Bird lore - Project Puffin

The Chipping Sparrow 155
the fledgling we observed; (2) that each of the parents will feed the young 200
times per day; (3) that only one insect is brought at a time (an underestimate
since two and three larvae or small insects were seen given at a single feeding).
We thus arrive at the conclusion that a pair of Chipping Sparrows with five
young will destroy no less than 660 insects per day. It is unnecessary to moralize
upon the effect of a brood upon a garden during the sixteen days the young
are in the nest and for the half-dozen or more they remain in the vicinity.
Granted that our estimate is one- third too high, still we have about 10,000
'bugs,' including cutworms and other noxious insects, removed chiefly from
the garden and lawn during this period. Such I consider a conservative esti-
mate of the work of these birds for less than a month, which has a direct
economic value to man.
The Chipping Sparow is only one among a large number of birds which we
are learning to appreciate for their work as well as for their songs and plumage.
It is not surprising then that, with a knowledge of their economic importance,
a wave of protest against their destruction is sweeping over this country. It
does seem, in this connection, that for birds of the Chipping Sparrow type,
which nest in the vicinity of dwellings, drastic measures should be taken to
eliminate their two chief enemies—the cat and the English Sparrow.
\ EERY RROOniXC
Photographed by Arthur A. Allen, Ithaca, N. Y,