306 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 
ance I am obliged to say that I never saw one catch a worm, 
a caterpillar, or an insect of any kind. When the elm trees 
are loaded with tent caterpillars, an English Sparrow will 
let them crawl all over him, and not kill one. Instead of 
ranging out into the open fields and hunting for clean weed- 
seeds, this bird revels in the foulest dirt of the street. It 
does, however, manage to eat the seeds of the dandelion, 
when the heads are filling, in April and May. 
The English Sparrow is not beautiful, either in form or 
plumage, and it cannot sing a note. Its tastes are low and 
vulgar. It is quarrelsome, and crowds out many other species 
of small perching birds. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, when Mr. 
Frank Bond killed all the English Sparrows, and kept them 
killed, other perching birds flocked into the city in great 
numbers, and many species bred there. The more persistently 
these interlopers are killed off, the better for all other birds. 
They can be made to serve well as subjects for dissection in 
the schoolroom, and for amateur taxidermists; and they 
make excellent food for captive hawks, owls, small carni- 
vores, and live snakes of several species. 
The introduction of this bird may well serve as a solemn 
warning against any further meddlings with Nature on that 
line. In the first place, there never existed the slightest 
reason or need for this importation. Without serious con- 
sideration, or consultation with the persons most competent 
to advise, this bird was imported and planted in twelve 
widely separated localities in the United States. To-day it 
is a feathered nuisance that spreads over one-half the United 
States, and excepting locally cannot be abated. Neverthe- 
