File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18156229462).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo06amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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BIRDS OF THE riCINITY OF NEW YORK CITY 167 *Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola emiclcator Icucura). This species occurs here in the winter and then only at irregular intervals. It last appeared in numbers during the winter of 1903-4 when it was first observed at Englewood, N. J., Oct. 25 (Chapman, Bird-Lore, V, 1903, p. 199).
Text Appearing After Image:
♦House Sparrow; English Sparrow (Passer domesticus). From the report of the Division of Economic Ornithology of the Department of Agriculture (Washington, 1889), we learn that English Sparrows were first introduced into New York City in i860, when twelve birds were released in Madison Square. In 1864 they were introduced in Central Park, and in i866 two hundred were set free in Union Park. From these, and one or two other small additional importations of a few pairs each, have descended the count- less numbers of Sparrows which to-day inhabit our streets and parks. In this latitude the English Sparrow has been known to rear six broods in a season, and their marvelous rate of increase is graphically given in a table in the report already mentioned, which shows that in ten years the progeny of a single pair might amount to 275,716,983,698. With the discordant notes of these ubiquitous little pests constantly in our ears we may read with mixed humor and regret the following quotation from Lawrence's Catalogue of New York Birds (Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., VIII, 1S66, p. 287) : "I first observed them in the spring of 1865. A friend, con- versant with our local native birds, informed me that he had seen a species in the shrubbery around the church on the corner of 5th avenue and 29th street, with which he was not familiar; on going to ascertain what they were, to my surprise I found them to be House Sparrows; they were domiciled in the ivy which grew on the walls of the church, and were quite gentle and fearless, some alighting in the street and dusting themselves quite near to where I stood."

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