Yes, after laws for the extermination of 
1 ™ e sparrow have been passed and carried 
) out; while robins and other birds have 
-been allowed to be killed for years, until 
many species are well nigh extinct. Not a 
sparrow would now be living against which 
to make a law had he been considered 
beautiful, for fashion would have si aught- 
ered Mm long ago. His sober black-and- 
| brown has saved him, and he has kept at 
; task allotted him by Nature. 
Let those who know speak. Let those 
who would speak from hearsay and preju- 
dice remain quiet and be willing to learn 
It seems strange, such an order from 
such a mayor! Then tihe Influence of such 
an attitude of mind! c. A. B 
Unsupported by Public Sentiment 
To the Editor of the Transcript; 
If his honor the mayor could witness the 
thousands of people that are feeding spar- 
rows in the wintry months, he might com- 
mute the death sentence, in which he would 
be sustained by a large majority of the 
people. 
Doubtless the business men in a busy city 
are indifferent as to all pets, unless perhaps 
with the exception of horses and dogs, but 
once giving the birds a thought, they would 
almost unanimously disapprove of molest- 
ing them. The only fault found with the 
English sparrow is that they drive away 
birds of a finer plumage. 
But, Is this a fact? Ana If It Is, very few 
songsters are to be found in populous cities, 
and surely parrots, canaries and linnets 
don’t often fly loose in the city of Boston. 
Now, aside from this charge, the swallows 
are a quiet and harmless bird, and do a 
deal of good work In destroying Insects and 
caterpillars that do exist in our city, and 
which ruin trees, shrubs and vines, of 
which we still have quite a number and 
which are worth preserving. Which shall 
it be? Caterpillars and worms or sparrows? 
Let the birds live! J. B. B. 
A Poor Way to Welcome the Maytime 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
I am one of those who have read the 
petition for civic destruction of the 
English sparrow and foreseen that 
quarrelsome and shameless little crea- 
ture’s doom. But can we not give 
him a chance to die handsomely, without 
superfluous murder of his own nervous sys- 
tem and ours? According to the printed 
prospectus, the very first move on our part 
is to be “the persistent and thorough 
thrusting down of the nests?’’ Why not 
poison first, or nets, or shotguns? To de- 
stroy the nests first will be to cause endless 
perplexity and pain, an ante-mortem tor- 
ture, and to fill the air of the Common 
with cries and distressed wings. I submit 
that such a scene, in May-time, before all 
the small boys of the city, will be distinctly 
demoralizing. The sparrows, after all, are 
not a deliberate nuisance; their whole of- 
fence in our eyes is that they live their 
life. Surely if we In our fastidiousness re- 
solve to end these tiny pert Aguinaldos, 
we can at least afford to spare them need- 
less suffering. G. 
Reverence for Life 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
Before signing a petition for the exter- 
mination of the English sparrow I wish ! 
each one would stop to consider which is of 
the most value, the lives of God’s creatures 
or the aesthetic appearance of “temples 
made with hands”? 
Surely this “St. Bartholomew of birds” 
will not take place if we believe that "one 
falleth not to the ground” disregarded. 
“How can I teach you children gentleness, 
And mercy to the weak and reverence 
For Life, which, in its weakness or excess 
Is still a gleam of God’s omnipotence, 
***** 
When by your laws, your action and your ; 
speech, 
You contradict the very things I teach?” 
M. D. H. 
Newton, March 8. 
Bats and the Sparrow-Poison 
To the Editor of the Transcript: 
Will you permit me to add what by some 
mistake failed to get into my letter in your 
Saturday’s issue that there may be great 
danger that rats eating poisoned sparrows 
and running into stores or dwellings to die 
may make such stores and dwellings for a 
time almost uninhabitable. 
I would like also to add that If the spar- j 
rows must be poisoned and their nests de- 
stroyed then, as your “Liste ner” urges, 
great care should be taken not to poison or 
destroy the nests of robins and other birds 
which come in considerable numbers every 
year to our common, parks and other pub- 
lic grounds. Possibly If the sparrows were 
permitted to live -they might, in addition to 
their services as scavengers, assist in pro- 
tecting our city trees from gypsy moths 
as they did in protecting them from cater- 
pillars. 
George T. Angei/l 
.r !ZL 
Wmnmpmi 
MONDAY. 
march e, ieag 
— — i . 
i 
