General Notes. 
Change of Habits in our Native Birds. — It would be as interesting, 
from an evolutionary point of view, to note any change in the habits of 
an animal, any change in the way it adjusted itself to its environment, as 
to note the change in its bodily form or structure. It seems to me that 
such a change is taking place with the English Sparrow. A dozen or 
more years ago when these aliens first became a feature in our fauna it 
seemed probable that our native birds would soon be entirely driven from 
the neighborhood of our cities and villages. Our Robins, Bluebirds, 
Catbirds, Grossbeaks, Sparrows, Martins and the like were mobbed, 
driven from their food and nests and generally taught to believe, with 
Charles Sumner, that “life is a serious business.” In this section, at 
any rate, a change has gradually taken place. Either our native birds 
have unexpectedly developed powers of resistance at first unsuspected 
or the pugnacity of the English Sparrows has diminished, for certainly 
our own songsters have not been driven away but on the contrary seem 
as numerous as they were twenty years ago. For the past two or three 
years, since my attention was first called to the matter, I have seen but 
little if any persecution of our native birds by the foreign Sparrows; on 
the contrary, our own birds are now often the aggressors, and if they do 
not indulge in persecution themselves, are adepts at defence. Very com- 
monly a Jay, Robin, or Catbird will from pure mischief hustle a flock of 
Sparrows into desperate flight. In and about Rockford, 111 ., a place of 
30,000 inhabitants, the native birds have not been so numerous in twenty 
years as in the two or three years just passed. The conditions of the 
adjustment between the Sparrows and our commoner birds have changed 
to some extent, it seems. As has been noted before, the abundance of the 
Sparrows may serve to explain the increase in the numbers of the smaller 
birds of prey, — with us notably the Screech Owl. — F. H. Kimcoll, 
Rockford , ill. Ank xi. July. 1894 p. 201 
IPali Migration, Bristal County, Mass. 
1885. Charles H. Andros. 
j — 
1 noted 
two instances of the weakness of the English 
Sparrow to-day. On one of our public streets I 
saw one running, now and then tumbling over 
after the manner of a young Robin. Again, as I 
was passing a brook where several of them were 
enjoying a bath, they took to flight save one, 
which jumped into the water where for some mo- 
ments it swam about or rather beat the surface 
with its wings, and before it could reach terra 
Anna it sank back exhausted, and by the time I 
rescued the body all life was extinct. Can any 
of the readers explain this apparent feebleness of 
this Sparrow ? O. & O. XI. Jan. 1886. p 
Some very queer plans for thinning the ranks 
of the House S parro w army of invasion were 
presented to the committee of the A. O. U., the 
most Quioxtic being recommended by a clergy- 
man, to-wit: the use of fire-engines! Now in 
Winter when the Sparrows get together in great 
companies, if park-keepers and policemen were 
allowed to use double-barreled guns on the close 
packs, little apprehension need be had over their 
increase. Failing this or state outlawry, destroy 
all eggs and young on your own premises. Do 
not let your bird-boxes remain out all Winter to 
shelter the pests, but put them up only when 
White-bellied Swaliows, Wrens and Martins 
appear, so that welcome migrants will not find 
P. domesticus already in possession. 
O.&O. X. May. 1885 .p.?y 
