House sparrows were introduced from England to North America in 1850 to help control an outbreak of caterpillars devouring foliage in Brooklyn, New York. Over 100 sparrow releases in the U.S. followed, including one in Galveston in the late 1860s. By 1912, the bird had spread across Texas, and had reached the Pacific by the 1960s. Throughout, critics condemned the sparrow for its lethal competition with native birds, especially cavity-nesters such as purple martins, eastern bluebirds, and tree swallows.