2 IS THE SPARROW DESTRUCTIVE? 



it may well be asked, ' Is any consumption of insects in 

 summer likely to make amends for it ?' Yet it appears to 

 be the deduction of a careful man, made to a very sym- 

 pathetic audience, who had suffered largely in their district, 

 near Chester.* 



THE POINT AT ISSUE. 



The point at issue— and it is only by discussing it 

 temperately that we shall arrive at the truth, and by 

 entirely putting aside prejudice which has marked 

 many utterances on the subject — is, Would the cater- 

 pillars and seeds of weeds, which the sparrows eat, 

 consume, [or injure, as much agricultural produce as 

 the sparrows consume ? And if the sparrows were all 

 dead, it may be asked, 'Would other birds keep down 

 these seeds and caterpillars as fully as they are kept 

 down now?' Nineteen farmers out of twenty would 

 say at the outset, that there can be no question 

 at all about the matter — that sparrows do so much harm 

 to crops, that it is impossible that miy 7iiimber of cater- 

 pillars upon which their young are fed, can be enough to 

 compensate. On the other hand, the friends of the 

 sparrow are equally one-sided. Having settled in their 

 own minds that it is a mistake to destroy any small 

 birds, and forgetful of the warnings which come to us 

 from the United States and New Zealand, and every 

 colony where the sparrow has been introduced, they 



* Active measures appear to have been taken in that neighbour- 

 hood for reducing the number of sparrows. The following notices, 

 in large letters, were posted up : — 



' Wirral Farmers' Club. Notice. — Sixpence per dozen heads 

 of Sparrows (until the end of March) will be given to anyone pro- 

 ducing them to Mr. . Address : .' 



I understand that the result was that several thousand sparrows 

 forfeited their lives. 



