108 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The English Sparrow, or House 

 Sparrow as it is sometimes called, has 

 been a pest in every country in which 

 it has been introduced. At present in 

 New Zealand the peopl are obliged to 

 take the most drastic measures' to ex- 

 terminate them. They had become so 

 extremely numerous that concerted 

 action became necessary and was de- 

 manded by the epople, who are now 

 slowly exterminating them. A special 

 officer was appointed in each county, 

 whose sole duty it was to carry on 

 this work. The expense to be borne by 

 a special tax levied on each county. 

 In Australia, the sparrow is increas- 

 ing to extraordinary numbers and the 

 people are up in arms against it. As 

 the agricultural interests there are 

 involved, the time seems ripe for ac- 

 tion. The sparrow is an exotic spec- 

 ias to America, and following the law 

 of introduced species, has become a 

 pest and the time is sure to come 

 when the people will demand exter- 

 mination. When the whole country, 

 or a great section of the country, 

 comes to a definite decision in the 

 matter, then is the time for all to 

 work together and to clean out the 

 species till not one is left. For if any 

 are left, their great ratio of reproduc- 

 tion, four to five broods of five eggs 

 each, each year, would soon render 

 the work useless and leave the people 

 more discouraged than now. The re- 

 pression of the sparrow cannot be un- 

 dertaken locally with any lasting or 

 permanent effect, for the killing of a 

 few thousands is as a drop in the 

 bucket, and the small vacuum would 

 soon be filled by others swarming in 

 from neighboring parts. 



The letters I have received show 

 that some here, some there, are do- 

 ing honst work toward sparrow exter- 

 mination, and while I do not want in 

 the least to discourage them in their 

 efforts, the results are only temporary 

 and the work must be kept up contin- 



ually. If one State or a group of States 

 set to work carefully within their 

 borders, some lasting results will be 

 obtained and the continuous work need 

 only be keep up on the borders of the 

 territory where the sparrow has been 

 exterminated. But a far better way is 

 to have the whole country do this ex- 

 termination, now, at once, and all over 

 the United States. 



QUESTIONS. 



On April 12th I observed a song 



sparrow flying jerkedly across the 



road, singing at the same time. Is not 



this an unusual occurrence? 



Yours, 



Howard Wheeler McMillen. 



No! Not unusual early in the spring. 

 Have observed the trait with other 

 birds who do not do it habitually as 

 the Horned Larks do. [Ed.] 



The male bird was of a dusky black 

 with the Primaries white. He will 

 fly up in the air and give a series of 

 notes similiar to that of the Eastern 

 Bobolink and then drops to the ground 

 again. The female is more of a brown 

 in color. Is this not the W. Bobolink? 



I am sure that their eggs are blue, 

 and greatly resemble the Bluebirds, 

 as I have scared them off the nest 

 time after times. 



Please let me know as to this matter 

 and obige. 



Yours truly, 



Lake Harris. 



No! This is not the Bobolink. The 

 bird and eggs described are the Lark 

 Bunting. 



By the way, there is no Western 

 sub species of Bobolink now. [Ed.] 



