ENGLISH SPARROW 17 



destruction of nests by English Sparrows before the House Finch eggs are laid 

 in them. * * * The writer has personally witnessed English Sparrows going 

 into the House Finches' nests, and has seen them throw out the young, these 

 nestings having the heads pecked open by the Sparrows before they were thrown 

 out. The House Finch will often put up a mild fight against the invaders, giv- 

 ing at the same time a very characteristic squeak but the Finch is almost invar- 

 iably beaten in these battles. In many years' observations on this phase of the 

 Finch question, the writer has but once seen a Finch whip a Sparrow. 



The sparrows destroy the eggs and young of the birds that nest in 

 boxes and throw out the nesting material, also those of the other 

 birds mentioned above. Nests of birds as large as robins have been 

 robbed of their eggs and young. On the other hand, an English 

 sparrow has been seen by reliable observers to defend the nest and 

 feed the young of a pair of red-eyed vireos, together with the parent 

 birds (see The Cardinal, vol. 2, pp. 191-192). We often see one or 

 more sparrows trailing a robin or a starling on the lawn, seeming to 

 know that the larger birds are more successful than they would be in 

 digging out worms or grubs, and they look for a chance to steal their 

 food. They are such aggressive and persistent bluffers that they 

 sometimes succeed, by force of numbers or by strategy. 



They show their intelligence and ingenuity in other ways. John 

 Burroughs (1879), with the remark that "it is too good not to be 

 true" tells the following story: 



A male bird brought to his box a large, fine goose feather, which is a great find 

 for a sparrow and much coveted. After he had deposited his prize and chattered 

 his gratulations over it, he went away in quest of his mate. His next-door 

 neighbor, a female bird, seeing her chance, quickly slipped in and seized the 

 feather; and here the wit of the bird came out, for instead of carrying it into her own 

 box she flew with it to a near tree and hid it in a fork of the branches, then went 

 home, and when her neighbor returned with his mate, was innocently employed 

 about her own affairs. The proud male, finding his feather gone, came out of 

 his box in a high state of excitement, and, with wrath in his manner and accusa- 

 tion on his tongue, rushed into the cote of the female. Not finding his goods and 

 chattels there as he expected, he stormed around a while, abusing everybody in 

 general and his neighbor in particular, and then went away as if to repair the loss. 

 As soon as he was out of sight, the shrewd thief went and brought the feather 

 home and lined her own domicile with it. 



Mr. Brackbill says in his notes: "An instance of real ingenuity was 

 witnessed at a fountain and pool in Mount Vernon Place, in down- 

 town Baltimore. On a flat rim of this pool, covered by water to an 

 ideal depth, sparrows were accustomed to gather and bathe. One 

 day the pool was drained, leaving the birds only some steep-sided 

 bowls on a surrounding wall as watering places. From the rims of 

 these they could lean forward and bathe their heads and shoulders, 

 but the water's depth quite precluded complete baths in normal 

 fashion. The birds got their baths nonetheless. To wash their hind 



