165 



continue to be useful through the season. The House Sparrows are with 

 us through the winter, showing no tendency to migrate, hence they are 

 on the ground in the early spring, and when our native summer residents, 

 which are with only one or two exceptions more or less migratory either 

 as species or individuals, arrive, they find the most attractive nesting sites 

 already occupied. The difficulty of keeping Sparrows out of nesting boxes 

 is proof enough of this situation. They are quarrelsome, also, and though, 

 when once established, most native species are quite able to hold their 

 own against aggression, they do not like the constant turmoil in which 

 they must engage when in the vicinity of the House Sparrow. It is far 

 easier to avoid than combat them. Hence few other birds care to live in 

 their immediate neighbourhood. 



The nests are great, bulky, untidy masses of straw and grasses and 

 the tendency of these birds to fill down-spouts and load every projecting 

 architectural feature of buildings with litter makes them objectionable. 

 Added to the nesting habits of the House Sparrows, their congregation 

 in numbers throughout the whole year in sheltered corners under cornices 

 and porches causes accumulations of filth that is exasperating to the 

 householder. To-day one of the important problems in architectural 

 offices is to design satisfactory detail that will not harbour sparrows, 

 whose dirt disfigures the most careful design and disintegrates the mate- 

 rial of which the building is composed. The last charge, that of carrying 

 disease, is not the least of the charges against the species. Feeding 

 familiarly with the hens and freely flying about from one poultry j^ard 

 to another they have every opportunity to be effective disease carriers. 

 That they carry disease has not been definitely proved, but its possi- 

 bility and likelihood are obvious. The fact that turkeys are to-day so 

 subject to the ravages of the blackhead which has spread rapidly over the 

 country, whereas on some of the coastal islands of Massachusetts from which 

 the House Sparrow is absent they can be raised with old time ease, is 

 more than suggestive. 



Without doubt the introduction of the House Sparrow into America 

 was a mistake. It was known in its original home as a rather undesirable 

 species and unfitted for the work it was brought over to perform. In this 

 country, removed from the natural checks that kept it under control, it 

 has multiplied beyond all reason and though its objectionable features 

 have increased, its commendable ones have not. However, the House 

 Sparrow is here to stay. It has been legislated against, and large sums 

 have been spent in the endeavour to control it, but without avail. Local 

 endeavour has reduced the numbers from time to time, but only to have 

 new hordes pour in from the surrounding country when the effort has 

 spent itself. Constant effort will keep the numbers reduced but only 

 continent-wide persistent effort will destroy them altogether. Traps, 

 poison, and systematic destruction of the nests are the most satisfactory 

 means of control. Poison is effective, but care must be taken that it is 

 used only in the seasons and places where no other species have access to it. 

 Wire fabric traps that are always set and will catch numbers at a time 

 are the most satisfactory. A good type of such trap has been described 

 by the United States Biological Survey in Farmers Bulletin 493. 



521. Crossbill, fr. — le bec-crois^ d'amerique. Loxia curvirostra. L, 6 19. A 

 medium-sized Sparrow with the bill tips prolonged and crossing each other when closed 



