/ 
A GENERAL PROTEST 
| Against the Herodian Decree for 
the Slaughter of Sparrows 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
I am not In the way of getting up a 
counter-petition, but I wish to enter a 
vigorous protest against ttoatr which pro- 
poses to massacre the English sparrow. 
It is urged as sufficient cause for this 
barbarous treachery towards a creature 
we ourselves brought into the country, that 
they do not eat all the insects they Were 
expected to destroy. 
I do not profess a complete knowledge 
of the subject, but seme insects I know 
they eat, for I have seen them. I also be- 
lieve that the inch-worm, the terror of 
my childhood in New York, has entirely 
disappeared since the importation of this 
bird. 
It is urged that they befoul and disfig- 
ure our public buildings and statues. So 
they do. So do also men and boys In 
Various Ways. Would it not be better to 
employ people to cleanse these things oc- 
casionally than to kill the men or the birds 
or the boys? It is urged that many per- 
sons are annoyed by their "harsh notes." j 
This sounds strangely, coming through the i 
present fad for bird-lore and bird-culture! 
To those who love birds for themselves . 
j the chatter of the sparrows is a delight. 
It makes compulsory residence In a city 
more tolerable and is sweet company for 
the solitary and the lonely. It is urged 
that the English sparrow drives awaj/ other 
birds. That they do not always do this I 
know. For many years I have seen them 
winter on Long Island, N. Y., and except 
there was unusual cold and snow, the 
"Chippies” and “chi'ok-a-dee-dees” were 
there as well, followed near springtime by 
the bluebirds and robins. 
It is proposed to destroy these too pro- 
lific little creatures “mercifully,” and sug- 
gestions are made accordingly to per- 
sistently push down the nests In breeding- 
time, to poison in secluded places, to trap 
In houses ostensibly built for their pleasure. 
Will some one of those prominent citizens 
whose names I have read on this petition 
say where the “mercy” comes in? The 
breeding season has generally been con- 
sidered sacred even in regard to vermin. 
If the poisoning plan Is adopted some of 
us may taste of that mercy after eating j 
small birds on toast in a restaurant. And ! 
for the last-named suggestion of the 
"house-traps,” It may be the best of the 
three, but it is so treacherous in its nature 1 
that one blushes to note the names In- 
dorsing it. E. G. M. 
A Word for the Condemned 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
The announcement that the English 
sparrow^ is doomed is not hailed with uni- 
versal satisfaction. There are those who 
insist that this despised little creature— the 
only bit of feathered life undaunted by 
frost and snow— has some redeeming traits. 
On© can hardly help admiring the cheerful 
persistence with which it replaces its nest 
again and again, when ft Is ruthlessly torn 
down. Undoubtedly this bird is. in many 
ways an unpleasant neighbor, especially to 
dwellers in city houses; but some of us 
dread the revival of another pest, should 
the hated sparrow- disappear. Time was 
when people who frequented our shaded 
avenues were obliged to take to the middle 
of the street In order to avoid the descend- 
ing canker-worms, and when no lady could 
walk abroad without bringing them home 
In her garments. An amusing instance of 
this is recalled when Dr. O. W. Holme® was 
riding in a street ear and a lady who had 
unwittingly brushed against a fence, got 
into the oar and sat down beside him. 
"Madam,” cried Dr. Holmes, with an up- 
ward turn of his expressive nose, "you 
are covered with canker-worms.” It is 
said that the piazza of Craigle House in 
those days was so strewed with these 
creatures that It was almost impossible to 
step there. A Cambridge lady tels me that 
formerly her . linden trees were literally 
stripped of leaves by canker-worms; but 
i that since the advent of the English spar- 
row the foliage has been almost untouched. 
This lady takes great delight in June, the 
canker-worm season, in watching the spar- 
rows hunt the worms. They spend many 
hours diligently searching for them on the 
under sides of the leaves, and when their 
beaks are full of wriggling victims they 
fly to thedr nests and feed their young. 
Before -the threatened blow falls, let us 
reflect which Is the more disagreeable and 
harmful, the chattering sparrow or the 
spinning worm? Would it not be well for 
the city fathers to ponder these lines 
from Longfellow’s “Birds of Killing-worth”: 
"Devoured by wobms, like Herod, was the 
town. 
Because, like Herod, ft had ruthlessly 
Slaughtered the Innocents. From the t tress 
spun down 
The canker-worms upon the passers-by. 
Upon each woman’s bonnet, shawl, and 
gown, 
Who shock them off with just a little 
cry; 
; They were the terror of each favorite walk, 
; The endless theme of all the village talk.” 
