306 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



ance I am obliged to say that I never saw one catch a worm, 

 a caterpillar, or an insect of any kind. When the elm trees 

 are loaded with tent caterpillars, an English Sparrow will 

 let them crawl all over him, an<i not kill one. Instead of 

 ranging out into the open fields and hunting for clean weed- 

 seeds, this bird revels in the foulest dirt of the street. It 

 does, however, manage to eat the seeds of the dandelion, 

 when the heads are filling, in April and May. 



The English Sparrow is not beautiful, either in form or 

 plumage, and it cannot sing a note. Its tastes are low and 

 vulgar. It is quarrelsome, and crowds out many other species 

 of small perching birds. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, when Mr. 

 Frank Bond killed all the English Sparrows, and kept them 

 killed, other perching birds flocked into the city in great 

 numbers, and many species bred there. The more persistently 

 these interlopers are killed off, the better for all other birds. 

 They can be made to serve well as subjects for dissection in 

 the schoolroom, and for amateur taxidermists; and they 

 make excellent food for captive hawks, owls, small carni- 

 vores, and live snakes of several species. 



The introduction of this bird may well serve as a solemn 

 warning against any further meddlings with Nature on that 

 line. In the first place, there never existed the slightest 

 reason or need for this importation. Without serious con- 

 sideration, or consultation with the persons most competent 

 to advise, this bird was imported and planted in twelve 

 widely separated localities in the United States. To-day it 

 is a feathered nuisance that spreads over one-half the United 

 States, and excepting locally cannot be abated. Neverthe- 



