46 
NATURE NOTES. 
I think Mr. Edwards is much too hard on the sparrows ; they 
may have many of the faults he mentions, but I certainly think 
they have also more virtues than he gives them credit for. 
What could fill the place of sparrows about a town house ? How 
companionable they are, how cheerfully do they take life ! There 
is a hardy robustness about them, and an apparent determina- 
tion on their part to do their work in life, which I have always 
felt helpful to myself. The front of our house is covered with 
ivy ; here year after year they build their nests and breed, and I 
know, were they destroyed, we should all sorely miss the cheer- 
ful little residents there. For many years also I have regularly 
fed the birds in the winter, and have always found the sparrows 
interfere very little with the others. The robins, chaffinches and 
tom-tits (dear little birds that they are) all squabble for the food, 
but the sparrows seem generally to keep apart, and to exercise 
that virtue — sometimes, alas ! too rare— of minding their own 
business. I love all the birds about, and should be very sorry 
to see even the dowdy little sparrows destroyed. 
Newtown, Waterford. Hannah F. White. 
]\Ir. IMorris gives his sparrow a character that is not borne by 
the Herefordshire sparrow. Few people have had better oppor- 
tunity of observing the habits of this mischievous bird than my 
brother and m 5 'self in boyhood’s days in our vicarage home, and 
I cordially endorse every word of my brother’s “indictment.” 
^^'e waged a fierce war against the sparrows in the name of 
those far prettier and weaker birds that could not fight for 
themselves. In our village (Orleton), a very city of birds, each 
day there rose the cry “ driven from home.” But the point to 
be noticed is the rapid increase in numbers. A short time ago I 
was visiting Salt Lake City. The authorities there, thinking to 
get rid of a plague of caterpillars in the cotton trees that line the 
streets, sent to England for five sparrows. A man assured me 
that in three years there were five millions. The plague has 
now a different form, for the sparrows took kindly to customs 
prevailing in IMormon circles. 
For my part I could put up with the Rev. J. G. Wood’s 
sparrow, but I cannot defend the sparrow that has lived next 
door to me for twenty-five years. 
Petersfietd. Cyril Edwards. 
Concerning martens and sparrows, the following note may 
be interesting to your readers. I can vouch for the accuracy of 
it, as it occurred in Kings Lynn, almost in front of my window, 
and was daily under my observation. 
In the spring and summer of the year i8go a pair of house 
martens made repeated attempts to complete their nest and 
rear a family in one of the top corners of a blank or bricked-up 
window. Each attempt, at an earlier or later stage, was 
frustrated by children throwing stones and breaking the 
