90 A FARMER'S YEAR 



been unable to discover in, them a single redeeming virtue. 

 They take coombs of corn out of some of the fields of wheat, 

 spoiling even more than they devour, as they seem to like to pick the 

 ears to pieces for mere mischief's sake. Also they are very destruc- 

 tive to young beet, especially if the crop has been planted in a small 

 close, as they issue from the hedges on every side and tear the 

 tender leaves to bits with their strong bills. As a climax to their 

 crimes they attack the swallows and martins, driving them away 

 and taking possession of their nests. Indeed, sometimes they 

 kill them, for I have picked up the corpses of the poor things with 

 a hole pecked through their skulls. 



In former times Sparrow Clubs used to exist in these parts, 

 under the provisions of which the farmers of a district banded 

 themselves together to destroy the common enemy in any way 

 possible, but with the decline of agriculture the clubs have 

 vanished. Now we are obliged to rely upon the destructive in- 

 stincts of youth, paying so much a score to boys for sparrows' 

 eggs or young sparrows. Occasionally also in hard weather a 

 good many can be killed by laying a trail of corn, and when the 

 sparrows are feeding in flocks, firing down it with a charge of 

 dust-shot. But the worst of this plan is that the shooter is very 

 apt to massacre harmless birds, such as chaffinches and robins, 

 which come to pick up any crumbs that may fall from the 

 sparrows' table and are involved in their doom. Of late patent 

 basket sparrow-traps have been largely advertised, and with them 

 testimonials from gentlemen who say they have caught great num- 

 bers by their means. I purchased one of these wicker traps for 

 five shillings, but the result showed that I might as well have kept 

 my money in my pocket, as not one single sparrow have I been 

 able to catch with it. I suppose, therefore, that the race must be 

 more artful about here than in the neighbourhood of those gentlemen 

 who give the testimonials. According to the directions, grain or 

 crumbs should be sprinkled at the bottom of the trap, whereon 

 the birds will go down the little hole in the middle and find 

 themselves unable to get out again. My experience of the work- 

 ing of the thing has been that, whereas they will use the trap as 



