158 BIRD FRIENDS 



and possibly refuse to touch it again that winter. The 

 best way is to select a place where the wind is not likely 

 to scatter it away, — a walk, a driveway, or porch-roof 

 with a smooth surface, — so that the grain may be swept 

 up after each trial. Accustom them to feeding there 

 daily with grain exactly like that which is medicated. 

 (I often do this for a week, or even a month, until all 

 the sparrows in the neighborhood are wont to come 

 regularly.) Study the times when they come for their 

 meals, and then on a cold, dry morning, after a heavy 

 snowstorm, having swept up all the good grain the 

 morning before, wait till they have gathered and then 

 put enough strychninized grain to feed the whole flock. 

 You have about ten minutes before any begin to drop, 

 and those that have not partaken of the grain by this 

 time will probably be frightened off: but by timing it 

 properly I have repeatedly caught every sparrow in the 

 flock. I have found morning the best time, as they all 

 come then; and it is essential to success to select a dry 

 day, since in wet weather they taste the strychnine too 

 easily; I have seen them actually throw it out of the crop. 

 With this simple method at command, by concerted 

 action, a few friends of our native birds can rid any 

 Northern city of the sparrow pest in a single winter. This 

 is no more than parents ought to do for the sake of the 

 native birds, and if not for their sake, at least to clear 

 the way for the children to do effective work in their be- 

 half. 



That sparrows can be kept in check by systematic 

 poisoning is shown by the experience of Mr. Frank 

 Bond while a resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

 Each winter a campaign was waged and the numbers 

 of the sparrows were so reduced that they did not 

 interfere with the breeding of the native birds, which 



