Below is a table giving yields, etc., of various varieties of corn grown for ensilage. We fail, as do others, to secure the best ensilage from the large watery sorts destitute of ears:

The table explains itself. It will be seen that ears are not in inverse proportion to yield, and that the smaller sorts may be as productive as the larger.

The within is a partial report of experiments in progress when the department came into my charge. Many of them will be continued further.

Publication has been delayed owing to the desire to carry the potato experiment through the winter. The details have been mainly in the hands of Messrs. Burnett and Holden, to whom proper credit is due. EUGENE DAVENPORT,

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MICH.,

March 29, 1890.

Agriculturist.

THE ENGLISH OR HOUSE SPARROW.

(Passer Domesticus.)

By C. B. Cook. Bulletin No. 62, Zoological Department.

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From time immemorial the English or house sparrows have been a serious pest in Europe. When the art of writing was invented, this bird was chosen for the hieroglyphic character signifying enemy.

It is strange, considering the well-known reputation of this sparrow, that any one should have desired to import it into America.

That this species is rapidly overrunning the country is a well-known fact. Darwin states that newly introduced species, either of plant or animal, will always outstrip the natives. This fact is exemplified by the English rabbit in Australia, and the cabbage butterfly and English sparrow in America. The close association of these birds with man, their superior intelligence, and their gregarious habits, do much to free them from the sharp competition, to which many of our native birds succumb. The sparrows are hardy and little troubled with disease, while most carnivorous animals that prey upon birds prefer taking native species rather than risk their lives near inhabited dwellings. The food supply that limits the increase of native birds affects the sparrow but little. winter they have access to corn bins, horse ordure in street and road, chicken and barn yards, while an endless supply of food is found in field and garden during the summer. One of the worst obstacles with which the sparrow has to contend is climate. The cold, wet storms of the north kill many birds that have recently left their nests. However, the great enemy of the sparrow is, or at least ought to be, man. If the bird is not held in check ere long he will overrun the continent to such an extent that agricultural depression will be still further augmented.

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The injuries which the sparrows do to the farm and garden vary greatly. Where there are but a few birds to the acre, the damage is slight, but when they number as many thousand then they become a serious nuisance. Buildings and shade trees that are constantly employed for nesting and roosting purposes become foul with their droppings. The injury to shrubs and trees where these sparrows abound is two-fold; first, by their filthy habits, they injure the foliage; and second, they feed extensively on the fruit and blossoms. Where sparrows abound in large flocks, no fruit, grain, or vegetable is exempt from their attack. Most large fruits are destroyed while in the blossom or soon after. The bird picks off two or three petals and then swallows the young fruit. In this way a whole crop of apples, pears, or plums has been quickly destroyed. Also in the east, near some of the larger cities, it has been with difficulty that any grapes have been grown. The kinds of grain preferred are wheat and oats, which suffer the most at the time of harvest. In France it is estimated that ten million bushels of wheat are destroyed annually. In a few cases the sparrow has helped to check the ravages of the army worm and canker worm. However, the sparrow does not eat many insects. The young birds are fed on soft, easily digested food for a few weeks, and at this

period a part of their food consists of insects, but as the young birds grow older they prefer seeds and grain. Without question the English sparrow protects more insects than he destroys, by driving away insectivorous birds. That these foreigners drive away familiar native species there can be no doubt. Particularly do the wrens, martens, swallows, and blue birds suffer, as their nesting places are eagerly sought for and secured by the sparrows. Occasionally the native birds hold their own for a time, but sooner or later they must succumb. Often when necessary the English sparrows will club together to drive away a pair of native birds. Even the robins and pigeons can not withstand numbers, and are obliged to vacate, leaving their eggs and young to be thrown out of the nests and killed. If this were the worst of their attacks, we could still find some excuse for the sparrow; but they have been repeatedly found in the act of destroying, not only the nests but the eggs and young birds of other species with no other purpose than to exclude them from the neighborhood. True, the English sparrow has been seen living on friendly terms with native birds and even nesting side by side with them, but as the sparrows increase in numbers they become more quarrelsome. As yet the greatest amount of injury is done around cities and towns, but as the sparrows increase and migrate into the country, they are sure to take with them the same destructive habits and ugly disposition. There are people in America today who are staunch friends of the sparrows, but usually such persons live in a locality where the sparrows have not yet become a pest. We do not object to a few grasshoppers in Kansas, a few rabbits in Australia, or a few mice in Russia, but when they become so numerous as to eat every green thing, then it is quite another matter.

