110 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



the sparrow is an unmixed good, but the balance is so 

 largely in his favour, that he ought to be welcome to take 

 a little fruit or corn as wages which he has fairly earned. 



In the face of facts like these, who will be inclined to 

 hold up the sparrow and our other tiny feathered friends 

 as hostile to the farmer, and what in this enlightened 

 nineteenth century are we to think of the intelligence 

 which could perpetrate such acts as the following letter 

 records, and which I copy from the Times of December 

 j 2, ] 862 ? 



" SPARROW MURDER. I think the following exploit 

 of the 'wise men ' of Crawley ought to be shown to the 

 world in your widespread journal ; it speaks for itself, 

 and requires no comment on my part. It is taken from 

 a country paper of this week: 'CRAWLEY SPAKROW 

 CLUB The annual dinner took place at the George 

 Inn, on Wednesday last. The first prize was awarded 

 to Mr. J. Bedford, Worth, having destroyed within the 

 year 1467. Mr. JBeaysman took the second, with 1448 

 destroyed; Mr. Stone third, with 982 affixed. Total 

 destroyed, 11,944 ; old birds, 8663 ; young ditto, 722 ; 

 eggs, 2559. Yours obediently, A REAL FRIEND TO THE 

 FARMER. December 10, 1862." 



I do not know where Crawley is, but I feel ashamed 

 of the profound ignorance and inhumanity of its in- 

 habitants, and especially of the three individuals who 

 carried off the prizes in their sparrow club. 



The nest of the sparrow is a loose, careless structure, 

 and it is amazing to see in some cases the quantity of 

 materials of which it is composed without any apparent 

 necessity for such an accumulation. The mouth of a 

 cast iron pipe, about six inches in diameter, proceeding 

 from a stove in a laundry attached to my father's house, 



