74 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



out the year, uncil again there were no sparrows. This set 

 him thinking, and he reahsed that the season was the same, 

 and that it was the time of the ripening of the grain. There 

 was only one inference, which was that the absence of 

 sparrows was due to the fact that the httle wretches had all 

 gone harvesting. It is therefore only fair that the towns, 

 which, of course, in any case live on the country, should con- 

 tribute to the destruction of the sparrow ; and no doubt every 

 suburban grower of gooseberries or green peas would gladly 

 contribute his quota towards keeping the pest within bounds. 

 Were such a system adopted, coupled with the introduction of 

 their natural enemies, which to my mind is the surer remedy 

 of the two, the small-bird nuisance would soon be a thing of 

 the past. 



At the recent conference of the acclimatisation societies 

 held in Wellington Mr. A. C. Begg brought forward a resolu- 

 tion in favour of the introduction of enemies to the destructive 

 small birds, but with the characteristic fear of such bodies of 

 repeating any of the mistakes of the past the conference would 

 have none of it. Such fears, in my opinion, arise from the 

 same lack of knowledge on the part of many of those con- 

 trolling our acclimatisation societies which led to the intro- 

 duction in the first place of the sparrow and green linnet. 



It only remains to consider what should be introduced to 

 keep the sparrow within bounds, for extermination is not now 

 to be looked for. Various birds have been suggested, such as 

 jays, magpies, and owls, and our local society have already 

 turned out a few barn-owls [Strix flaviviea), a species I do not 

 consider the best for the purpose, though undoubtedly a useful 

 bird, its favourite food being rats, mice, voles, and such small 

 deer, but it will take small birds also. The long-eared owl 

 {Strix otus) or the tawny owl {Ulula stndula) prey on small 

 animals also, including rabbits, but are, I believe, more ad- 

 dicted to capturing small birds than their barn relatives. 



The jay (Garrulus glandarius) apparently renders good 

 service in America, as Dr. S. M. Hamilton, of Monmouth, 

 characterizes it as one of the spai*row's worst enemies. It is, 

 however, a forest-haunting bird, while sparrows avoid woods. 

 Morris, in his " British Birds," gives the following account of 

 its habits and food: "The bird," he writes, " is exclusively 

 addicted to woods and their immediately neighbouring trees 

 for its habitat. . . . The acorn is the most choice 

 ' morceau' of the jay, and for this he even searches under the 

 snow ; but he also feeds on more delicate food, such as beans, 

 peas, and cherries, as well as on beech-nuts, grain, garden 

 and wall fruit, berries, corn, worms, snails, cockchafers and 

 other insects, larvae, frogs and other reptiles, and mice, and 

 is deterred by no scruples or qualms from making away with 



