Problems Confronting Beginners 241 



infested village. The pests were everywhere, 

 and nest boxes put up for native birds were at 

 once appropriated by the intruders. A couple 

 of guns began to speak, and spoke at intervals 

 for perhaps three or four weeks. After that 

 they spoke less and less frequently until at 

 length they were silent. What European sparrows 

 had not been shot had sought a milder climate. 

 But there is a townful of them seven miles to the 

 north and a villageful of them four miles to the 

 south, and about once a year a flock of twenty 

 or thirty drift into Meriden. At once guns are 

 fired in honor of their arrival, and those which 

 are able to leave generally do so without even 

 stopping to say good-bye. Occasionally a few 

 will stay about the village for a day or two but it 

 is no use, they are simply not allowed to get a 

 foothold. 



And while I am on this subject let me say that 

 the work of exterminating the European sparrow 

 is not for children. It is hard work — unpleasant 

 work — and should be done by real men who know 

 the bird from all others and who are prepared to 

 camp on its trail until there isn't a specimen left 

 in the locality. Any other course is generally a 

 waste of time ; it may give temporary relief, but 

 the work has to be done all over again and any 

 cruelty which may be involved must be repeated 

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