LIFE ABOUT OUR HOMES IN FALL 75 



a bird with such perfectly omnivorous habits finds his table 

 spread wherever man lives, is easily understood. 



The house sparrow versus our native birds. The courage 

 and pugnacity of this little fellow are not at all inferior to 

 his appetite and digestive powers. They will fight robins, 

 wrens, catbirds, swallows, orioles, and any of our native 

 singers. If the enemy is too large for one sparrow, a mob 

 of them will molest him, until he leaves the neighborhood. 

 They often drive wrens, martins, cliff and bank swallows, 

 out of their nesting places, and appropriate the nests to 

 their own use. A pair of robins and a pair of sparrows 

 once built their nest on the same oak tree in my yard. 

 At four in the morning, the birds began to chatter and 

 fight, and continued to do so, with some interruptions, all 

 day. At the end of a week, the robins left, and the sparrows 

 stayed. Whenever sparrows become numerous in a town, 

 our native birds become scarce. 



As the house sparrotv renders but very little benefit to us, 

 and crowds out our beautiful and beneficial singers, it should 

 be relentlessly destroyed. Break up their nests, shoot them, 

 trap them, poison them, whenever and wherever you can. 

 They may be poisoned in the following way : mix one part, 

 by weight, of white arsenic with fifteen parts of wheat. 

 Moisten the wheat, before stirring in the arsenic. A little 

 gum arabic or mucilage added to the water will make 

 the poison adhere better. Dry the wheat before using it. 

 Attract the birds by feeding them regularly in a certain 

 place; when they come regularly to the feeding ground, 

 give them the poisoned grain. That the poisoning and 

 shooting should not be entrusted to small boys, is self- 

 evident. 



You will find that it is by no means easy to shoot, trap, 

 or poison sparrows, after their suspicion has once been 



Visit a greenhouse, if you live in the city. 



