BIRD-LIFE IN FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 149 



have repeatedly watched these good offices of the 

 Sparrow, seeing how male and female have ex- 

 plored every bud and twig of the infested trees, 

 until a mouthful of aphides was collected, then 

 each would fly off to the nest. Backwards and 

 forwards the busy searchers would go, through 

 almost every hour of light in the long summer 

 days, until not an insect remained. Sparrows have 

 frequently cleared our chrysanthemum bushes of 

 insect pests in a similar way. It seems incredible 

 that, in the face of this usefulness, such a war of 

 extermination should be waged against the House 

 Sparrow, or that clubs should actually be in exist- 

 ence for the sole purpose of bringing about the 

 extinction of the species. We are no advocates 

 for encouraging the undue increase of this bird, 

 and fully concur in the opinion that its numbers 

 should be kept within reasonable limits, especially 

 in corn -growing areas, but the disease deserves 

 no such drastic remedies as many agriculturists 

 and their equally misguided and ignorant friends 

 suggest. 



Incidentally we may here mention that the 

 House Sparrow is subject to more individual 

 variation than is very generally supposed. Much 



