eggs were destroyed, but after three weeks the work was stopped by order of the 

 mayor. 



The northern shrike is known to kill English sparrows, but since it occurs in 

 the United States only in winter, and does not usually frequent cities or towns, 

 its work as a sparrow destroyer would be problematical. The outlook for relief 

 from this pest and nuisance is therefore serious and discouraging. 



A letter received by the writer from the late Dr. Elliott Coues, one of the 

 leading ornithologists of his day, relative to this matter, contains the following 

 disheartening statement : 



"The multiplication of these early lots and of many later ones has given the 

 invincible foreigner an assured foothold over most of the United States from 

 which he will never be dislodged. The case is paralleled in Australia and New Zea- 

 land. I led the 'sparrow war' for twenty years and only surrendered to the inevi- 

 table. You may do what you please, shoot or poison as many as you can, more 

 will come to the funeral, and nothing you can do will make any appreciable differ- 

 ence. The case is hopeless." 



Although generally considered a town bird it is well known also in the coun- 

 try. Many insectivorous birds are driven away or seriously interfered with by it, 

 and the writer has frequently seen the martin dispossessed, after a desperate 

 resistance, of the premises provided for it by farmers, and ultimatly driven away 

 entirely by the sparrow, from its home and neighborhood. 



Referring to the advent of the English sparrow, the Kansas City Journal 

 quoted some time ago from the Topeka Journal as having "an account of the first 

 English sparrows brought to Kansas. In 1864, F. \\\ Giles conceived the idea of 

 importing some of these birds. He shipped in all 28 of them. They were 

 confined in cages at his place in Topeka until all but five had died. At last the 

 five were turned loose to take their chances of life or death, though Giles had 

 no hope that they would live. They fooled him. They took up their home in the 

 neighborhood. The following autumn there were 12 birds. The second season 

 found 60, and the third summer about 3,000. Then they increased so fast thai 

 no account could be kept, and in the twenty-five years which followed they spread 

 all over the West." 



435 



