THE ENGLISH SPAKROW QUESTION 73 



1. There was certainly room for a bird scavenger in 

 our towns and cities, where back yards and streets are 

 not kept clean. 



2. The construction of our houses, outbuildings, 

 lumber sheds, railway depots, and other structures offer 

 almost unlimited nesting facilities. 



3. We have decreased the nesting facilities of our 

 native birds by cutting old trees and brush near towns 

 and cities. Our severely cut lawns and parks, with 

 few large trees and very little shrubbery, furnish suit- 

 -able nesting and roosting places for only a few native 

 birds. 



4. The English sparrow, finding in the winter so 

 much food in back yards, around elevators, mills, 

 farm-yards and railroad yards, is not subject to the 

 decimating dangers of migration, and being hardy and 

 omnivorous, is seldom exposed to starvation during the 

 winter. 



5. As it always lives near human habitations, it is 

 little exposed to its natural enemies, except the house 

 cat. Its wariness and cunning, and an experience 

 extending over thousands of years, enable it to almost 

 entirely avoid this arch enemy of bird-kind. I have 

 never known an English sparrow to nest in a place 

 readily accessible to cats. 



If a severe snow storm begins on Saturday, continues 

 over Sunday, and blocks the street traffic on Monday, 

 then life looks gloomy for the bold chirpers, and many 

 of them are starved. If a severe rain or hail storm 

 passes over a town at night before the young have 



