remarkable instance was mentioned some years ago in the Times, of a field sown with grass and clover seeds, over which a luxuriant growth of knot grass (P. aviculare) spread. The farmer thought that his crop was ruined, but in September such swarms of sparrows as he had never seen before visited the field and fed on the small shining seeds of the knot grass. I regret that I have neither got the date of the letter, nor the name of the writer, the communication, according to a bad practice prevalent among observers, being anonymous.
A sparrow's crop will contain a great many small seeds. Dr. Schleh found 321 whole seeds of chickweed in the crop of one sparrow in Germany! In one shot at Northrepps, in Norfolk, 147 were actually counted, and many more were ground up into pulp in the gizzard. Digestion is rapid, and at this rate a vast number would be consumed in a very short time.
It need hardly be said that the present contribution, including the Table which follows, does not exhaust the sparrow controversy. It leaves many interesting points almost untouched.
