108 THE HOUSE SPARROW. 



mechanism will be clogged, and a long train of evils 

 follow, ending in premature death. 



The writer may be branded as a scientific zealot, 

 carried away by imaginary fears. Be this as it may; 

 he has a duty to perform, and manfully must he fulfil 

 it. If he should shrink from its accomplishment, 

 posterity will not hold him guiltless. Therefore, he 

 must raise a voice of warning before the evil becomes 

 so deep-rooted and widespread as to defy man's puny 

 efforts to check it. He is no alarmist, but generally 

 sees things as they exist. The handwriting upon the 

 wall has been seen and recognized. The sparrows have 

 been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Their 

 sins have been many and unpardonable. They will 

 'continue to increase and grow with each succeeding 

 year. If anything is done, it should be done imme- 

 diately. Now is the opportune moment. Now is the 

 day of salvation. Let the law cease to protect them, 

 and then let every one who has the good of his land 

 and fellow-being at heart, strike till the last foe ex- 

 pires. 



I am not alone in these opinions. Others have lifted 

 their voices in condemnation of the nuisance. Abler 

 men have discussed the uselessness of the sparrow. 

 From every portion of the country which has yet been 

 visited by these birds, we hear the same cry. Those 

 who had at first befriended them, now clamor for their 

 destruction. He who has kept his eyes open to his 

 natural surroundings, cannot have failed to notice the 

 impudence, pugnacity, rapacity, and destructiveness of 

 these creatures. But how few, in comparison with the 

 countless numbers of human beings who inhabit this 

 continent, give the study of natural history a moment's 



