90 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



ucr uor Economic Ornithology, usr uor 



SPARROWS AND SPARROW CLUBS. 



The question of Sparrows and Sparrow Clubs 

 is discussed in the "Rural Notes" of the 

 Manchester Evening News of July 24th, 1909> 

 by Mr. James Cash. Admitting that there 

 is in many districts a plague of House 

 Sparrows, partly owing to the indiscriminate 

 destruction of birds of prey, the writer 

 proceeds : 



" The Society for the Destruction of Vermin 

 encourages Sparrow Clubs, which offer prizes for 

 dead Sparrows, and the Journal mentions that in 

 one place the total number destroyed during the 

 past year was 1567. In another district, during 

 four months, the numbers killed were 2099, and in 

 a third, during a shorter space of time, 2140 

 Sparrows were accounted for and 692 eggs destroyed. 

 This may appear very encouraging, but thoughtful 

 persons ask themselves how many of these birds 

 were not Sparrows at all, but a variety of other 

 little feathered creatures more or less useful to man ! 

 This, in short, is the weakness of Sparrow Clubs, and 

 it is a very great danger indeed. It really means a 

 generous invitation to country lads to kill all such 

 birds wholesale. Moreover, in these days of nature 

 study, and the training of the youthful mind in 

 gentleness and love towards all wild life, the work 

 of the old-fashioned haphazard Sparrow Club is dis- 

 tinctly wrong. In fact it tends to directly undo 

 the good taught elsewhere. From a merely practical 

 standpoint, it is surely better to leave the Sparrows 

 alone, than in destroying a few of them, to destroy 

 also a host of other birds essentially useful. It is 

 no wonder that the Royal Society for the Protection 

 of Birds write indignantly in their quarterly organ, 

 Bird Notes and News, pointing out, quite truly, 

 that the Society for the Destruction of Vermin 

 ' continues to pursue a policy that appears alike 

 mischievous and unscientific with regard to the 

 destruction of birds.' Sparrow Clubs in country 

 villages are ancient institutions, and as their methods 

 are essentially antiquated and dangerous, it would 

 be well to abolish them altogether. The thinning 

 down in numbers of any small bird is a matter for 

 the greatest care and vigilance. 



" Few people want the House Sparrow to be ex- 

 terminated — if that were possible. It has its useful 

 parts. Its young are fed upon grubs and insect life, 

 and only the other day it was agreeable to watch 

 some of the birds pecking green fly off a rose bush. 

 At the annual meeting of the Destruction of Vermin 

 Society — and this proves how much doubt exists — 

 Sir James Crichton-Browne observed : — ' I consulted 

 my own gardener about the Sparrow, and he said, 

 " Come and see," and then and there I saw Sparrows 

 perching on cabbages and pecking vigorously ; and 

 when I examined the leaves on which they had 

 perched and pecked, I found no trace of damage. 

 They had evidently been dieting on insects infesting 



the cabbage. My gardener summed up, " I do 

 shoot a few Thrushes when they are very severe on 

 the fruit, but for the most part I think it best to 

 leave nature to balance herself." ' At the same 

 meeting a Cheshire observer was mentioned who 

 had found that Sparrows did a ' great work in 

 preying on the cuckoo spit (frog hopper) and 

 aphides,' destroying pints of them in his garden 

 daily. Thus the maligned House Sparrow proves 

 itself useful at times. 



" Still, there is no doubt that the Sparrow is 

 sadly too plentiful in many districts, and when this 

 is the case with either bird, animal, or insect, man- 

 kind is the sufferer. The question therefore presents 

 itself : How best can the Sparrow hosts be safely 

 reduced ? This question is one for the Incorporated 

 Society for the Destruction of Vermin to solve, but 

 by means better and safer than the encouragement 

 of old-fashioned Sparrow Clubs. The wholesale 

 encouragement of Owls and Hawks would certainly 

 have a good effect ; and after all, we cannot have a 

 better motto than the words of the gardener 

 mentioned above : ' For the most part I think it 

 best to leave nature to balance herself.' " 



THE GROWER AND THE BIRDS. 



" E.T.L." writes from Northampton to the 

 Journal of Horticulture (July 1st, 1909) to 

 make known a change of opinion "with regard 

 to the economic value of birds, which I 

 adversely criticised twelve months ago." 



" The opinion I then held was that a large number 

 of Birds, including the Blackbird, Thrush, Rook, 

 Jackdaw, Pigeon, and many others were pests which 

 should be exterminated, and I think I admitted that 

 I showed them no quarter. As the result of two or 

 three recent object lessons, however, I have quite 

 altered my opinion, and now the Wood-Pigeon is 

 about the only bird that will have to reckon with 

 me as an enemy. 



" My disillusionment came about in a very start- 

 ling manner. I was making one of my periodical 

 tours of the garden at an early hour, on the look-out 

 for either Jackdaws or Pigeons. The Jackdaws 

 had previously molested some seedling peas, and 

 the Pigeons were devouring my newly planted-out 

 cauliflower plants. I first shot a young Jackdaw 

 in a neighbouring tree, and a moment later I shot 

 one of the parents, and on picking the latter up 

 I found that its mouth was full of grubs of one 

 of the tree caterpillars in the cocoon state, and, 

 being curious to know the exact number, I emptied 

 its mouth, and found tha^ it contained no less than 

 150. I therefore asked myself the question, ' If 

 one bird can take 150 at one time, what would a pair 

 of birds take in the course of a sixteen-hour day, 

 and with probably four young ones to feed ? ' 

 I have also kept a closer watch on the habits of the 

 smaller birds since then, and have come to the 

 conclusion that the damage they do to fruit is more 



