86 Handbook of Nature-Study 



pointed ; firing a shotgun twice into a flock of these birds has driven them 

 from our premises; and tearing down their nests assiduously for a month 

 seems to convey to them the idea that they are not welcome. Another 

 instance of their cleverness I witnessed one day; I was watching a robin, 

 worn and nervous with her second brood, fervently hunting earthworms 

 in the lawn to fill the gaping mouths in the nest in the Virginia creeper 

 shading the piazza. She finally pulled up a large, pink worm and a hen 

 sparrow flew at her viciously; the robin dropped the worm to protect 

 herself, and the sparrow snatched it and carried it off triumphantly to the 

 grape arbor where she had a nest of her own full of gaping mouths. She 

 soon came back, and at a safe distance watched the robin pull out another 

 worm, and by the same tactics again gained the squirming prize. Three 

 times was this repeated in an hour, and then the robin, discouraged, flew 

 up into a Norway spruce and in a monologue of sullen duckings tried to 

 reason out what had happened. 



The Enghsh sparrow's nest is quite in keeping with the bird's other 

 quahties; it is usually built in a hole or box or in some protected comer 

 beneath the eaves; it is also often built in vines on buildings and occa- 

 sionally in trees. It is a good example of "fuss and feathers"; coarse 

 straw, or any other kind of material, and feathers of hens or of other 

 birds,' mixed together without fashion or form, constitute the nest. In 

 these' sprawling nests the whitish, brown or gray-flecked eggs are laid 

 and the young reared; and so far as I can ascertain, no one has ever 

 counted the number of broods reared in one season. The nesting begins 

 almost as soon as the snow is off the ground and lasts until late fall. 



During the winter, the sparrows gather in flocks in villages and cities, 

 but in the spring they scatter out through the country where they can 

 find more grain. The only place where this bird is welcome is possibly 

 in the heart of a great citv, where no other bird could pick up a Hveli- 

 hood. It is a true cosmopolite and is the first bird to greet the traveler 

 in Europe or northern Africa. These sparrows will not build in boxes 

 suspended by a wire ; and they do not like a box where there is no restmg 

 place in front of the door leading to the nest. 



After the pupils have made observations upon the habits of the house 

 sparrow, they may find, in the following books and bulletins, facts which 

 will teach further the economic importance of this bird : Birds in Their 

 Relation to Man, bv Weed and Dearborn, p. 144- The following bulle- 

 tins of the U. S. Department of Agriculture: "English Sparrow m 

 North America;" "Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture," S. D. Judd, 

 Bulletin 15; "The Food of Nestlings," Yearbook 1900. 



LESSON XIX 

 The English Sparrow 



Leading thought — The English sparrow was introduced into America 

 by people who knew nothing of its habits. It has finally over-run our 

 whole countrv and, to a great extent, has driven out from towns and 

 villages our useful American song birds and it should be discouraged and 

 not allowed to nest around our houses and grounds. As a sparrow it has 

 interesting habits which w^e should observe. 



Methods — Let the pupils make their observations in the street or 

 wherever they find the birds. The greatest value of this lesson is to teach 



