RuuAL School Leaflet. 819 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW 

 Anna Botsford Comstock 



The introduction of the English Sparrow into America is one of the 

 strongest arguments for Nature-Study. Ignorance of principles that 

 any child trained in Nature-Study should know, in this instance alone 

 costs the United States millions of dollars every year. 



The English Sparrow is the European house sparrow. It was thought 

 to be an insect eater but no one took pains to verify the fact. About 

 1850, some persons with praiseworthy zeal but with lamentable folly 

 introduced this sparrow into New York, and during the twenty years 

 following other importations were made. In twenty years more, people 

 discovered that they had taken great pains to establish in America 

 one of the worst nuisances in all Europe. In addition to the direct 

 damage done by the English Sparrow, it is so quarrelsome that it has 

 driven away many of our native beneficial birds. But since this bird 

 is with us, if we can make it of any use let us hasten to do so. There 

 is no bird that affords a more difficult exercise in describing bird colors 

 than does the English Sparrow; and furthermore, if the children of 

 the land study the habits carefully, they may discover a more effective 

 means of discouraging the presence and increase of this noisy, ras- 

 cally bird neighbor. 



Lesson 



THE APPEARANCE OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW 



Purpose. — To learn to distinguish the male sparrow from the female 

 sparrow and to distinguish the two from other sparrows. 



Material and method. — Place the questions on the blackboard, a 

 few at a time, and let the pupils make their observations individually 

 and report in the class. This v/ork, if done well, will be of great use 

 to the pupils later when they study other birds. 



Observations by pupils: 



1. How many kinds of birds do you find in a flock of English Sparrows? 



2. The bird with the black cravat is the male sparrow. Describe 

 him first. What color has he on the top of the head? The sides of 

 the head? The back? The tail? The wings? Describe the wing bars; 

 the throat and upper breast; the lower breast and under parts. Is the 

 tail long or short? Is it notched at tkf; end? 



3. Describe the female sparrow in the same way. What are the 

 the chief differences between the two? 



