74 OUR NATIVE BIRDS 



become hardy, or before the birds have begun roosting 

 under eaves, in sheds, barns, and other protected places, 

 many of them also perish. These are about the only 

 weather accidents which interfere much with them. 



6. The bird is a prolific breeder, and an omnivorous 

 feeder. It will take dead floating minnows out of the 

 water, and catch insects on the wing as well as on the 

 ground and on trees ; it will eat grass as well as grain 

 and salt pork, and, if necessary, it will nest on all kinds 

 of trees. 



A bird thus equipped is certainly one of the fittest 

 of all creatures that ever spread wings to all kinds of 

 winds, and as long as it lives under the favorable con- 

 ditions just described it will continue to multiply until 

 it has filled the land. 



Injury caused by the House Sparrow. To the gar- 

 dener and agriculturist the bird does about as much 

 good as harm. I know that it has done much, for 

 instance, to control the box-elder leaf roller on my 

 trees. To the bird lover it is mainly objectionable 

 because by its bold, pugilistic, and mobbing proclivities 

 it drives away the more desirable and beneficial native 

 birds. 



How can the Sparrows be kept in Check ? The com- 

 plete extermination of the bird is an impossibility, and 

 state or public bounties will only deplete the respective 

 treasuries, without harming the sparrow to any great 

 extent. 1 



1 See "Extermination of Noxious Animals by Bounties." Tear 

 Book of the Department of Agriculture, 1896. 



