Trapping English sparrows for Food 



bread crumbs for six feet 

 around the trap, leading the 

 crumbs into the funnel. 

 Large pieces of stale bread 

 are used near and in the 

 trap. Sparrows, being like 

 hogs, in that they like to 

 get where the big feed is, 

 soon go from the first into 

 the second division, from 

 which they are easily forced 

 into the last part, from 

 which they are taken. 



There is no reason why 

 sparrows should not be util- 

 ized for food, as they have 

 been in the Old World for 



The mouths of the funnel are 

 just large enough to admit the 

 sparrow and keep him piisoner 



HEREWITH is shown a 

 trap for catching the 

 English sparrow which 

 is one hundred per cent 

 efficient, if properly opera- 

 ted. It is made of tinned 

 wire, electrically welded, 

 strong and durable. The 

 size of the trap is thirty- 

 six by eighteen by twelve 

 inches, and weighs twenty-five pounds. 



The United States Department of 

 Agriculture advocates the destruction of 

 the English sparrows, calling them 

 "noisy, quarrelsome, filthy and destruc- 

 tive." Native song-birds will never 

 come back to our gardens in increasing 

 num1)ers until the English sparrow is 

 banisjied. These pugnacious birds are 

 extremely cunning, and it is hard to 

 trap them. Hut there is no trouble in 

 enticing them into the trap shown if the 

 pro[ier kind of bait is used for a partic- 

 ular locality. 



The flexible needle-points at the 

 mouths of till' funnels can be adjusted 

 so as to be just large enough to admit 

 the sparrow and yet not large enoiigii 

 for him to return. One family who used 

 cracked corn for bait caught se\'en Jiun- 

 dred and twenty-nine sparrows in sixty 

 days. The usual method is to s]jrink]e 



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The bird-trap can be used at any place where sparrows 

 congregate, even on the roofs of city apartment houses 



cinturies. Their flesh is palatable, and 

 though their bodies are small, their num- 

 ber fully compensates for their lack of 

 size. Birds that have been trapped have 

 been kept in large out-door cages, shel- 

 tered from storms and cold winds, until 

 they are wanted for the table. It is un- 

 profitable to keep them long, as the ciuan- 

 tity of grain or other food they require 

 tlaily amounts to more than half their 

 own weight. A variety of food is neces- 

 sary to keep them in good condition. 

 Bread, oats, wheat, bran and corn-meal 

 mush, lettuce, cabbage and tender shoots 

 of sprouting grain are some of the things 

 they relish. Some time ago ex-Governor 

 ("ox of Ohio gave a banc]uet to some of 

 his friends, when the piece de resistance 

 for the occasion was a sparrow-pie. 

 Until after the banquet the guests were 

 uncU-r the impression they were eating 

 a ])ie made of squabs or reed-birds. 



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