CONSERVATION OF BIRDS 91 



little effort is made to. provide nesting boxes for those most 

 valuable birds that build only in cavities. 



We need more trees and shrubs about the home, more 

 hedgerows on the farm, and more bird sanctuaries in all parts 

 of the country. 



The English Sparrow has usurped the premises about our 

 homes, and in many respects it is a useful bird. We are loathe 

 to acknowledge its value, but just watch it during canker-worm 

 time. In spite of its usefulness, it deserves our ill will, and 

 merits our attempts at extermination. Its bad habits out- 

 weigh its usefulness, for it tends to destroy that nicely ad- 

 justed balance of nature. 



Although it eats a few insects when insects abound, yet 

 its chief food is either of negligible economic importance to 

 us, being pickings from the street litter and from the garbage 

 can, or else its feeding habits may be seriously destructive as 

 when it visits the garden, not for worms, but for the tender 

 leaves of peas and lettuce just coming out of the ground. 



It destroys the balance of life by usurping the nesting 

 places of more valuable birds, such as the Purple Martin, Eve- 

 Swallow, House Wren, Bluebird, Chickadee and the Wood- 

 peckers. The Purple Martin and the Eve-Swallow have be- 

 come almost extinct in many regions because of the vicious 

 rivalry of the English Sparrow. It destroys the balance of life 

 by driving away insectivorus birds, and thus permitting the 

 insects to multiply beyond their proper bounds. 



Yet, we are really to blame. We introduced the English 

 Sparrow into the country, and now that it has proved itself to 

 be a pest, we still permit it to nest about our premises. 



