BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



317 



1904, however, I found several foraging flocks of fifteen or twenty birds each 

 near Castle Hill. 



The hen-yards are the chief feeding ground of these pests in country districts 

 at present, and they descend in swarms to eat the food thrown out there. The 

 amount of damage done by the Sparrows in the grain-fields and fruit-gardens is 

 at present very slight in Essex County, but it is, I think, merely a question of 

 time for them to outgrow the hen-yards. Our chief hope lies in the severe 

 winters. If anyone is inclined to belittle the harm that can be done by this 

 alien, a perusal of the Report on the English Sparrow in North America, pub- 

 lished in 1889 by the United States Department of Agriculture, will soon 

 disillusion him. 



Wherever they go they take possession of the bird -boxes put up for House 

 Wrens, Bluebirds, Purple Martins, and Tree Swallows, as well as the clay 

 retorts of the Eave Swallows. These are occupied long before the native birds 

 return in the spring. For a year or two the native birds may succeed in driving 

 out the intruder, but each year the contest becomes more unequal, and is finally 

 given up, the native birds seeking some other haunts. I have watched this 

 process go on in Boston in the seventies when Tree Swallows, which at that 

 time commonly built in boxes in back-yards, were gradually but surely driven 

 from their homes. My notebook for those years contains several references to 

 this war between the Swallows and the Sparrows, ending with the final success 

 of the latter. For several years after, the Swallows came back, lingered for a 

 day or two near their old home, but were fiercely attacked by the Sparrows. 

 The beautiful and useful native bird with its fascinating ways and pleasing notes, 

 is permanently replaced by the quarrelsome and noisy foreigner in all cities 

 and towns. 



It is, of course, natural that the English Sparrow, having moved into the 

 bird-house in the winter before the arrival of the native occupant, should regard 

 the latter as an intruder and attack him in the defence of his home. I have 

 notes, however, of the English Sparrow actually driving out birds from their 

 nests, and removing the eggs in the case of a Bluebird. I have also seen them 

 attack our native birds, in whose nests they could have no interest. Thus I was 

 listening to a Savanna Sparrow singing in a bush near a farm-house at Ipswich 

 when an English Sparrow flew at him with great viciousness so that he beat a 

 hasty retreat. Another time, a Fox Sparrow was picking up berries under a 

 bush. Every now and then an English Sparrow from a small flock near would 

 fly at him, but he faced the miscreant and drove him off. When, however, the 

 Fox Sparrow turned to fly away, he was pursued by a noisy mob of the aliens 

 and forced to take refuge under a garden seat. Everyone is familiar with the 

 habit of the English Sparrow in following a foraging Robin and seizing the worm 

 before the Robin can swallow it. 



