10 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW AS A PEST. 



net. The net should have a deep bag and a small hoop. After the 

 net has been quietly placed over the entrance, a few raps on the box 

 will send the occupant into it. By distributing a number of nest 

 boxes about orchards, shade trees, and outbuildings, and catching the 

 sparrows that occupy them, the work of extermination may be car- 

 ried on at a season when other methods are least effective. 



SHOOTING. 



Sparrows are accustomed to feed in close flocks, and when thus 

 assembled in favorable places a large number may be killed by a 

 charge of No. 10 shot. The best way is to scatter grain over long, 

 narrow areas and shoot the sparrows at these baiting places. Where 

 sparrows infest poultry yards, the bait may be placed on a horizontal 

 board, supported at such an elevation that the birds can be shot 

 without danger to the poultry. 



"H/NGED 



FIG. 4. Perspectives of a nest box opening at the bottom. 

 TRAPPING. 



In a general campaign against English sparrows, a vigorous and 

 widespread attack is absolutely essential. The problem is not to 

 drive them away from a certain locality, but to accomplish as nearly 

 as possible their complete extermination. As each city square has 

 a sparrow population of its own, which must be destroyed there if 

 at all, certain effective methods of destruction are out of the question. 

 Neither law nor public sentiment will allow the use of firearms or 

 the unrestricted use of poison. The use of traps therefore is strongly 

 recommended. Besides being safe to employ, properly designed 

 sparrow traps have other advantages. They permit the use of spar- 

 rows for food, as they leave the flesh uninjured, and these birds may 

 be kept alive, like poultry. The fact that native birds, when caught 

 in such traps, can be liberated unharmed, is particularly important 

 in suburban localities. 



493 



