EVIDENCE. INCREASE AND CHECKS. 239 



of two cents per head for them, but they are spreading in the country, and nothing- 

 hut a general war on them simultaneously will do any good. (September 6, 188G.) 



Wisconsin. — Janesvllle. H. Richardson : The little birds suffer excessively from 

 our cold winters, but they increase so fast during the summer that their number 

 keeps up. (November 12, 1886.) 



Kenosha. Otis G. King: The last winter killed off a great many, but this fall 

 there is a full supply again. (November 12, 1886.) 



Eipon. A. Everhard: At one time it was very abundant here, but a hard winter 

 killed a great many, and since then they have not increased very fast. (November 

 18,1886.) 



Sheboygan. Carl Zillier: Three pairs were brought here from Germany in 1875, 

 and they have multiplied so that now there are millions of them here and in the sur- 

 rounding country. (November 15, 1886.) 



CANADA. Ontario. — Strathroy. L. H. Smith: The Sparrow stands our winter 

 well, although I have seen him with the thermometer at 20° to 30 c below zero fluffed 

 out like a ball of feathers, and wishing, no doubt, notwithstanding earthquakes, that 

 he were in Charleston, S. C. (October 11, 1886.) 



Yarlcer. John Ewart : The winters are too severe here for the Sparrows to become 

 very numerous. I have never found any myself that were frozen, but another party 

 found quite a lot which had been frozen in an unused grain storehouse ; also some in a 

 shed attached to the grist-mill in this place. I have also noticed a marked decrease 

 in their numbers after a cold dip, but of course that may be caused by a move south. 

 (November 19, 1886.) 



New Brunswick. — Fredericton. Charles W. Beckwith : The English Sparrows are 

 not yet a nuisance here, and unless they increase more rapidly than at present are 

 not likely to become troublesome in the future. They winter here, but each spring 

 the colony is largely reduced from cold ; by autumn, however, they appear to have 

 increased to the original numbers. (October 8, 1886.) 



IRELAND. — Dublin. Percy Evans Freke: With regard to the destruction of this 

 pest, I hope you will allow me to offer a suggestion. In cases where vines are trained 

 ovBr any flat surface, such as the wall of a house, they afford the best possible Sparrow 

 traps. Not only in the nesting season, but also in winter they will, if evergreen, become 

 the roosting place at night of armies of Sparrows. Then a large net spread between 

 two poles, should be laid against the vines, which should be then beaten with long 

 rods. Lanterns, raised if necessary on poles, should be held before the net. The 

 birds fly from the vines toward the light and are caught in the net, or flutter down 

 to the bottom of it, which should be turned up inward to receive them. 



In this way numbers of adult Sparrows may be destroyed. The nests can of course 

 always be taken. I fear, however, it will be found impossible to get rid of them al- 

 together. A few will always survive, aud will again increase rapidly. (October 1, 

 1887.) 



ENGLAND. — Sparrow clubs are formed in the old country, each member being re- 

 quired to show a given quota of heads each week or month. Farmers pay their boys so 

 much a dozen for eggs, young, and old birds. We used to poison them also with poi- 

 soned wheat till stopped by law on account of the wholesale destruction of other 

 birds. Nets and every device were used to take them; a favorite one with myself 

 and with all boys was, and still is, to take a lantern on a dark night under a thatched 

 shed where the Sparrows slept. One boy drove them out with a pole, while three or 

 four others stood round the lantern in a corner, and caught them in their hands. 

 (David H. Henman, Willows, Griggs County, Dak., December 12, 1836.) 



