From time to time someone on this list wonders about the possible benefits of house sparrows. Craig Moore's post about a female eating a Japanese beetle is the latest such inquiry.
I'm pretty sure there have been more recent scholarly studies, but the United States government, which is to say the Department of Agriculture, pondered this issue a century ago, indeed well over a century ago, as the infestation of this particular successful and vicious descendant of the dinosaurs had spread across the continent.
When Jane and I moved into our rural property, a decade ago this month, I found a few items of interest among the unsold boxes of junk left over from the previously held estate sale. One such article was Farmers' Bulletin 493 of the United States Dept. of Agriculture, titled "The English Sparrow As A Pest." It was originally released April 20, 1912 (under the Taft administration) and revised 1917 (under the Wilson administration.) It may amuse or appall readers of this list to learn that the USDA advocated the mass eradication or trapping of house sparrows, and their use as a human food. If these ideas offend you, consider yourself forewarned, and please read no further.
Personally, I find this bulletin to be a fascinating glimpse into attitudes of a century ago. Although the editorial slant of the work is set forth in the title, it is not mere slander, but is supported by some earlier scientific research, which it cites. The folly of species "introduction" into new territory is evident. This bird has been a problem for a long time.
The introduction sets the tone for the 23-page booklet, and addresses the issue of the house sparrow's occasional usefulness as a destroyer of harmful insects.
"An ill-advised endeavor, about the middle of the nineteenth century, to populate a few city parks with nonmigratory birds resulted favorably as an enterprise but very unfortunately for the general welfare of this country. Among several kinds of European birds introduced, one was the house sparrow, commonly called the English sparrow. From a few centers this bird has spread in vast numbers from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico well into Canada.
The English sparrow defiles private and public property, fights and dispossesses useful native birds, replaces their songs with discordant sounds, and destroys fruit, grain, and garden truck.
At first it was confined to towns, but its rapid multiplication has caused it to push out into farming communities, and thus to extend its pernicious activities. The fact that in isolated cases this bird has been found doing useful work against insects barely saves it from utter condemnation.
The methods of ridding premises of English sparrows advocated in this bulletin have been used with success and can be relied upon if followed carefully and persistently. No one should undertake to kill these birds, however, unless able to distinguish them from native sparrows with absolute certainty. Otherwise some of the most valued songsters surely will be destroyed."
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Page 4 addresses the consumption of insects directly, and refers to page 143 of an earlier "exhaustive account" released by the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the USDA in 1889 (under the B. Harrison administration, the work presumably having been prepared under the first Cleveland administration), a work which I have not read. The earlier work was important enough to have been Bulletin No. 1 of that USDA Division.
"Under normal conditions its choice of insects is often unfavorable. Out of 522 English sparrow stomachs examined by the Biological Survey, 47 contained noxious insects, 50 held beneficial insects, and 31 contained insects of little or no importance. In the report on the investigation it is shown that, aside from the destruction of weed seed, there is, in general, very little to be said in the sparrow’s favor."
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After making its case against Passer domesticus, the bulletin illustrates the plans for several types of traps, and to advocate, on pages 21 and 22, the use of "English Sparrows As Food."
"In most localities in the United States English sparrows are a pest. There is therefore no reason why the birds should not be utilized for food in this country, as they have been in the Old World for centuries. Their flesh is palatable, and though their bodies are small, their numbers fully compensate for their lack of size. Birds that have been trapped may be kept alive in large outdoor cages, sheltered from storms and cold winds, until they are wanted for the table. It is unprofitable to keep them for long, however, as the quantity of grain or other food they require daily amounts to more than half their own weight. A variety of food is necessary to keep them in good condition. Bread, oats, wheat, bran and corn-meal mash, lettuce cabbage, and tender shoots of sprouting grain are some of the things they relish. A supply of clean water is essential."
A section on the dressing of the birds is followed with:
"Sparrows may be cooked by any of the methods employed for reedbirds or quail. When boned, broiled, buttered, and served on toast they are particularly good and compare favorably with the best kinds of small game."
Yum!
I have heard of reports that this species may finally be on the decline in North America, however that is not the case on my farm where they infest the eaves and corners of the horse barn, and far too often kill nesting bluebirds.
Bob Evans
Geologist, Historian, Curator, Farmer, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County
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