17 



wild birds, at least for all northern towns and cities. By taking ad- 

 vantage of the sparrows' gregarious habits, and the fact that they drive 

 off other birds from localities where they are numerous, much might be 

 done even in the south. 



Sparrows are such suspicious and cunning birds that, if the strychnized 

 grain be exposed at first, they will probably roll each kernel in their bills, 

 taste it, reject it, and possibly refuse to touch it again that winter. The 

 best way is to select a safe place, where the wind is not likely to scatter 

 it, — a walk, driveway or porch roof with a smooth surface, — so that 

 the grain may be swept up after each trial. Accustom them to feeding 

 there daily with grain exactly like that which is medicated (I often do 

 this for a week or even a month, until all the sparrows in the neighbor- 

 hood are wont to come regularly), study the times when they come for 

 their meals, and then on a cold, dry morning after a heavy snowstorm, 

 having swept up all the good grain the night before, wait until they have 

 gathered, and then put down enough strychnized grain to feed the entire 

 flock. You have about ten minutes before any begin to drop, and those 

 that have not partaken of the grain by this time wUl probably be frightened 

 off; but, by timing it properly, I have repeatedly caught every sparrow 

 in the flock. I have found morning the best time, as they all come then; 

 and it is essential to success to select a dry day, since in wet weather 

 they taste the strychnine too quicklj'-; I have seen them actually throw 

 it out of the crop.^ 



Shooting. 



For ten years my farm was kept clear of sparrows by the 

 practice of shooting promptly the first one that appeared. 

 They never got a foothold, never nested there, and did practi- 

 cally no harm, although they were domiciled on the premises of 

 my neighbors where they drove out a large colony of cliff 

 swallow^s and all the bluebirds, tree swallows and martins. 

 Shooting is very effective if the sparrows are greeted with a 

 charge of shot or a bullet every time they appear, and they 

 soon learn to fly high where they get such a greeting. A 

 skillful rifleman may pick off individual sparrows wdth a good 

 air gun or a Flobert or other small 22 caliber rifle as they come 

 to feed or to the nesting box, but most people have better 

 success with a small shotgun and number 12 shot. If smokeless 

 powder and small-bore weapons are used the noise of an 

 occasional shot will not disturb native birds, and in some cases 

 they seem to be gratified by the destruction of their garrulous, 



I Hodge, Clifton F., Nature Study and Life, 1902, pp. 315, 316. 



