134 
Estabrook, The English Sparrow Problem. 
f Auk 
L April 
pense is borne by a special tax levied on each county. In 
Australia, the sparrow is increasing to extraordinary numbers 
and the people are up in arms against it. As the agricultural 
interests there are involved, the time seems ripe for action. 
The sparrow is an exotic species to America, and following the 
law of introduced species, has become a pest and the time is 
sure to come when the people will demand extermination. When 
the whole country, or a great section of the country, comes to a 
definite decision in the matter, then is the time for all to work to- 
gether and to clean out the species till not one is left. For if any 
are left, their great ratio of reproduction, four to five broods of five 
eggs each, each year, would soon render the work useless and 
leave the people more discouraged than now. The repression of 
the sparrow cannot be undertaken locally with any lasting or per- 
manent effect, for the killing of a few thousands is as a drop in the 
bucket, and the small vacuum would soon be filled by others swarm- 
ing in from neighboring parts. 
The letters I have received show that some here, some there, 
are doing honest work toward sparrow extermination, and while 
I do not want in the least to discourage them in their efforts, the 
results are only temporary and the work must be kept up continu- 
ally. If one State or group of States set to work carefully within 
their borders, some lasting results will be obtained and the con- 
tinuous work need only be kept up on the borders of the territory 
where the sparrow has been exterminated. But a far better way 
is to have the whole country do this extermination, now, at once, 
and all over the United States. 
Auk, 24, Apr. ,1907, p. 
