86 WESTERN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



have noticed them go along* and pick out the wire-worms, 

 etc., so that in this way. we see that they must be the friend 

 of the farmer, and whatever bird or animal is the friend of 

 the farmer is also the friend of the horticulturist. It is a 

 pity that we have no protection for these birds. A large 

 number are shot by those who have nothing- better to do, and 

 some, as you know, in different parts of the world, have been 

 hunted out and destroyed for the sake of their plumage. I 

 am glad that London society has taken up again the matter 

 of wearing 1 so many plumes in the hat. I am sure that the 

 ladies are too fond of flowers to any longer suffer the cruelty, 

 that is involved in securing- the plumag'e, to be practised. 



There is a third class, the Graminivorous. These are 

 not always the friend of the farmer. The blackbird will eat 

 grain as well as insects. We can tell this class 

 often by the shape of their beak. The sparrow is one 

 that will not eat insects. I remember a gentleman who was 

 well posted in these thing's saying- "Do not let anyone ever 

 persuade you that the sparrow feeds on insects. You can 

 tell by its beak that it is intended to eat grain." I have 

 watche*d a larg-e number of sparrows and I never saw them 

 eating anything but grain. They will bear being watched. 

 If any of you farmers having come from England are inclined 

 to let them alone, I advise you to let sentiment go at once. 

 They are just the one bird that we ought not to protect here. 

 It is not long, four years or so, since I saw the first sparrow 

 in the city and now they are very numerous and are scattered 

 nearly all over the Province and in the summer you will hear 

 more of them. You ought not to protect the sparrow. They 

 are very destructive of other birds. They have a cruel way 

 of insisting that they have a right to whatever they can get. 

 They even steal the nests of other birds and lift the young 

 birds over the side of the nest and let them drop to the 

 ground. Then Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow will set up housekeep- 

 ing in the nest they have obtained in this way. I am afraid 

 that take him all round he is a very bad character. When 

 the sparrow gets possession of a town as he will do in time, 

 he will drive ever} 7 other bird away and not only so but he 



