s
now more complicated and severe. The sparrow can live where the rest
of the birds have no possible chance. He throve so well in this
country that by 1875 he had spread over five hundred square miles in
the neighborhood of our larger Eastern cities. Thus far almost
everybody was pleased with the new introduction. Within the next five
years he had spread over more than fifteen thousand square miles, and
wise men were beginning to feel doubtful of the virtues of their
aforetime friend. When by 1885 more than five hundred thousand square
miles had been occupied by the enterprising little fellow, there
remained no longer a doubt in the minds of most people that the
sparrow was an unmitigated nuisance and great fears were entertained
that he had multiplied to such an extent as to be a serious menace.
Here, then, is a modern instance under our own eyes of a victory in
the struggle. If the sparrow has multiplied rapidly, while all the
other birds have either only held their own or even have diminished in
numbers, it is quite evident he must be better fitted to the
conditions than they are. What are his fit points? Why does he succeed
while others fail? The thoughtful bird-lover will have little trouble
in understanding at least some of his victory-winning characteristics.
How did he come to be almost the only bird who can live in large
numbers in our great cities, without losing his ability to get along
in less crowded situations?

In the first place this interesting bird is a clannish fellow. He has
lost the ordinary sparrow habit and has come to like to live in
crowded groups. Seclusion is not at all to his taste, and if there are
only a few sparrows in the neighborhood those few will most certainly
be found living near each other. One of the early adaptations of the
sparrow to his city surroundings was the ability to find for himself a
considerable proportion of his food in the undigested seed that could
be picked up from the droppings of the horses. This naturally led the
surplus sparrows out through the many thoroughfares leading from any
large city. Where horses went sparrows could follow. Accordingly along
the great lines of travel this bird found the simple path by which he
could enter new territory. Meanwhile box-cars came into our large
cities with freight. Sometimes they had carried grain, sometimes
cattle. In either case it was not unlikely that a certain amount of
grain should be found scattered over the floor o