RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EXTERMINATION. 151 



ing with harmless or beneficial birds. In the laws of fifteen States the 

 word "sparrow" is used without qualification, the birds so designated 

 being entitled to protection, except that in the States of Illinois, Ken- 

 tucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nebraska, any person may kill birds on 

 his own land when they eudanger his crops. 



In Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wiscon- 

 sin, most small birds are protected, and Sparrows are not among those 

 excepted. Eighteen other States and Territories have no laws which 

 have any beariug on the case. 



It is evident, therefore, that prompt and vigorous legislation is needed 

 in all States where the English Sparrow has become established, and 

 even those States and Territories not yet infested (if there be any such) 

 would do well to take measures to keep the pest out. Whatever may 

 have been the intention of the framers of laws which protect native 

 sparrows, there can be no question that many people refrain from tak- 

 ing active steps against English. Sparrows, through the belief that they 

 are protected under the law. And States whose laws are thus open to 

 misinterpretation ought at once to define clearly the position of the 

 English Sparrow. Moreover, since the most effective warfare on this 

 bird can be waged during the breeding season, any act intended to ac- 

 complish its destruction should distinctly authorize the destruction of 

 its nest, eggs, and young. 



It will be difficult, doubtless, to enforce strictly a law which makes it 

 a misdemeanor intentionally to feed or shelter the Sparrow, but some 

 such law will be found necessary in order to prevent the systematic 

 propagation of Sparrows in places where otherwise they might be com- 

 pletely extirpated, audit will serve also as a wholesome check on those 

 individuals who do not believe the Sparrow to be injurious, and would 

 be glad to frustrate any plan for its destruction. 



The appointment of at least one person in each town or village, who 

 shall act as a professional Sparrow-killer, in our opinion is one of the 

 most imperative necessities of the case. Towns and cities are the nur- 

 series of Sparrows, and will serve to replenish the surrounding country, 

 no matter how industriously the farmer may shoot them. 



From the nature of £he case the use of fire-arms and poison in towns 

 and cities must always be restricted to comparatively few individuals, 

 whose discretion can be depended upon. Other persons can do much 

 by the destruction of nests and eggs, or by the use of traps and uets, but 

 the main work of exterminating the Sparrow inside the limits of a town 

 must fall on persons specially designated for the work. That such per- 

 sons, being already civil officers of some grade, should serve ordinarily 

 without additional pay, is a suggestion which should commend itself; 

 for otherwise there would be a natural tendency on the part of the in- 

 cumbent to make the occupation permaueut, while it would be to the 

 obvious advantage of a non-salaried officer to accomplish the extermina- 

 tion of the Sparrow as quickly as possible. 



