182 ANIMALS THAT DESTROY INSECTS 



The English sparrow is not a desirable bird for the 

 United States. It not only eats much grain and vegetable 

 matter, but has driven out a number of birds that are 

 valuable as insect destroyers. We should take means to 

 rid ourselves of this troublesome little fellow. 1 



Just after a bird has hatched, its stomach is very deli- 

 cate, and it can digest animal food only. For that rea- 

 son, all nestlings are fed on worms and insects. Even 

 the birds that live mostly on grain and fruit when they 



1 The English sparrow is doing more damage to property than all the other 

 birds in our latitude put together, and, as an agent of destruction to our native 

 birds, the sparrow is unexcelled. No other bird will stay long where sparrows 

 are once located. It means persecution in detail by individual sparrows and 

 by mobs of them till all self-respecting birds are compelled to leave the locality. 

 The English sparrow is the only bird that carries on a systematic attack upon 

 the homes of its neighbors. It has been seen by many observers in different 

 localities to visit the nests of its neighbors in the absence of the parent birds 

 and to throw the young nestlings out upon the ground, in some cases dropping 

 them ten to fifteen feet to the foot of the tree. The sparrows are with us 

 all the year round, and, unlike most of our native birds, their food is almost 

 entirely grain. They are, then, no substitute for the insectivorous birds that 

 they expel, and they are a filthy nuisance about the barns and granaries as 

 well as the dwellings where they congregate. They are a greater pest than 

 rats and mice, and they are more difficult to combat. The most effective 

 method of dealing with the sparrow is by poison. During the winter months, 

 if a platform be built above the reach of the poultry, and the sparrows be fed 

 there regularly in order to accustom them to the place, they may be easily 

 poisoned. The recipe I quote from an article by E. B. Clark, in The Outing 

 of January, 1901: "Mix a drachm of strychnine with three quarts of boiling 

 water. . Let the mixture boil until the poison is entirely dissolved. Into the 

 poisoned water pour a sufficient quantity of wheat to absorb the liquid. Put 

 the mixture aside for forty-eight hours. The wheat will be found to have 

 swollen greatly. Spread it over the bottom of a large pan and place it in an 

 oven until thoroughly dry. It must not, however, be allowed to scorch in 

 the least. English sparrows consider wheat prepared in this way as a great 

 tidbit. It gives to them a swift and painless death." This method reaches 

 a hundred of the sparrows to ten that can be reached during any other part 

 of the year, and farmers ought to bestir themselves, or the useful native birds 

 will be exterminated or driven away by these sparrow pests. We must deal 

 with the sparrows as we deal with rats and mice, and no false sentiment ought 

 to be allowed to enter into the matter. PROF. O. G. LIBBY. 



