Soniiini, in the Dictionairc d'liistoire XaturcUc, nearly a eentnrv ago, writes 

 that sparrows lived "only in society with man, dividing with him his grain, his 

 fruit, and his home ; they attack the first fruit that ripens, the grain as it ap- 

 proaches maturity, and even that which has been stored in granaries." He also 

 states that "82 grains of wheat were counted in the craw of a sparrow shot by the 

 writer; and Rougier de la Bergerie, to whom we owe excellent memoirs on rural 

 economy, estimates that the sparrows of France consume annually 10,000,000 

 bushels of wheat." Reports from France have been confirmed by those from 

 other countries, and the character of the house sparrow has been discussed in 

 France, Germany, and Great I'.ritain for more than four centuries. The dam;ige 

 done by it to agriculture and horticulture has been immense, simplv incalculable, 

 for it has been inflicted directly and indirectly. 



Besides the direct injury by it to grain crops (wheat, corn, oats, rve, barley, 

 buckwheat, etc.), to fruits, garden seeds, vegetables, and to buds, blossoms, and 

 foliage of trees and vines, is also that resvdting indirectly from its molestation of 

 other wild birds which are known to be deciiledly beneficial to the garden and 

 farm. Testimony has been secured showing that there are at least 70 kinds of 

 these, including martins, swallows, wrens, and bluebirds, which are interferred 

 with to the great loss of farmers and gardeners. It not only succeeds in many 

 instances in preventing many desirable birds from nesting, by occupying their 

 premises and driving them away, but it even devours their eggs while they are 

 absent finding and feeding on insects. 



For fifteen years, say from 1855 to 1870, after its colonization in America, 

 the protests against its introduction were confined to a few well-informed natural- 

 ists and to such naturalized persons as had observed its ravages elsewhere. (Gradu- 

 ally, however, its advocates and defenders became less numerous. The evidence 

 of the little criminal's guilt was irrefutable, as determined by competent witnesses 

 in the form of innumerable dissections. 



Many methods, legislative and otherwise, it is true, have been adopted and 

 pursued in various places to exterminate it. but without success. Pennsylvania 

 enacted the following law June 4, 1883 : 



Section. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the passage of this act 

 it shall be lawful at any season of the year to kill or in any way destroy the small 

 bird known as the English sparrow. 



Many other states have done as much and more. Some towns and counties 

 have offered bounties. One state (Michigan) paid at one time a bounty of one 

 cent per head on English sparrows. 



Shooting, poisoning, trapping, and nest destroying have been resorted to 

 without any appreciable effect. 



Probably the most promising method of checking its increase would be the 

 systematic destruction of its nests and eggs during the breeding season. This has 

 never been done on a large scale, although a few years ago the city of Boston 

 undertook to clear the nests from Boston Common, .\bout 4,000 nests and l.OCX) 



434 



