porter's native place, or through distrust of the kind of Sparrow already imported, which, unfortunately, was widely known from the first as the English Sparrow. We can never know how many separate importations were thus made, nor how many thousands of individuals were introduced, but it is certain that the number of places thus supplied with birds is much greater than has been supposed, and considering this fact and the rapid rate at which the Sparrow breeds, we ought not to wonder that it has so completely overrun the country.
METHOD OF DIFFUSION OP THE SPARROW.
In the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica the distinguished ornithologist, Prof. Alfred Newton, makes the following statement:
The House Sparrow is far too well known to need any description of its appearance or habits, being found, whether in country or town, more attached to human dwellings than any other wild bird; nay, more than that, one may safely assert that it is not known to thrive anywhere far away from the habitations or works of men, extending its range in such countries as Northern Scandinavia and many parts of the Russian Empire as new settlements are formed and land brought under cultivation.
Thus questions arise as to whether it should not be considered a parasite throughout the greater portion of the area it now occupies, and as to what may have been its native country. Moreover, of late years it has been inconsiderately introduced to several of the large towns of North America and to many of the British colonies, in nearly all of which, as had been foreseen by ornithologists, it has multiplied to excess, and has become an intolerable nuisance, being unrestrained by the natural checks which partly restrict its increase in Europe and Asia.
This statement of the Sparrow's relations to man is unquestionably true wherever the bird is known, and hence in America we should not expect to find it except in settled portions of the country. The manner, however, in which it overruns a new country to which it is introduced differs somewhat from the way in which it extends its range in older countries as the area of cultivation is extended. In America, the method by which the Sparrows spread without the direct aid of man is peculiar. They first invade the larger cities, then the smaller cities and towns, then the villages and hamlets, and finally the populous farming districts.
As the towns and villages become tilled to repletion the overflow moves off into the country, and the Sparrow's range is thus gradually extended. Occasionally, however, It is suddenly transported to considerable distances by going to roost in empty box-cars and traveling hundreds of miles. When let out again it is quite as much at home as in its native town. In this way it reached St. John, New Brunswick, in 1883, on board the railroad trains from the west. In like manner another colony arrived March 1, 1884, in grain cars from Montreal. Similarly it has appeared at a number of towns in the United States. (Hoadloy MS.)
The cities and towns first invaded by the Sparrow (of course excluding those where they are actually carried by men) are in most cases railroad towns; and especially in the West there is no doubt that the great railways along which vast quantities of grain are transported have been so many great highways along which the Sparrows have traveled slowly from place to place. More or less scattered grain is always to
