16 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



as they are beautiful why should such 

 birds be driven to seek a home in a tele- 

 graph pole in the woods ? The answer was 

 ready. I walked on, and by and by came 

 to a village, young and I dare say thriving, 

 but overrun from end to end with English 

 sparrows, whose incessant clatter 



Soul-desolating strains alas ! too many 



filled my ears. Not a bluebird, not a tree 

 swallow, nor, to all appearance, any place 

 for one. 



And so it is generally. One of my fel- 

 low townsmen, however, has an estate which 

 forms a bright exception. There one sees 

 bluebirds and martins. Year after year, 

 punctual as the spring itself, they are back 

 in their old places. And why? Because the 

 owner of the estate, by a little shooting, 

 mercifully persistent and therefore seldom 

 necessary, keeps the English sparrows out. 

 My thanks to him. His is the only colony 

 of martins anywhere in my neighborhood. 



