THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 97 



cavity anywhere. Holes in trees and electric lamps are alike favored. Hggs: 

 4-7, whitish, heavily dotted and speckled with olive-brown or dull black. The 

 markings often gather about the larger end ; sometimes they entirely obscure the 

 ground color. Av. size, .86 x .62 (21.8 x 15.8). Season: March-September; 

 several broods. 



General Range. — "Nearly the whole of Europe, but rejjlaced in Italy by P. 

 itaVuc. extending eastward to Persia and Central Asia, India, and Ceylon" 

 (Sharpc). "Introduced and naturalized in America, Australia, New Zealand, 

 etc." (Chapman). 



Range in Washington. — As yet chiefly confined to larger cities and railroad 

 towns, but sjircading locall_\- in farming sections. 



Authorities. — Rath bun, Auk, \'ol. XIX. Apr. 1902, p. 140. Ra. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens. — E. C. 



W'H.VT a piece of mischief is the S])arrow ! how depraved in instinct ! 

 in presence !inw unwelcome! in habit how unclean! in voice how repulsive! 

 in combat how mohlike and desjiicable! in courtship how wanton and con- 

 temptible! in increase how limitless and menacing! the pest of the farmer! 

 the ijlague of the city! the bane of the bird-world! the despair of the 

 philanthropist! the tlirifty and insolent beneficiary of misguided sentiment! 

 the lawless and defiant object of impotent hostility too late aroused! Out 

 upon thee, thou shapeleso, senseless, heartless, misbegotten tyrant ! thou 

 tedious and infinite alien ! thou myriad cuckoo, who dost by thy consuming 

 presence liereave us daily of a million dearer children! Out upon thee, and 

 woe the day ! 



Without question the most deplorable event in the history of .American 

 ornithology was tlie introduction of the English Sparrow. The extinction of 

 the Great Auk, the passing of the Wild Pigeon and the Turkey,— sad as these 

 are, they are trifles compared to the wholesale reduction of our smaller birds, 

 which is due to the invasion of this wretched foreigner. To lie sure he was 

 invited to come, but the offense is all the more rank because it w-as parth' 

 human. His introductiun was effected in ])art b_\- people who' ought to have 

 known better, and would, doubtless, if the science of ornithology had reached 

 its present status as long ago as the early Fifties. The maintenance and 

 prodigious increase of the pest is still due in a measitte to the imbecile 

 sentimentality of people who build bird-houses and throw out crumbs for "the 

 dear little birdies," and then care nothing whether honest birds or scalawags 

 get them. Such jjeople belong to the same class as those who drop kittens on 

 their neighlwrs' door-stejis because the\- wouldn't have the heart to kill them 

 themselves, you know. 



The increase of this bird in the I'nited States is, to a lover of birds. 



