Aug. 28—The Sparrow has the reputation of being a confirmed lotus-eater who will never work for a meal if he can beg or steal a free one...yet I have just been informed that an observer has watched House Sparrows during the breeding season Wisiting the nest with loads of caterpillars about 125 times a day. Our common sparrow is, of course, the Chinese Tree Sparrow which is a much more independent bird than Passer domestics and I can certainly vouch for the fact that while he has young in the nest our bird works for his living. The bird which has nested under the tiles outside my window is now bringing up a second brood of five and is taking full advantage of the fact that he only has to fly about fifty yards to the apple orchard: by watching him for fixed periods I calculate that he brings well over 100 wriggling loads of caterpillars per day and that the young themselves do not give him much chance of lying down on the job: the five young birds, now fully fledged and hopping round the tiles, surround him with*gaping mouths on each arrival and any which do not get fed set up such a screaming that the parent has to go off to work again if only for the sake of peace. Incidentally it is amusing to note that I am spraying the trees regularly with an arsenical preparation which is supposed to kill all caterpillars...yet the birds can find them by the hundred and the young come to no harm by swallowing them. "All of which seems to show that the birds can do more for me than pounds of chemical and much labour.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.