1884.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



115 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



It seems almost superfluous to say anything 

 more on the suhjoct of the " English Spar- 

 rows," in their relations to the no.xious insect 

 world ; nevertheless, we now and then read a 

 feeble paraarapli, written and published in 

 their defense by those who do not write about 

 them or defend them rationally. The follow- 

 ing, however, which we find in the columns 

 of the Western Fanner, seems to be so nearly 

 in harmony with our own observations and 

 exiieriences, that we feel it ought to have an 

 increased extension ; and especially so far as 

 it relates to their greedy gregarious charac- 

 ters, their ignoring the presence of the "Elm- 

 leaf insects," and their devourment of seeds 

 and grains; to say nothing about their im- 

 pudent pugnacity. We never look much 

 stock in this imported "natural insecticide," 

 and what we did take, on their first introduc- 

 tion, was under a tacit protest, because that 

 they could possibly be reliable devourers of 

 insects, seemed to be at variance with the 

 principles of their normal classification. 



But, as it was deliberately brought here, 

 and purported to be one of England's utilized 

 domestications, whose instinctive proclivities 

 liad been entirely changed, we were quite 

 willing to suspend our judgment for the time 

 being and give it a chance. Last season, 

 about the time our farmers were harvesting 

 their grain, we noticed them frequently in 

 flocks of from 50 to 100 feeding on wheat, or 

 on grass-seeds, oats, etc. We did not, how- 

 ever, find them so excessively (as Dr. Dixwell 

 found them) graminivorous ; but, this was 

 because we did not subject them to the same 

 scrutir izing and persevering tests. The best 

 means to ultimately remove them, is to legal- 

 ize their destruction, for "sparrow pot- 

 pie," "sparrow on toast," or "sparrow in 

 roast-potato," are all toothsome and appetiz- 

 ing dishes, which we have practically tested— 

 let the sparrow "go." 



1. We have no need, in this country, of 

 seed-eating or vegetable-feeding birds as such. 

 The concurrant testimony of all is that this 

 species is such a bird to an extreme degree, 

 destroying insects to a notable extent only 

 while rearing its young. Dr. John Dixwell, 

 of Boston, says: "Last season I obtained 

 thirt-ynine individual sparrows, during the 

 height of the canker-worm pest, in the Jamaica 

 plain district (near Boston ;) about an equal 

 number of males and females. Tliese l)irds 

 had been allowed to gather any food they 

 liked, and their houses were placed in the 

 midst of several elms infested with worms. 

 On dissection no insect or worm, whole or in 

 part, could be found in their digestive tract, 

 even with a glass, but grain, oats, seeds and 

 gravel alone gave evidence, distinct in these 

 cases, of a gramnivorous liie." 



'J. We need insect destroyers which, when 

 natural restraints are removed, cannot become 

 excessively abundant. The English sparrow 

 is not one of these. With a constitution which 

 permits it to feed upon almost anything 

 edible, there can rarely be such a scarcity of 

 food as will prevent ah unlimited multii)lica- 

 tion of individuals. Nesting as it dors by 

 preference, about dwellings and cities in 

 situations usually inaccessible even to cats, 

 we can have no bird which can have so few 

 natural enemies as this one ; that it inherits 



an iron constitution is sufficiently attested by 

 the fact that it finds it unnecessary to migrate 

 to warmer climes on the approach of cold 

 weather. Indeed we have no bird whose 

 habits render the struggle for existence as 

 slight as it must always be with tlie English 

 sparrow in settled districts. This being the 

 case, I believe it is only a question of time 

 when the English sparrow, if permitted, to 

 do so, will become too abundant to find ample 

 sustenance in our cities, and will then make 

 excursions into the adjoining country for food, 

 as blackbirds do, if indeed they may not even 

 take up a permanent resident about dwellings 

 upon the farms. It appears impossible that 

 such an advent could be for the best welfare 

 of the country. 



3. The diversity of habits among insects 

 has led to an extensive division of labor 

 among insect-eating animals, and each kind 

 has acquired a peculiar fitness for certain 

 kinds of work, which in a large degree, dis- 

 qualifies it for work of other kinds. These be- 

 ing the facts it follows that no single bird, 

 however abundant, should be expected to hold 

 all injurious insects within due bounds. The 

 concurrant testimony of those whose judgment 

 should be reliable on this subject, (Among 

 them Dr. Elliott Cones, Mr. J. A. Allen, of 

 Cambridge, and Mr. Robert Ridgway), is that 

 wherever the English sparrow becomes abun- 

 dant it does, by its pugnacity or by sheer 

 force of numbers, crowd out our native species 

 either entirely or in part. 



