60 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



the locality, to be heard of there no more. But 

 occasionally it happens that the alien species 

 being superior in adaptability makes haste to 

 adjust itself, and being hardy, thrifty, and of 

 rapid breeding tendencies, manages to over-live 

 the native species, and even to drive them out as 

 the white man over-lived and drove out the 

 Indian. 



Many of our most troublesome weeds, coming 

 originally from Europe, have out-done even the 

 commonest American vegetation in this way. 

 But the most notorious example of this sort of 

 error is the English Sparrow. 



Few birds in the world are more unlovely or 

 less generally useful than this dirty, noisy, quar- 

 relsome little street gamin. By those who 

 brought the first pairs across the Atlantic it was 

 supposed that this Sparrow would be of service 

 in clearing village streets of insect life; but his 

 appetite proved to be appreciative of pretty 

 much everything, including sprouting suburban 

 gardens and stores of grain. So long as the 

 nuisance was confined to towns and cities, where 

 a certain amount of noise and dirt seems inevit- 

 able anyway, no alarm was felt. But they are no 

 longer confined to towns or even to suburbs. The 

 terrible fitness, the all-conquering adaptability of 

 this Sparrow extends itself to all but the prime- 

 val forest. 



