154 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
be perfectly justified, not only in reducing his num- 
bers, but even in exterminating him from the face of 
the earth; and it would be impossible for the greatest 
advocate of the bird to say a single word in his 
favour. 
I hope to show, however, in the succeeding chap- 
ter, that such is not the case, and that the services of 
the sparrow are so great during one part of the year 
as to atone, and more than atone, for its misdeeds in 
another. ‘The bird, in fact, is one of the many to 
encourage which at all seasons of the year is absolute 
folly ; but to kill which, in place of driving it away, is 
greater folly still. Scaring a bird is no more expen- 
sive than shooting or trapping it, and, even were it 
possible only at double the cost, the alternation would 
be a profitable one in the end.* 
PassiInG from assertions to facts, we will take, firstly, 
the various crimes and misdemeanours of which the 
sparrow is accused, and, secondly, the arguments 
which may be put forth in favour of the bird, and the 
different services by which its character is redeemed. 
Now, the first and greatest crime laid to the 
door of the sparrow is that it is a terrible robber 
of grain; and this, under certain circumstances, 
* I may here, perhaps, be allowed to remark that the ‘‘ hawk- 
kites” sold in the toy-shops are among the most effective 
scarecrows that can be devised, if suspended in such a manner 
as to appear actually hovering in the air, These dummy 
hawks are largely employed in the allotments in this part of 
the country (Isle of Thanet), and seemingly with the best 
results, 
