48 
NATURE NOTES. 
sparrow that I am treating. He must not be mixed up with the 
other birds, as he seems to have been in the evidence of the late 
Rev. J. G. Wood, which is of small value, as he himself says 
therein : “ I have not done very much with the sparrow.” 
Mr. Rowland H. Hill tells us that the sparrow takes a back 
seat in favour of the robin, and I have often noticed the ap- 
parent politeness. It is due to the fact that the sparrow has 
the sense of caution largely developed, and that the robin has 
next to none. Let the sparrows be satisfied that the coast is 
clear, and that there is nothing to fear, and scant courtesy will be 
shown to the robin, who will quickly be sent to the right-about. 
This stands to reason, for most bird's are entirely selfish, except 
as regards some of their relations, and the weak have to give 
way to the strong. To another of Mr. R. H. Hill’s points it 
will be sufficient reply to ask. Who made the venomous snakes, 
and the bacillus of influenza, cholera, rabies, &c. ? I attribute 
no fault except to man, who has upset the balance of nature 
and allowed the sparrows to increase to an inordinate extent, 
and whose duty it is, in self-defence and in defence of the better 
birds, to reduce its numbers within the former limits. 
The plain answer to Mr. F. O. Morris’ “very plain question” 
is this : That the process of the elimination of the marten by the 
sparrow has not been going on for thousands of years to any 
appreciable extent, because the natural enemies of the sparrow, 
the hawks, weasels, and (probably) owls, kept his numbers within 
bounds, and the old thatched barns afforded him ample and com- 
fortable quarters. It is only within the last thirty or forty years, 
and more especially within the last ten, that the sparrows have 
multiplied, the thatched roofs decreased, and the martens suffered 
deprivation to such a deplorable extent. 
Mr. Morris does make one point against me, and that is the 
quotation from Mr. Harting’s evidence, showing that one pair 
of sparrows had destroyed over 700 cockchafers for a single 
brood. This is certainly in that family’s favour, but is only a 
single instance, and probably occurred under exceptional circum- 
stances. But how strange that Mr. Morris should urge it ! 
^Good gracious ! more than 700 of these beautiful beetles — and 
are they not beautiful ? — cruelly sacrificed, their wings ruthlessly 
torn off their writhing bodies, their legs pulled out, and their 
helpless forms deliberately pecked to pieces and swallowed 
warm. It is horrible — and this to have occurred more than 700 
times in a single season ! And these cockchafers are creatures 
that the Selbornian can afford to love in moderate numbers, for 
in this part of the country at all events they hardly cross his 
line, though to a market gardener it is another matter. I like to 
watch them flying round the nut-trees on a warm summer’s 
evening, and to listen to the soft hum of their wings. An active 
boy with a hooked stick and a bottle will soon clear a garden of 
cockchafers, and can put them to a merciful death ; the sparrow 
is not indispensable on their account. 
