SOME OHIO BIRDS 
13 
into consideration the thousands of cats in towns and cities. Two- 
inch mesh poultry wire can be used to exclude animals or larger 
birds, and at the same time this will allow smaller desirable inhabi¬ 
tants to pass through to a food-supply or bath on the inside. 
The House Sparrow has become such a nuisance and so universal 
in its distribution, that it is not probable it can ever be exterminated. 
Native birds have suffered a decrease in numbers through persecu¬ 
tion by this introduced species. Nesting sites are wrested from our 
more useful and desirable native species, or their eggs and young 
destroyed. When the food shelf is put up and the feast spread, this 
nuisance among birds is the first to visit it. Though bold, this 
Sparrow is suspicious and does not like a shelf that moves, or a nest- 
box that is suspended. A shelf, hinged to the window sill at one 
side and supported on the other by a weak spring, or a swinging 
shelf, is an improvement over a stationary one. In the country, 
vigorous use of the shotgun and the destruction of nests and eggs 
will help to hold th.,m in check.* 
As a protection from Hawks, shrubbery and loosely built brush 
piles into which small birds can take refuge, will serve the purpose. 
Nests frequently become infested with vermin, especially about 
the habitations of man. Sometimes the parent birds are forced to 
abandon the young on this account. Where such conditions exist, 
dusting with insect powder will kill the vermin without any injury 
to the nestlings. 
BIRD LEGISLATION 
The first laws passed were for the protection of game birds ex¬ 
clusively, but these constitute less than a twentieth of all our birds. 
Insectivorous and song birds; plume, sea, and raptorial birds; all of 
greater or lesser economic value, received no protection until within 
comparatively recent years. Our revised laws for non-game birds 
read as follows: 
CATCHING AND KILLING BIRDS OTHER THAN GAME BIRDS 
Code of Ohio, Sec. 1409. No person shall catch, kill, injure, pursue,' or 
have in his possession either dead or alive, or purchase, expose for sale, trans¬ 
port or ship to a point within or without the state, a turtle or mourning - dove, 
sparrow, nuthatch, warbler, flicker, vireo, wren, American robin, catbird, 
tanager, bobolink, blue jay, oriole, grosbeck, (grosbeak), or redbird, creeper, 
redstart, waxwing, woodpecker, humming bird, killdeer, swallow, bluebird, 
blackbird, meadowlark, bunting, starling, redwing, purple martin, brown 
thresher, (thrasher), American goldfinch, chewink or ground robin, pewee or 
phoebe bird, chickadee, fly catcher, gnat catcher, mouse-hawk, whippoor-will, 
snowbird, titmouse, gull, eagle, buzzard, or any wild bird other than a game 
bird. No part of the plumage, skin, or body of such birds shall be sold or had 
in possession for sale. (99 V. 369 Sec. 22.). 
*For further particulars see Farmers Bulletin 282, U. S. D. A., on How to Destroy English 
' Sparrows.” 
