lO 
NATURE NOTES. 
EVIDENXE OF MR. HARTIXG. 
(/'.) Under one sparrow’s nest the rejected wing-cases of cockchafers were 
picked up ; they numbered over 1,400. Thus one pair of sparrows had destroyed 
more than 700 insects to feed a single brood. 
(a.) In the vicinity of Baden a price was set on the head of the sparrow, and 
soon not a sparrow was to be found in the neighbourhood. It was subsequently 
discovered that this bird alone could successfully contend against the cockchafers 
and other winged insects, and the very men who had offered a price for his 
destruction, offered a still higher price to introduce him again into the country. 
I do not advocate the “ unchecked increase ” of small birds ; on the contrary, 
I think we are perfectly justified in keeping down their numbers within reasonable 
limits. But I do advocate the abolition of sparrow clubs, and the protection of 
small birds generally between the months of April and August. During this 
period they are nesting, and the graminivorous as well as the insectivorous species 
feed their young almost exclusively on insects, as proved by a mass of evidence. 
There can be no question that, whatever depredations they may subsequently 
commit amongst grain and fruit, during this period at least they do an incalculable 
amount of good, and should be encouraged accordingly. 
F. O. Morris. 
One of the objects of our Selborne Society is “ the protection 
from unnecessary destruction of wild birds,” and surely the 
indiscriminate slaughter of sparrows which Mr. Edwards seems 
to advocate would be both unnecessary and cruel. The poor 
birds, in all they do, only act as instinct teaches them, and why 
should they be murdered for what is not their fault ? Just as 
well murder the swallow for catching flies, only, as this does m 
no harm, we do not mind it. 
In an article in the Selborne Magazine for December, 1888, 
a writer says, “ The cock sparrow is, I maintain, a really pretty 
bird, and there is no bird superior to this despised one as regards 
the extent to which tameness and affection can be developed in 
the character.” I believe that if the cock sparrow were unknown 
in this country, and if he suddenly appeared amongst us, we 
should all admire him. I copy the following out of a pamphlet 
on “ Bird Murder : ” — “ The sparrow is the bird who, probably, 
bears the worst character of all our common feathered friends, 
and is, consequently, the most persecuted. And yet he really is 
a most useful bird. Mr. Bradley, in his Treatise on Husbandry, 
reckoned that a pair of sparrows, during the time they are feeding 
their young ones, destroy eveiy week 3,360 caterpillars ! . . . 
Most of the seed-eating birds feed their young chiefly on cater- 
pillars and insect food (seeds being too hard for them in infancy), 
and thus they more than repay us for the grain they eat at other 
times ; for it must be remembered that if the caterpillars and 
larvae of insects which they destroy were not devoured by them, 
they would increase to such an extent as to destroy far more than 
birds do, both of our corn and garden crops.” Again, Mr. 
Cundall, in his useful Natural History, quotes to us from a 
translation of Bechstein’s Cage Birds as follows ; — “ The 
destruction of sparrows has been so great an evil in the countries 
where government had ordered it, that it has been found necessary 