In a bulletin issued by the Department of Agriculture in 1889, on the English sparrow, it is shown that a single pair of these sparrows may produce in ten years 275,716,983,698. To show that the above figures are not wholly out of bound, we have but to cite the following examples taken from the same bulletin: Norwood Giles of Wilmington, N. C.: "It rears four broods here. Began nesting as early as Jan. 22, this year." H. B. Bailey, of East Prange, N. J.: "It rears five or six broods yearly with four to six young in a brood." Thomas Chalmers, of Holyoke, Mass.: "It rears five broods annually and five birds to a brood. Have known of six broods in a season from one pair. For the last fifteen years the sparrow has spread on an average over 69,000 square miles per year; but their increase is a geometrical ratio. Thus for the first few years the increase must have been comparatively small, while during the last two or three years it has spread faster than in all the previous years. If it is allowed to continue at this rate, what must be the ultimate end?

Before carrying on any warfare against the English sparrow it is important to be able always to distinguish it from the native birds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW. (Passer Domesticus.)

The bill is very stout, with its upper and lower lines curved. In the male the upper parts are ashy gray, while the middle of the back is streaked with bay and black. The lesser wing coverts-the short feathers at the base of the wings-are chestnut. The greater wing coverts are mostly black, though each black feather is bordered with chestnut. At the base of the large wing coverts is a white wing bar nearly an inch long. The lower parts are ashy white, with the throat black, the latter bordered

on either side by lead-color, which extends to the eye. A conspicuous reddish brown stripe extends backward from the eye separating the gray of the top of the head from that of the cheek. This broadens as it runs back, so that at the base of the neck it forms a dorsal band which extends well down toward the black of the throat, between it and which the gray color is very light--nearly white. In some cases this reddish brown does. not meet above at the base of the neck.

The coloration of the female is less definite. The head is brownish gray, becoming lighter on the throat. The back is marked much as in the male, with the chestnut varying to a yellowish brown. The breast varies from an ashy to a yellowish or dirty white. The young male is like the female. The length of both sexes-from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail-varies from six to seven inches.

Purple Finch (Corpodacus purpureus). The bill is about the size of that of the English sparrow; the head of the male can always be told by the crimson crown; the rest of the head and body is rose red. The head of the female is mottled with brownish gray and darker spots, as is the entire back, and not uniform in color as in the female English sparrow.

Red Polled Linnet (Egiothus linaria). Both male and female of this species may be known by the crimson crown and a small sooty black patch on the throat. Their length is about five and one half inches. Many of this species have been received by town clerks for sparrows. There is no bright red or crimson on the top of the head of any English

sparrow.

Yellow bird (Astrogalinus tristis). The male of this species can be told in summer by his rich yellow color, but the head of the female-and male in its winter plumage can be told by a brown crown, a yellow throat, and by the small size of its head and bill.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza fasciata). Many of these valuable birds have been killed as English sparrows. The song sparrow is about the size of the English sparrow. The crown is dull bay, which is finely marked with black. The bay part of the crown is divided in the middle and bordered on the sides by light strips. The throat is light bordered on either side by a dark brown streak. There are two brown strips on the side of the head, the upper of which extends back from the eye.

The Tree Sparrow (Spizella monticola), Field Sparrow (Spizella agrestis) and the Chipping Sparrow (Spizella domestica), all can be told from the English Sparrow by their reddish brown crowns; the last two are much smaller than the foreigner.

There are a number of ways to destroy the sparrow. Trapping by means of a bird net is practiced by experts, but the sparrows, considering their numbers, are the most difficult of all birds to catch. The gun is a more ready weapon. In city limits where the sparrows are the thickest this can not be used except by persons having authority to make this their special business. Probably the most successful method is to use poison. Wheat soaked in a solution of strychnine, in a proportion of one dram to a quart of water is one of the most efficient poisons. However, experience shows that this compound is too rapid in its results, as some of the birds begin to be affected before all present have taken a fatal dose and when once scared away by the dying agony of poisoned birds, the others never return. Arsenic mixed with corn or oatmeal in the proportion of one part of arsenic to ten or fifteen parts of meal, by weight, makes a less expensive poison and is more slow in its action, thus giving_all birds ample time to get away from the feed before they become affected. In order to obtain the best results the birds should be fed for a few days at first, pure grain of the same kind that is to be poisoned. Great care must be taken not to let poisoned grain get in the way of children, domesticated animals, of native birds. This is not difficult if it is carefully watched during time. of exposure. One of the best means of keeping the sparrows in check is by destroying their nests. This may be done by everyone wherever the birds build, and if carried on in a systematic way will help much to keep the English sparrows within bounds.

Seven states legislate against the English sparrow. Of these, four simply except it from the protection afforded other birds. New York