THE HOUSE SPARROW 1?9 



caterpillars, butterflies and their larvae, click beetles, pea and bean 

 weevils, though, according to some observers, the sparrows eat 

 ladybird larvae and beetles, as well as spiders, which are useful in 

 destroying pests. Devastations of crops in gardens, fruit planta- 

 tions, and vegetable grounds are limited to areas within a short 

 distance of the harbouring and breeding places ; therefore the occu- 

 piers are responsible for the havoc committed on their own or 

 their neighbours' crops, and have the remedy in their own hands, 

 inasmuch as from the fostering of the birds in towns and 

 villages, about - hostelries, stables, railway sheds, warehouses, out- 

 buildings, farmsteads, etc., they there increase out of all proportion 

 to the natural insect-food supply of the broods, and at their best 

 are simply aids in repressing insect ravages, in consuming weed 

 seeds, and scavengering, not substitutes for preventive and repres- 

 sive measures on the part of cultivators in respect of their crops, 

 and of scrupulous cleanliness in regard of dwelling and other build- 

 ing environs. That sparrows acquire new tastes in accordance 

 with environment is not remarkable, but it is astonishing to regard 

 them as existing solely for man's profit, and as such should discrim- 

 inate between the friends and foes of his crops. This is the incubus 

 of man, since he alone is responsible for upsetting the balance of 

 nature. 



House sparrows are somewhat difficult to scare, soon making 

 themselves familiar with objects suspended over sprouting seeds, 

 growing or ripening crops, such as the straw-stuffed, old clothed, 

 ancient hatted man-like scarecrow once upon a time seen stood up 

 in allotment ripening corn, also on sprouting seed-corn and " set " 

 potatoes, sometimes with a rattle worked by a windmill-like 

 contrivance, but not now much in vogue, for the simple reason that 

 allotment holders very rarely grow corn for their own use and for 

 pigs, so restricted are the crops through the injunctions on 

 keeping swine near human dwellings, and the impracticability of 

 growing corn in the environs of large villages, of towns, factories, 

 railway stations, and warehouses on account of the sparrows reared 

 and fostered in such places, including pheasant rearing and feeding 

 grounds, also those of poultry-farmers, and from these places 

 making descent on the ripening corn crops on allotments, small 

 holdings, and fields. Even the smaller seeds and sprouting plants, 

 with some growing-up plants must be protected from the sparrows 

 and other sprouting seed-plucking up birds. 



To prevent house sparrows, also chaffinches and green linnets, 

 plucking up sprouting seeds, such as cabbage, radish, turnip, and 

 other seeds and seedlings the very old Feathered Potato scare (Fig. 

 107, B) is of some service. It consists of a bent or long, straight, 

 slender rod of hazel or other elastic wood, 4 to 6 ft. in length placed 

 in the ground in a slanting direction, from the end of which a potato 

 is suspended by a string (q), feathers of different colours being in- 



