46 OUR WINTER BIRDS 



always using it ; he is pugnacious, has no regard for 

 the rights of others, and is untidy about his home. 



If he were a native bird we might believe that, 

 like flies and mosquitoes and other noxious insects, 

 he played some part in Nature's plan the importance 

 of which we do not as yet understand. But Sparrow 

 is not an American bird. His ancestors were brought 

 to this country from Europe in 1851 and 1852 by 

 some well-intentioned but misguided gentleman who 

 believed he would rid our trees of caterpillars which 

 then infested them. 



Sometimes, it is true, Sparrow does eat insects, 

 but, like other Sparrows, he lives chiefly on seeds. 

 If he inhabited the fields and fed on the seeds of 

 weeds he would be of value to us. But he insists 

 on living as near us as he can without actually enter- 

 ing our houses. Our feeding-stands, he seems to 

 think, are kept supplied for his especial benefit. He 

 claims as large a share of the Chickadees' food as 

 though his services were as valuable as theirs. 



He builds his nest on our window-sills, behind 

 shutters, in gutters, anywhere and everywhere that 

 he can find a place for the mass of straw, rags, and 

 feathers which make his home ; and when we throw 

 the rubbish out, he refuses to take rfie hint and 

 promptly replaces it. 



Persistence is indeed one of Sparrow's most prom- 



