STARRQW 13 



The sparrow is, more even than the robin, a follower 

 of man. But unlike the nettle, which, although growing 

 only where man has been, continues to flourish long 

 after the dwelling has fallen into ruin, and the garden 

 has gone back into the wilderness, the sparrow deserts 

 at once the spot from w T hich man's presence is withdrawn. 

 In Siberia, where its appearance is comparatively recent, 

 it has accompanied the Russian advance along the 

 military roads, but even then is said to favour those 

 lands alone where crops of corn are raised. 



The question of the work and wages of this indus- 

 trious bird has been ably argued from both sides. Again 

 and again has its account of service and ill deeds been 

 made out and balanced ; and although the damage done 

 by it, to some crops at least, is very great, there can be 

 no doubt that the sparrow is one of the farmer's most 

 valuable retainers, an ally altogether indispensable to 

 the safety of his harvest. The foes which lie in wait for 

 all young birds amply suffice to keep their numbers 

 down, without resorting to the miserable machinery of 

 the sparrow club. 



The hen sparrow lays five or six eggs. Two broods 

 there generally are, often three, sometimes even four. 

 Did eighteen young birds each year survive the com- 

 plaints of childhood, escape the cat and crow, and reach 

 the age of maturity without mishap, and should they 

 and their descendants all be living at the end of ten 

 years, the family of a single pair would number exactly 

 two thousand millions a community which would, 

 if they had the chance, exhaust the entire wheat 



