136 
Consequently when “Old Bob” shuffled 
off the superintendent had him carted over 
to the college and weighed, gross, with 
the result already stated. His skeleton is 
now in the college, properly articulated. 
I have heard of a number of bears being 
killed that were said to have weighed any- 
where from 1,200 to 2,200 pounds, and have 
run down a number of these reports; but 
almost invariably it has transpired that the 
bear was not weighed at all, but that some 
man or men “estimated” that he would 
have weighed up to the figure stated. This ” 
is different. It is possible that a larger 
bear may have lived and died, or been 
killed, than old Bob, but if anybody knows 
of one, definitely and absolutely, I should 
like to have a postmortem report of it 
without any guesses or estimates. 
Colonel Pickett, of Wyoming, wrote 
some years ago that he had killed over 
50 bears, many of which were grizzlies; 
that he had always carried with him on his 
hunting trips a large pair of steel yards 
that he had cut up and weighed every bear, 
elk, or other large animal he had _ killed, 
and that he had never, up to that time, 
killed a bear that weighed as much as 800 
pounds. 
It is possible the Kadiok bear of Alaska 
would beat old Bob, but I have no knowl- 
edge that any have ever been weighed.— 
EDITOR. 

THE SPARROW IS A PEST. 
In the March issue of RECREATION, L. 
Nixdorf asks, “Are English sparrows con- 
sidered a pest, and ifso why?” Iam some- 
what surprised at the question, since the 
fact is well known that in various parts 
of the country a bounty has been placed 
on the head of every miserable sparrow. 
Here in Ontario, many sparrow hunts have 
been held with considerable success, many 
thousands having been captured in these 
events. 
A long close study of this “Anglo- 
American” sparrow has convinced me 
that the bird is a pest, a nuisance, a veri- 
table plague, and an arrant coward. I have 
seen them in flocks cever a field of grain, 
and in a short time, an examination has 
shown that the ears of wheat have been 
stripped of the grain, leaving chaff for the 
farmer. 
Alone cowardly, in a noisy flock they 
courageously attack any small bird that un- 
wittingly places itself at their mercy. Their 
destructiveness and thieving propensities 
I have particularly noticed. - 
In some parts of our province a few years 
ago a decrease in the number of robins 
was very noticeable. I laid the blame large- 
RECREATION. 
ly to the sparrow. One summer 4 families 
of robins built their nests under the 4 cor- 
ners of our house. There they happily 
nested till one afternoon, hearing a noisy 
dispute about the gables, I drew near to 
learn the cause. A flock of sparrows had 
taken forcible possession. and while I 
watched, 4 pretty blue eggs fell at my feet 
from the robin’s nest above me, where the: 
sparrows were making violent eviction. I 
vowed vengeance, and when the sparrows 
had laid their 8 to 10 eggs in the stolen 
nests, I had the extreme pleasure of making 
evictions. I have seen this repeated many 
times. 
A friend of mine once had a martin cote 
where the martins nested in large numbers. 
Gradually the sparrows fought their way 
in, and finally every martin disappeared, 
replaced by a noisy, quarrelsome, pugnaci- 
ous, polygamous, and lousy breed of spar- 
rows—-a perfect “‘pest-house.” 
J. H. Holmes, 
Exeter, Ont. 

SORES (hE AY. 
I have read with great interest articles 
in RECREATION on the blue jay. Was 
surprised to read the answer to Frank 
L. Randall. Have always considered the 
blue jay an enemy of small birds. In 
Samuel’s “Birds of New England” I 
read: “Its food is more varied than that 
of almost any other bird we have. In 
winter, the berries of the cedar, barberry 
and blackthorn, with the few eggs or co- 
coons of insects that it is able to find, 
constitute its chief sustenance. In early 
spring the opening buds of shrubs, cater- 
pillars and other insects, afford it a mea- 
ger diet. Later in the spring and through 
the greater part of summer the eggs and 
young of smaller birds constitute its chief 
food, varied by a few insects and ber- 
ries.” - 
In another place he says, “the jays are 
equally injurious with the crows” and that 
“they are not deserving of a moment's 
indulgence or protection at the hands of 
the ruralist.” 
I should like to hear from others on 
the subject. If the jay is not as harm- 
ful as we have supposed he should be 
protected. He is a beautiful bird; but if 
he destroys our song birds, in such num- 
bers as claimed by some, he certainly 
does more harm than good. 
I like the way you give it to the game 
hogs. Keep on with the good work until 
they are all driven into the pound. 
Frank L, Parkhurst, Lawrence, Mass. 


