Birds of Oregon and Washington 59 



all bird-lovers to except him from their sympa- 

 thetic attention. He has no song that may be 

 called such, mostly putting forth a querulous sort 

 of cry. He comes, like the tramps and loafers, 

 to the towns and cities, there to fall upon and 

 drive away all other feathered dwellers, and he 

 has power to multiply so rapidly that a few now 

 will become a legion in two or three years. These 

 birds have not become numerous in Oregon and 

 Washington yet, and it is hoped that Bird So- 

 cieties will take the matter in hand and authorize 

 intelligent, skillful and humane agents to reduce 

 and keep down their numbers. Such work is 

 not for boys, who may mistake other Sparrows 

 for these pestiferous, quarrelsome and destruc- 

 tive birds ; and, in killing these, cultivate a taste 

 for killing birds in general, and also harden 

 hearts too apt to undergo this process in life. 



To show with what rapidity these birds may 

 multiply, a bulletin issued by the United States 

 Agricultural Department states that one pair, 

 in ten years, may produce 275,716,983,698. This 

 calculation, of course, assumes that all eggs will 

 hatch and all progeny survive in the line. This 

 Sparrow is to be found in the spring, having 



