165 
continue to be useful through the season. The House Sparrows are with 
us through the winter, showing no tendency to migrate, hence they are 
on the ground in the early spring, and when our native summer residents, 
which are with only one or two exceptions more or less migratory either 
as species or individuals, arrive, they find the most attractive nesting sites 
already occupied. The difficulty of keeping Sparrows out of nesting boxes 
is proof enough of this situation. They are quarrelsome, also, and though, 
when once established, most native species are quite able to hold their 
own against aggression, they do not like the constant turmoil in which 
they must engage when in the vicinity of the House Sparrow. It is far 
easier to avoid than combat them. Hence few other birds care to live in 
their immediate neighbourhood. 
The nests are great, bulky, untidy masses of straw and grasses and 
the tendency of these birds to fill down-spouts and load every projecting 
architectural feature of buildings with litter makes them objectionable. 
Added to the nesting habits of the House Sparrows, their congregation 
in numbers throughout the whole year in sheltered corners under cornices 
and porches causes accumulations of filth that is exasperating to the 
householder. To-day one of the important problems in architectural 
offices is to design satisfactory detail that will not harbour sparrows, 
whose dirt disfigures the most careful design and disintegrates the mate- 
rial of which the building is composed. The last charge, that of carrying 
disease, is not the least of the charges against the species. Feeding 
familiarly with the hens and freely flying about from one poultry yard 
to another they have every opportunity to be effective disease carriers. 
That they carry disease has not been definitely proved, but its possi- 
bility and likelihood are obvious. The fact that turkeys are to-day so 
subject to the ravages of the blackhead which has spread rapidly over the 
country, whereas on some of the coastal islands of Massachusetts from which 
the House Sparrow is absent they can be raised with old time ease, is 
more than suggestive. . 
Without doubt the introduction of the House Sparrow into America 
was a mistake. It was known in its original home as a rather undesirable . 
species and unfitted for the work it was brought over to perform. In this 
country, removed from the natural checks that kept it under control, it 
has multiplied beyond all reason and though its objectionable features 
have increased, its commendable ones have not. However, the House 
Sparrow is here to stay. It has been legislated against, and large sums 
have been spent in the endeavour to control it, but without avail. Local 
endeavour has reduced the numbers from time to time, but only to have 
new hordes pour in from the surrounding country when the effort has 
spent itself. Constant effort will keep the numbers reduced but only 
continent-wide persistent effort will destroy them altogether. Traps, 
poison, and systematic destruction of the nests are the most satisfactory 
means of control. Poison is effective, but care must be taken that it is 
used only in the seasons and places where no other species have access to it. 
Wire fabric traps that are always set and will catch numbers at a time 
are the most satisfactory. A good type of such trap has been described 
by the United States Biological Survey in Farmers Bulletin 493. 
521. Crossbill. Frr.—LE BEC-CROISE D’AMERIQUE. Lozia curvirostra. L, 6-19. A 
medium-sized Sparrow with the bill tips prolonged and crossing each other when closed 
