The Birds and Poets 229 



lawns. Mr. E. R. Kalmbach, who contributes a 

 Bulletin from the Biological Survey on the investi- 

 gation referred to, sums up on the English sparrow 

 as follows: 



"Considering the various phases of the economic 

 relation of the English Sparrow to the alfalfa weevil, 

 it may safely be asserted that this bird is a most 

 effective enemy of the pest. This is particularly true 

 of nestling birds in May and June. In view, how- 

 ever, of the ability of this bird to do serious damage 

 (not its doing it, be it observed!) to standing grain, 

 and to take heavy toll from the farmers' chicken feed, 

 legal protection for the species cannot be advocated."* 



We are making some progress! While legal 

 protection is not advocated, the bird is no longer 

 regarded as a useless "pest," as he was only two 

 years before by Mr. Ned Dearborn, expert biolo- 

 gist of the Biological Survey: 



"They are noisy, filthy and destructive. They drive 

 native birds from villages and homesteads. Though 

 they are occasionally valuable as destroyers of noxious 

 insects, all things considered they do far more harm 

 than good." f 



As a matter of common sense and common 

 justice to the bird, the English sparrow should 

 be considered as purely a local question. Undoubt- 



* Bull. 107, U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 56. 



t Farmers' Bull. 493, U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 24. 



