MARCH 45 



The Sea Purslane also, which luxuriates 

 in our warm soil, has been persecuted all 

 the winter, and is now stripped nearly bare 

 of leaves. I believe this ferocity (for it is 

 nothing less) of our sparrows is to be 

 attributed to the unusual dryness of the 

 weather following the long drought of 

 last summer. Want of food it cannot be, 

 for all our beloved birds have been fed 

 throughout the winter. Moisture is sought 

 by them in the honey-drop within the 

 crocus flower, and in the rather fleshy 

 foliage of the sea purslane. In the spring 

 the sparrows will amply pay for the sorrows 

 they cause us now, and the more sparrows' 

 nests, the fewer grubs there will be to plague 

 us. It is remarkable that the Gardener is 

 not unfriendly to our sparrows. In his 

 judgment their extreme cleverness hides a 

 multitude of sins. They have now actually 

 set to work to master the Indian corn 

 which we give to the pigeons in the hope 

 that sparrows will never find the way to 

 swallow it. Their perseverance in trying to 

 get at the core of it, without holding down 

 the grain as anyone else would, with one 



