The English Sparrow 63 



bird, whether justified or not, has arisen because of the annoyance it gives to 

 gardeners and fruit-growers; its tendency to destroy the nests of small native 

 birds and thus drive them out of our towns ; the loss caused by fires due to the 

 nests placed about buildings catching sparks; its uncleanly habits spoiling 

 sculptures on the facades of buildings; its noisy chatter about the house and 

 yard where once the songs of other birds were heard, to say nothing of the 

 petulant calling and fighting in the early morning heard about bedroom win- 

 dows where late risers are taking their "beauty sleeps." 



Resentment against the bird is reflected in the laws of our country, for in 

 no state in the Union is the English Sparrow protected by statute. Every 

 little while there are discussions in the public press about starting "Sparrow- 

 wars" with a view to exterminating these birds. Now and then we hear of 

 some community's efforts looking to this end. Such attempts, however, have 

 virtually been futile, as the English Sparrow can take care of itself so success- 

 fully that only by continuous warfare against them, year after year, can their 

 numbers be kept down in any particular community. 



Sometimes the experiment is made of offering a bounty on the heads of 

 Sparrows. One objection to this procedure is that inexperienced persons, who 

 are not able to distinguish between the English Sparrow and one or another of 

 our native Sparrows, immediately become active in such a campaign, and our 

 native birds suffer as a result. Within the past month an agent of this Associa- 

 tion visited a western town where a bounty was being paid on dead English 

 Sparrows. This agent examined the dead birds brought in during three days, 

 and found that only one out of every eleven birds brought in, on all of which 

 the bounty appears to have been paid, were English Sparrows; the others were 

 all useful native birds. 



"What shall we do with the English Sparrow?" is a question which this 

 Association is probably asked once a day on an average throughout the year. 

 I confess my inability to answer this question. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington has attempted to answer it by issuing bulletins advising 

 people to poison and trap the birds. Whether this course is wise, it may at 

 least be said that all such attempts in a pubHc way instantly produce strong 

 opposition by many hundreds of men and women who, perhaps in lieu of more 

 interesting bird-neighbors, regard with pleasure the presence of the English 

 Sparrows, and often feed them upon their window-sills, or provide boxes for 

 their accommodation. 



