38 THE HOUSE SPARROW: 



company and generally higher, and their bright black and 

 pure white plumage, make them a better feature in the 

 view, and from April to October they show far more life 

 in the air near houses than all the rest of the birds put 

 together. To any one used to see them, a place looks 

 dull in summer without martins. No birds are more 

 amiable and kindly among themselves, or show more con- 

 fidence in man. The habits of none are more interesting 

 or more easily observed. It seems strange that people do 

 not see all this, and the cruel persecution of martins by 

 sparrows, which will often pull small young martins from 

 their nests and drop them on the ground — or, seeing this 

 persecution, can feel towards the sparrows otherwise than 

 they would towards rats, if seen constantly carrying off 

 young chickens. I wish that all the sparrow advocates 

 could see my martins, that they might know how much 

 they lose by tolerating the sparrows, which comes to the 

 same thing as killing all the martins. This indifference 

 on the subject is partly due to the scarcity of martins — 

 few are now acquainted with or knov/ anything about 

 them. When they were plentiful and well known they 

 were held almost sacred. People acquainted with them 

 cannot but like martins ; in Lapland they put earthen 

 pots on their houses for the martins to nest in ; American 

 Indians of old used to hang up gourds near their lodges 

 for their purple martins. English cottagers generally feel 

 kindly towards the martins, but cannot protect them from 

 the sparrows. Well-to-do people will not let them build 

 about their windows or often even on their houses, and 

 the sparrows will not let them keep a nest on their out- 

 buildings, so there are no martins about them to become 

 acquainted with. The disappearance of the martins is a 

 loss really of national importance, and it is much to be 



