THK 



BOTANIST. 



Vol. I. 



BINGHAMTON, N. Y., MAY 1,, 1891. 



No. V. 



SOME TRAGEDY AND COMEDY 

 IN BIRD LIFE. 



BY JULIA M. HOOPER, WEST BRIDGEWATER, 



MASS. 



Among my live stock, which is a very 

 uncertain quantity, represented by a 

 certain amount of fuss and feathers, 

 there was more fuss and flying feathers 

 than usual, last summer, on account of 

 the English sparrows which insisted on 

 taking possession of the boxes which I 

 had put' in the trees, and on the barii, 

 for the bluebirds and the blue and white 

 swallows. My notices to vacate the 

 premises were heeded only while I was 

 in sight, until I enforced them by pow- 

 der and shot. 



One pair of swallows were building 

 in an old box in the orchard while I was 

 fighting a pair of sparrows from a newer 

 and better one which the bluebirds wan- 

 ted. One day I heard the swallows cry- 

 ing, and going to the door I saw a pair 

 of sparrows sitting in front of the box, 

 while the ejected swallows were on the 

 limbs of the tree crying piteously; one 

 of them was in the way as I wanted to 

 fire at the sparrows. I waited a minute 

 and was relieved to see it fiy off ; then I 

 saluted the sparrows and one fell to the 

 ground — the other followed soon. 



One pair of swallows succeeded in 

 raising a brood in a box on the barn, but 

 before the little ones were ready to fly 

 they were butchered by the sparrows. 

 I found them on the ground, with holes 

 in the tops of their heads, and soon after 

 there were numerous holes in the spar- 

 rows. But, as I could not be on guard 



all the time, my stock of bluebirds and 

 swallows diminished and went to more 

 peaceful but perhaps less comfortable 

 quarters of nature's own making. 



It is well that most of our birds do not 

 depend upon boxes for nidiflcation; if 

 they did they would soon be extermi- 

 nated by these outrageous foreigners. 

 My winter flock, consisting chiefly of 

 Canada sparrows, were in subjection to 

 the English sparrows when in their com- 

 pany, but as their feeding ground was 

 very near my windows, I had a good 

 chance to defend them, and found the 

 English sparrows easily frightened away 

 while the Canada sparrows seemed to 

 understand that I was hostile only to 

 the English and would return immedi- 

 ately. When I went out to spread some 

 more meal for them, they would merely 

 fly up on a branch just above my head, 

 talking sweetly all the while, and as 

 soon as I turned to go in they were down 

 on the snow eating the meal. I found 

 a dead song-sparrow under my window 

 one day last summer, and the cause of 

 its death seemed mysterious for there 

 was no mark of violence on it. It had 

 no eyes; yet there was no sign of their 

 having been torn out. I was very sorry 

 to lose one of my favorite and most 

 interesting birds. 



Other precautions being equal, I think 

 that bird families which are placed in a 

 sunny situation are more successful than 

 those in a more shaded one, especially 

 in a damp season, as the nest is very 

 apt to become infested with lice which 

 kill the little birds. I had a nest of un- 

 fledged song-sparrows on the shady side 



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