THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



HE English Sparrow was first 

 introduced into the United 

 States at Brooklyn, New York, 

 in the years 1851 and '52. 

 The trees in our parks were at that 

 time infested with a canker-worm, 

 which wrought them great injury, and 

 to rid the trees of these worms was the 

 mission of the English Sparrow. 



In his native country this bird, 

 though of a seed-eating family (Finch), 

 was a great insect eater. The few 

 which were brought over performed, 

 at first, the duty required of them ; 

 they devoured the worms and stayed 

 near the cities. With the change of 

 climate, however, came a change in 

 their taste for insects. They made 

 their home in the country as well as 

 the cities, and became seed and 

 vegetable eaters, devouring the young 

 buds on vines and trees, grass-seed, 

 oats, rye, and other grains. 



Their services in insect-killing are 

 still not to be despised. A single pair 

 of' these Sparrows, under observation 

 an entire day, were seen to convey to 

 their young no less than forty grubs 

 an hour, an average exceeding three 

 thousand in the course of a week. 

 Moreover, even in the autumn he 

 does not confine himself to grain, but 

 feeds on various seeds, such as the 

 dandelion, the sow-thistle, and the 

 groundsel; all of which plants are 

 classed as weeds. It has been known, 

 also, to chase and devour the common 

 white butterfly, whose caterpillars 

 make havoc among the garden plants. 



The good he may accomplish in 

 this direction, however, is nullified to 

 the lovers of the beautiful, by the war 

 he constantly wages upon our song 

 birds, destroying their young, and 

 substituting his unattractive looks and 

 inharmonious chirps for their beauti- 

 ful plumage and soul-inspiring songs. 



Mrs. Olive Thome Miller in " Bird 

 Ways " gives a fascinating picture of 



the wooing of a pair of Sparrows in a 

 maple tree, within sight of her city 

 window, their setting up house-keep- 

 ing, domestic quarrel, separation, and 

 the bringing home, immediately after, 

 of a new bride by the Cock Sparrow. 



She knows him to be a domestic 

 tryant, a bully in fact, self-willed and 

 violent, holding out, whatever the 

 cause of disagreement, till he gets his 

 own will ; that the voices of the females 

 are less harsh than the males', the 

 chatter among themselves being quite 

 soft, as is their " baby-talk " to the 

 young brood. 



That they delight in a mob we all 

 know ; whether a domestic skirmish or 

 danger to a nest, how they will all 

 congregate,chirping, pecking, scolding, 

 and often fighting in a fierce yet amus- 

 ing way ! One cannot read these 

 chapters of Mrs. Miller's without agree- 

 ing with Whittier : 



" Then, smiling to myself, I said, 

 How like are men and birds ! " 



Although a hardy bird, braving the 

 snow and frost of winter, it likes a 

 warm bed, to which it may retire after 

 the toils of the day. To this end its 

 resting place, as well as its nest, is 

 always stuffed with downy feathers. 

 Tramp, Hoodlum, Gamin, Rat of the 

 Air ! Notwithstanding these more or 

 less deserved names, however, one can- 

 not view a number of homeless Spar- 

 rows, presumably the last brood, seek- 

 ing shelter in any corner or crevice 

 from a winter's storm, without a feel- 

 ing of deep compassion. The supports 

 of a porch last winter made but a cold 

 roosting place for three such wanderers 

 within sight of our study window, and 

 never did we behold them, 'mid a 

 storm of sleet and rain, huddle down 

 in their cold, ill-protected beds, with- 

 out resolving another winter should 

 see a home prepared for them. 



209 



