EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN 151 



species ; and if Nature is to have her way at all 

 there must be birds ; and besides, no bird-lover has 

 any wish to see such a thing attempted* The sparrow 

 has his good points, if we are to judge him as we 

 find him, without allowing what the Australians 

 and Americans say of him to prejudice our minds* 

 Possibly in those distant countries he may be alto- 

 gether bad, resembling, in this respect, some of the 

 emigrants of our species, who, when they go abroad, 

 leave their whole stock of morality at home. Even 

 with us Miss Ormerod is exceedingly bitter against 

 him, and desires nothing less than his complete 

 extirpation ; but it is possible that this lady's zeal 

 may not be according to knowledge, that she may 

 not know a sparrow quite so well as she knows a fly. 

 At all events, the ornithologist finds it hard to believe 

 that so bad an insect-catcher is really causing the 

 extinction of any exclusively insectivorous species. 

 On her own very high authority we know that the 

 insect supply is not diminishing, that the injurious 

 kinds alone are able to inflict an annual loss equal 

 to 10,000,000 on the British farmer. To put aside 

 this controversial matter, the sparrow with all his 

 faults is a pleasant, merry little fellow ; in many 

 towns he is the sole representative of wild bird life, 

 and is therefore a great deal to us especially in the 

 metropolis, in which he most abounds, and where 

 at every quiet interval his blithe chirruping comes to 



