HOUSE SPARROW. 307 



iliost of friends to tlieir iissistiiiice, the intrudeis were for a time 

 driven off, but only to return again with renewed energj' and perse- 

 verance. The .swallows were now sorely beset, for one had to remain 

 <»i guard while the other went in search of supplies. Still they 

 managed to hold the fort fill tlie enemy, watching his opportunity, 

 made a strategic movement from the rear and darted into the box 

 more quickly than T can tell it. He emerged with a calk)w swallow 

 Jianging by the nape of the neck in his hill, and dropped it on the 

 ground below. Another soon followed, amid the distressing cries of 

 the swallows, who, seeing their hopes so completely blighted, sat 

 jnute and mournful on the ridge of the house for a short time, and 

 then went away from the place, leaving the sparrows in undisputed 

 possession of the l)ox. There they remained and raised some voung 

 <mes during the summer. 



In the spring of the following year the numbers had increased, 

 ^ind they began to roost unrler the A'eranda around the house, which 

 l)rought frequent complaints from the sanitary department, and a 

 ])rotest was made against their being allowed to remain there at all. 

 Still, in view of the prospective riddance of insect pests from the 

 garden, matters were arranged with the least possible disturbance to 

 the birds, and we even stood by and saw them dislodge a pair of 

 liouse wrens who had for years been in possession of a box fixed for 

 them in an apple tree in the garden. So the second year wore on, 

 no further notice l^eing taken of the sparrows excep't that they were 

 getting more numerous. 



I had missed the sprightly song and lively manners of the wrens, 

 and in the spring when they came round again seeking admission to 

 their old home, I killed the sparrows, which were in possession, in 

 order to give the wrens a chance, and they at once took advantage 

 •of it and comm.enced to carry up sticks in their usual industrious 

 manner. The}^ had enjoyed possession only for two days, however, 

 when they were again dislodged. Again the intruders were killed 

 off, and domestic felicity reigned for three days, when a third pair 

 of sparrows came along bent on the same object, and, if possible, 

 more overbearing and determined than their predecessors. This 

 time I thought of a different mode of accomplishing the object in 

 view, and, taking down the box at night, nailed a shingle over the 

 <end and worked it flush around the edges. With a centre-bit T then 

 pierced a hole just large enough to admit the wrens, but too small 

 for the sparrows, and put the box back into its place. Early in the 

 juorning the assault was renewed, but the wrens found at once that 



