312 An American Fruit-Farm 



made them entrance proof to the birds, and made 

 war on birds generally, the swallows have some- 

 times failed to reach us and are becoming rare. 

 But these birds have the record as the chief natural 

 enemy of the cotton-boll weevil. The great enemy 

 of any of our seven species is the English sparrow, 

 a useless, ratty bird that should be exterminated. 

 Before the English bird was introduced into the 

 country, and for some thirty years after, we had 

 our own American swallows. Don*t shoot the 

 wrong bird. 



I will give some little evidence in favor of the 

 English sparrow. Of several bird-houses I set up, 

 the English sparrows took possession; the houses 

 were compartment houses, accommodating about 

 ten families each. Soon after I set them up, — one 

 was fastened to the telephone pole, — a wandering 

 flock of bluebirds arrived, about 7 o'clock, one 

 September morning. They were spying out the 

 land, and dozens of them inspected the new quar- 

 ters, with seeming intention of engaging them for 

 the next summer. My expectations were high. 

 The next summer one pair of the bluebirds re- 

 turned and leased a smaller house set up over the 

 arbor. Here they raised their family in safety, 

 and at the expiration of the lease, moved out. 

 Jenny Wren had been eying the apartment all 

 simmier, and had taken an adjoining house at the 

 other end of the arbor, but for some reason, she 

 was unhappy; perhaps she did not like Quaker 

 drab, in which the apartment was painted. But 



