370 USEFUL BIRDS. 
pillars. Mr. S. Waldo Bailey informs me that Blue Jays 
tear open the winter webs of the brown-tail moth and eat 
the young larve. 
The House Sparrow. 
The House or “ English” Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is 
the only one of the smaller birds that has repeatedly been 
seen to destroy the nests of other birds, break their eggs, 
kill their young, mob them, and drive them away from 
their homes. It occupies the houses of Bluebirds, Martins, 
Swallows, and Wrens, and the, nests of Barn Swallows, 
Cliff Swallows, and Bank Swallows, and, by persistency and 
force of numbers, drives the owners away. All careful ob- 
servers who have watched the Sparrow ever since its intro- 
duction, and have noted the effect produced upon other 
birds by its presence, agree that it is pernicious. 
Being a small bird, it necessarily eats many insects ; but it 
lives more on grain and less on insects than any of the native 
birds that it supplants, and is one of the few species that 
deserves no consideration at the hands of the farmer. 
Shrikes. , 
The Shrikes or Butcher Birds are regarded as beneficial ; 
but our winter visitor, the Northern Shrike (Lanius bore- 
alis), kills many small birds. It pursues Tree Sparrows, 
Juncos, Song Sparrows, and 
Chickadees, overtakes and 
strikes them while they are in 
flight, sometimes eating them, 
but oftener leaving them to hang 
on trees, where they furnish food 
for other birds. When one sees 
the little Butcher killing Chick- 
adees and hanging them up, his 
Fig. 156.—Northern Shrike, one-half faith in its usefulness receives a 
ia great shock. Shrikes are prob- 
ably of less value here than in their northern homes, where 
in summer they feed much on insects. Their chief utility 
while here consists in their mouse-hunting proclivities. 
