38 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



ucr usr Economic Ornithology, usr usr 



SPARROWS AND SPARROW CLUBS. 



The question of Sparrows and Sparrow 

 Clubs has been brought to the fore by letters 

 on the subject from Mr. Rider Haggard in 

 the Times, and by the formation of the 

 Incorporated Society for the Destruction of 

 Vermin, in whose prospectus the Sparrow 

 is included with rats, fleas, ticks, etc., as 

 '' vermin noxious to man." One of the ob- 

 jects is stated to be the formation and 

 encouragement of Rat and Sparrow Clubs. 

 The Board of Agriculture, replying to a 

 correspondent, says that the utility of the 

 Sparrow has been the subject of controversy, 

 but the weight of opinion appears, on the 

 whole, to be adverse to the bird ; and that 

 the Board certainly does not propose that 

 the very limited amount of protection afforded 

 by the Acts should be extended. 



The new society has, however, met with 

 vigorous opposition in the Press, notably 

 in able articles in the Saturday Review of 

 August 29th and September 5th, and the 

 Nation of August 29th. The following 

 letter has been addressed to the Board of 

 Agriculture by the Hon. Secretary of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds : — 



" The attention of this Society has been called 

 to the controversy on the Sparrow question in the 

 columns of the Times and other newspapers, and 

 to the official expression of opinion given by the 

 Board of Agriculture. 



" Without desiring in any way to differ from 

 the Board's pronouncement, or to advocate for the 

 House Sparrow any further protection than the 

 very slender amount given under the Wild Birds 

 Protection Act of 1880, may we venture most 

 respectfully to ask your Lordship's consideration 

 of the following facts ? 



" The letter from the Board of Agriculture has 

 been assumed in many quarters (as indicated by 

 comments in the Press) to advocate unrestricted 

 destruction of the Sparrow and, as the popular 



means to an end, the formation of Sparrow Clubs 

 in country villages. 



" 1. A large proportion of so-called Sparrow 

 Clubs, however, do not confine their attention to 

 House Sparrows, but offer rewards, frequently 

 larger rewards, for the destruction of other species, 

 such as Thrushes, Blackbirds, Tits, Starlings, 

 Chaffinches, Larks, Bullfinches, Jays, Magpies, and 

 Hawks, or of ' small birds ' without discrimination. 



" This Society has called the attention of the 

 Home Office and of local authorities to cases in 

 which species actually protected by a comity Bird 

 Protection Order were on the black list of a Sjiarrow 

 Club in that county. 



"2. In cases where other birds are not 

 specifically mentioned it is fairly certain that they 

 are largely destroyed through carelessness or 

 ignorance on the part of those who kill the birds, 

 and those who receive the heads. " Sparrow '' 

 is the common country name for any small plainly- 

 coloured species. Not only finches but useful 

 insectivorous birds, such as Hedge Sparrows, Fly- 

 catchers, and various Warblers, are thus destroyed. 



"4. At a meeting of the Kent Fruit Growers' 

 Association, held on June 8th, 1908, the following 

 resolution was passed : — 



" ' That having regard to the fearful ravages 

 committed by caterpillars in the orchard, and 

 with a view to remedying the same, it is desired 

 to impress upon fruit growers, buyers, and all 

 others connected with agriculture, the necessity 

 of stopping the wanton destruction of birds.' 



" 5. The methods of the Sparrow Club, in 

 stimulating a wholesale destruction of birds, especi- 

 ally by boys and youths, are wholly opposed to 

 the efforts of humane societies and of school teachers 

 to check destructiveness and cruelty, and are 

 contrary to the whole trend of modern education 

 and legislation. 



" It appears to this Society that these objections 

 are inseparable from the Sparrow Club, and must 

 remain so at least until a knowledge of birdlife, and 

 of the habits and food of birds is much greater and 

 more widely diffused than is the case at present. 



" We therefore venture to hope that the Board 

 of Agriculture will not give its approval to a form 

 of bird-destruction which has been productive of 

 so much harm, and is mischievous in its tendencies 

 and its results." 



