THE SPARROW; ITS VICES. I5i 
thus many would be led to believe that, with so pre- 
ponderating a weight of evidence upon the side of 
the prosecution, there can be no reasonable ground 
to doubt that the adverse judgment generally re- 
corded is the only true and possible one. 
But, in thus leaping to conclusions, we forget a 
BEN > = 
‘ — J ae . E 
~ PS PSN 
The Sparrow. 
very important point, and that is, that the immense 
mass of this testimony is invalidated by the fact that 
it proceeds from farmers; and farmers, as a class, 
are as little to be depended upon in such matters as 
almost any body of men upon the face of the earth. 
For their verdict is not based upon original obser- 
vations, but is merely the outcome of the ingrained 
prejudice against the bird with which they enter 