4. Birds which have any injurious tenden- 

 cies are rendered the more injurious if they 

 possess, in addition, the habit of moving in 

 flocks of considerable size. The English spar- 

 row is such a bird. It is the gregarious habit 

 of many seed-eating birds which lends to them 

 their chief noxious quality. Not that they 

 would eat any less grain if they did not unite 

 in troops, but that their injury would be 

 more evenly distributed, causing each man 

 to bear his share of the expenses incident to 

 bird-life as he has received his share of the 

 profits. Did our black birds spread out over 

 the country at large instead of uniting in 

 such large troops, the amount of grain which 

 they would consume, though just as great as 

 at present, would be drawn from so many 

 sources that the quantity taken from each 

 would he so small as to be almost inappre- 

 ciable and certainly not more than a just 

 compensation for the services which most of 

 these birds render. 



.5. There is, I feel confident, no real de- 

 mand for bird-services either in the country 

 or ciiy, which cannot be met by our native 

 species if they are properly protected and en- 

 couraged. The Chipping Sparrow, for ex- 

 ample, is becoming quite as familiar as its 

 English cousin, while its po.ssibilities for use- 

 fulness far exceed it. It possesses an amiable 

 disposition and is too small to do material 

 damage by destroying grains. It rears .several 

 broods each season and is very fond of cater- 

 pillars of various kinds, among them cut- 

 worms. 



Considering this subject in a large sense, I 

 can out feel that a serious mistake was made 

 when the English sparrow was introduced 

 into this country, and that we should rid 

 ourselves of it before it becomes more numer- 

 ous. 



A valuable compilation of opinions in 

 regard to the English Sparrow, for and 

 against, is to be found in Prof. J. II. Cora- 

 stock's "Report upon Cotton Insects" for 

 1879, publistted by the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Wivshington. F. H. Kino. 



TORNADOES. 



It seems ([uite Icyitimate to consider 

 whether tornadoes are normal or abnormal 

 manifestations of nature ; or, sequently, 

 violent convulsions, havin<; their origin in the 

 disorders of the moral world. And, although 

 it appears to be universally admitted — at least 

 by tho.se having a tolerable understanding of 

 nature's laws— that their cannot be an effect 

 without a cause, and, presumably, also an end; 

 yet there is a vast diflerence of opinion as to 

 the sphere where causes originate, as well as 

 the plane upon which ends have their final or 

 ultimate consummations. Neither is there a 

 well understood agreement among men as to 

 whether there is an end or not, nor as to 

 whether ceitain physical [ihenomena are 

 causes or effects. Without intending to be 

 dogmatic in our views, we think we recognize 

 that there is daily developing a well defined 

 belief that all causes have their origin in the 

 immaterial world, that effects are manifested 

 in the material world, and that ends have 

 their culmination either in the material or 

 immaterial worlds, or in both, according to 

 circumstances. It is true, that there are some 

 minds peculiarly bright upon all subjects with- 

 in the physical realm, that arc entirely unable 

 or unwilling to recognize anything phenome- 

 nally transpiring beyond the borders of the 

 material world— a sort of " hard-shells," ter- 

 ribly distressed in yielding credence to any- 

 thing less tangible than "buckwheat cakes 

 and sausages." Such are "joined to their 

 idols," and no one need envy them ; neverthe- 

 less let no man judge them, unless he can 

 "judge righteous judgment," and, it may be 

 interesting to know that an idtimatum of such 

 a judgment cannot be accorded by one who is 

 not in the exercise of a rational faith. Fun- 

 damentally, truth is truth, whether it is re- 

 ceived and appropriated as truths or not, 

 whether believed or not. 



The present age seems to be one that ha.s 

 been, and is peculiarly distinguished for its 

 storms,* cyclones, and tornadoes ; not only in 

 the meteorological realm, but also in the 

 social, the commercial, the professional, the 

 mechanical, the industrial and the moral 

 realms— and not only in these, but also in the 

 realms of vice and folly, and conspicuously in 

 the realms of so-called recreation and amuse- 

 ment. One tornado succeeds another at the 

 present period in the base-ball circle, and its 

 participants and auditors are daily drummed 

 uii as violently and as peserveringly as ever re- 

 cruits were drummed up during the tornadoes 

 of the "Great Reliellion." The tornadoes on 

 the "rail," whether for trade, recreation, or 

 amusement, often hurl merchandise to the 

 "floods or the flames," and humanity, unad- 

 vised, to the tribunals of eternity. Tornadoes 

 in the banking and stock-gambling realms 

 dissipate colossal fortunes as the sun does a 

 morning mist, and loosen the moral bonds 

 which erst have been the safeguards of busi- 

 ness integrity. Such eruptions are most per- 

 nicious in their moral and commercial effects. 



