36 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
be followed by long intervals of indifference’ 
and inaction. This may be prevented by offer- 
ing prizes covering a definite period of effort. 
Such prizes accomplish more than municipal 
bounties, because they secure a friendly rivalry 
which stimulates the contestants to do their 
utmost to win. 
In England and some of its colonies contests 
for prizes have been organized to promote the 
destruction of the European house-sparrow, but 
many of the so-called ‘‘sparrow clubs’’ are 
really sparrow and rat clubs, for the destruc- 
tion of both pests are avowed objects of the or- 
ganization. A sparrow club in Kent, England, 
secured the destruction of 28,000 sparrows and 
16,000 rats in three seasons, by the annual ex- 
penditure of but $29.20 in prize money. Had 
ordinary bounties been paid for this destruc- 
tion, the tax on the community would have been 
about $1,200. 