M. T. H. 
Sparrows Neither Attack Other Birds Nor Do 
They Drive Them Away 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
Mr. Angell in Saturday’s Transcript ehal- 
j lenges anyone to show a single instance 
where sparrows have attacked or killed 
other birds. They have frequently been ac- 
cused in your columns of driving- away 
bluebirds, and even purple martins. I lived 
for many years in a country town not far 
from Boston, and in my garden were many 
bird-houses. Every winter sparrows occu- 
pied these houses. With the first advent 
of spring: came the bluebirds. There was 
no fig-lit, the sparrows simply vacated the 
houses, found other quarters, and the blue- 
birds took possession. A few weeks later 
and the purple martin appeared on the 
scene, loudly proclaiming- that those houses 
belonged to him. Feathers flew In every di- 
rection, not the feathers of s-parrows or 
martins, but bluebirds’ feathers. The mar- 
tin being much the stronger, the result wa3 
always the same, the bluebirds were driven 
out, and the martins took possession. In the 
autumn, after the martins went South, the 
sparrows took up their winter quarters in 
the houses previously occupied by martins 
and bluebirds. For fourteen years I 
watched them all attentively, many of the 
birds being so tame that I could handle 
them freely, and never did I see a sparrow 
fight a bird not of his own kind. Occa- 
sionally two male birds would peck at each j 
other when they were both In love with the ] 
same girl, but that is not confined to spar- j 
rows. There were robins in plenty, yellow 
birds, and humming-birds in the same gar- 
den with the sparrows, martins a.nd the 
bluebirds. The sparrows stay with us in 
Winter when our native birds leave us; they 
have saved our elm trees from destruction, 
and they are certainly much clearer than 
the caterpillars, which will certainly return 
if we kill them. As I read the names at 
taehed to the petition for the destruction 
of these cheery little friends, I was filled 
with Indignation, and found myself devout- 
ly wishing that if poisoned grain j 
were used the second victims might be the 
pet cats and dogs of the signers of so cruel 
a petition. Do they think that only spar- 
rows will be destroyed by any of the means 
proposed ? 
Concord, March 5. 
The Dangers of Poison 
To the Editor of the Transcript: « 
The clarion has sounded. The spirit of 
war hovers over the land. We must fight 
whether or no, it matters little whom. Let 
us fight the sparrows. 
At first we invited, nay, urged them to 
visit us, with offers of the kindliest hospital- 
ity. “Welcome the coming, speed the part- 
ing guest.” It is not the first time, and 
perhaps Will not be the last, that we en- 
courage the immigration of foreigners with 
protestations of eternal friendship, and 
after a few decades discover that their 
ways are not our ways (which we might 
have known in the beginning had we 
paused to consider) and then raise a great 
hullabaloo to get rid of them by fair means 
or foul. 
Poor little sparrows! Some of the accu- 
sations brought against them would fit 
equally the pigeons or any other birds. 
I As to the really criminal charges, so to 
j speak, authorities seem to be about evenly 
divided on the subject. 
Personally I own to a sneaking fondness 
for the cheery, courageous little creatures. 
Their gossipy chatter may not be as sweet 
as the notes of singing birds, but to me 
it is infinitely more agreeable than a hun- 
dred other harsh city sounds. I have a 
great respect for life in all its phases, and 
deeply disapprove destroying wantonly 
what we cannot recreate. 
However, if the flat has gone forth with- 
out appeal that the sparrows must go, I 
| should like to utter a word in protest 
I a-ga-inst the manner of their taking off. 
Quite recently an offender was heavily 
fined for poisoning a dog, and all agreed 
that the sentence was just, that the scat- 
tering of poison was a heinous crime, de- 
serving severe punishment; and yet here 
is the scattering of poison sanctioned by 
law. Poison cannot be so placed as to 
kill one class of birds without being eaten 
more or less by other classes. Moreover, 
when the birds, having partaken of the 
poison and weakened by its effect become 
an easy prey to our pet cats and dogs, 
how many sad human hearts will there 
be in the city mourning the untimely loss 
of their dumb animal friends! 
If we must kill the brave little sparrows, 
at least let us kill them only, and not use 
means that will with therrl destroy so many- 
other lives that to us are very dear. 
M. P. L. 
A Misguided Mayor 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
Is It not surprising that our mayor 
should Issue such an order as that against 
the life of the sparrow? If he had sought j 
Information from such persons as the 
“Listener,” and others who know the hab- 
its of birds in general, and the sparrow to 
particular, he would be as anxious to pro- 
tect Its life as he Is now to destroy it. 
First, this little bird is a scavenger, and, 
unlike those persons hired by the city to 
keep her alleys, etc., clean (and whose lazy 
lncompetency has missed our mayor's ready 
eye), he does work vigorously and well. 
Have you never seen, this “worker” on a 
twig covered with webs, and in a short 
time seen it stripped of webs and Weavers? 
Have you ever stopped to see what this 
little bird is doing, as he hops up the 
trunk of a tree, or flits around comers of 
fences and houses? 
Yet the Common, where he is so much 
needed, and where he has done such good 
work, is to he the “experimental” ground 
of attack. 
Can it be our mayor ha a been listening to 
some, who know the law already on the 
books, and who are knowingly interested to 
the "Moth” Commission? Gypsy Moth 
Commission! 
, (o r [ TT J , 
