrows We're not seen eating
the buds of shade trees throughout the city.
Frequently a dozen would be seen at work
In s1N1a ra1r,
below them within two three yards and
see every motion made, even catching the
mutilated buds in his hand as they fell.
Ihe buds Of poplars cotton-woods, box
elders, naples, ems and several other
species Were constantly destroyed in this
way, and the sparrows seemed to take par
ticular pleasure in pulling to pieces the
catklns of the various species of poplar.
Stripping the Peach Trees
Since the middle of April, when the
peach blossoms began to unfold, the spar
rows are to be seen at all hours of the day
hopping or creeping about the peach trees,
and leaving little but worthless buds be-
hind. For two or three days past l have
been watching with powerful field glass a
dozen or more peach trees in ful~,lossonl,
and less than hundred yards from my
windows The glass enables me to see dis
tinctly the stamens in the blossoms, and
they are frequently seen sticking to the
bills of the sparrows as they move de-
iberately about among the branches de-
stroying thousands of blossoms
occasionally flock of a dozen or more
IS to be seen in single tree, but ordinarily
they forage singly in squads of three to
SIX. So far as can be seen by the unaided
eye, all seem to be similarly employed, and
every one thus far watched with the glass
mas proved to be destroying blossoms or
buds at the rate of five to ten a minute
one bird, an adult male, was seen to cut
into and ruin nineteen blossoms on one
spray in less than two and one-half minutes
He began at the base of the shoot and nip
ped all within reach, then climbed slowly
upward, parrot fashion, destroying every
bud on the tWig as he went, until the tin
was nearly reached, when his weight proved
too. great, and, losing his balance in try
ing to reach the terminal flower, he fiutter-
ed Off to another branch to begin again
IhS bird, like others observed, seemed TO
prefer to put his bill down into the open
mower and cut out the center. but if the
blossom chanced to stand in such a position
that this could not be done readily he bit
Off the entire blossom close to the stem and
apparently dropped 1T all to the ground
In several instances sparrowS We're seen to
pinch off and drop three buds in succession
In as many seconds, and this seemed to be
because they were in the way, or because
they were so placed not to be easily
reached from the right side.
'On several of the trees which examined
carefully with the glass more than half of
the blossoms were wilted and mutilated
and repeatedly SparrowS were seen TO alight
on twigs which contained few but ruined
blossoms, and after a quick glance PASS en-
to sprays of untouched flowers"