CHAPTER IX 

 SOME NATURALIZED FOREIGNERS 



From time to time American travelers, wishing 

 to add some bird from the Old World to the steadily 

 decreased ranks of our native species, have brought 

 home with them game birds, songsters and birds 

 presumably useful to the agriculturist, to be re- 

 leased in various parts of the United States. Which 

 are these immigrants living in our midst? How 

 have they fared ? Have all proved themselves worthy 

 of naturalization among our feathered citizens? 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW 



This was among the first aliens introduced, and 

 1850 is the earliest known date of his arrival. Then 

 eight pairs were imported by the directors of Brook- 

 lyn Institute into their city; and, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the sparrows' first impressions of 

 America were formed in Greenwood Cemetery, 

 where they were set at liberty, they went to house- 

 keeping with great cheerfulness and that marvelous 

 adaptability to new conditions which has made them 

 the most successful colonists among the feathered 

 tribes. It certainly is not because they are meek 

 that they are inheriting the earth. 



Not only did individuals continue to import spar- 

 rows for the next twenty years, and set them free at 



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