THE SPARROW 



203 



Some people do not like the sparrow. The farmer, for instance, 

 declares that the bird is very troublesome in his corn-fields. It 

 comes in great numbers, he says, when the grain is nearly ripe, and 

 quite strips hundreds or even thousands of ears round the edges of 

 the fields. And when the corn is gathered it goes off, he tells us, 

 to the stacks, and continues its mischief there. 



Not content even with this, it follows the drills when the fields 

 are being sown, and picks up a great deal of the seed before the 



Group of Sparrows among the Grain 



harrow can cover it in. It makes holes in the thatch, too, to sleep 

 in at night during the cold months of winter. And, lastly, it steals 

 the straw when it wants to make a nest in the spring. 



Then the gardener says that it does all kinds of mischief to his 

 flowers and vegetables. In the spring, he tells us, it picks all the 

 crocus flowers, and lays them down on the ground by the side of 

 the plants; and later it treats the pinks in the same way. It 

 pulls primroses to pieces, too, and scatters the petals all over the 

 flower-beds. Then it goes into the kitchen-garden, destroys the 

 young cabbages and lettuces, picks the peas, and damages the 

 fruit. And if he sows a little grass seed on the lawn, it scratches 

 it up as soon as he has covered it in. 



