sume overbalances the good that they 

 may do. Dr. Ridgeway has said of the 

 English Sparrow: "Concerning this un- 

 mitigated pest we have little to say, 

 further than to bewail the misfortune of 

 its introduction, and to plead for its ex- 

 termination. It is in every respect a 

 first-class nuisance." 



That the English Sparrows habitually 

 injure grain crops is not their only fault. 

 In cities they cause considerable injury 

 to buildings and statues. They are in- 

 jurious to trees and vines in two ways ; 

 first, by the destruction of the buds and 

 blossoms, and second, by the chemical 

 action of their excrement. Dr. Ridgeway 

 states that a luxuriant English ivy 

 which at one time covered portions of 

 the Smithsonian Institute was totally de- 

 stroyed in this manner. They injure 

 the buds and blossoms of peaches, cher- 

 ries, grapes, plums and pears, and it is 

 very doubtful if any fruit trees escape 

 their attacks. It is said that this "Spar- 

 row in Europe is very much the same 

 bird as in the United States, certainly 

 no better." One of the worst acts of 

 these Sparrows is their habit of molest- 



ing our native birds, nearly all of which 

 are of economic value to us either in 

 the destruction of harmful insects, or 

 by eating large quantities of the seeds 

 of noxious weeds. 



The English Sparrows have a few 

 good qualities which are worthy of imi- 

 tation by all birds. They are most ex- 

 cellent parents. Mr. Otto Widmann has 

 said : "A Sparrow never deserts its 

 brood. If one of the parents is killed, 

 the other will do all the work alone. If 

 a young one happens to fall down from 

 the lofty nest, it is not lost ; the parents 

 feed it, shelter it, and defend it. If a 

 young Sparrow is taken from the nest 

 and placed in a cage, the mother feeds 

 it for days and weeks, even if she has 

 to enter a room to get to it." 



On the other hand: "Alany young- 

 martins tumble out of their nests, and 

 are invariably lost. The parents make 

 much noise about it, and try to make 

 the young fly up, but finding that they 

 can not do it, they let them perish, and 

 even if placed where they could easily 

 get to them, they do not feed them." 



THE FEATHERED AUTOCRAT. 



The English sparrow, for some rea- 

 son, has but few friends. Possibly it is 

 his own fault, as he is one of the most 

 ''uppish" little scamps of the bird world. 

 He is aggressive, too, resenting any in- 

 trusion upon what he conceives to be his 

 rights. This is manifest in the pugnaci- 

 ous means by which he has driven nearly 

 every other bird from the cities. Thirty 

 years asro, it was common to see the 

 red bird, cat bird, chickadee, martin, 

 wren and other small birds, about the 

 orchards and gardens of the cities. But 

 they have all vacated their rights to the 

 swarming millions of sparrows, with the 

 possible exception of the mocking-bird, 

 who is something of a fighter himself, 

 and has taught the English intruder 



not to seriously interfere with his vested 

 rights. 



The rapid increase of the sparrow 

 tribe has caused him to extend his do- 

 main, in the last two decades, until now 

 he far outnumbers all other species in 

 both town and country. In the rural 

 districts, the English interloper finds an- 

 other master, like the mocker, in the 

 shrike, or butcher bird, which latter has 

 a dark record for villainy, and the spar- 

 row gives him a wide berth. But in the 

 country, the birds confine themselves to 

 the barnyards and public thoroughfares, 

 seldom venturing away from the high- 

 ways into the wooded or uncultivated 

 sections. Consequently, the other birds 

 have some peace, in their more remote 



207 



