Pee Osh yea, UTD B O-N*S.0 GI-E-T Y 23 
lots, poultry yards, nor stables in the block. The average size 
of each house lot is about four by nine rods. No other traps were 
in operation in the neighborhood.” 
At Waukegan Mr. W. I. Lyon, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Morris and 
others have been very successful in trapping sparrows. Mr. 
Lyon used his modification of the U. S. government trap as 
described in the Spring, 1921, Bulletin. Mr. Morris’ uses a 
similar trap, his catch for the year being about 600. Both Mr. 
Morris and Mr. Lyon scored their greatest success during the 
summer months when the fledglings were acquiring experience. 
Mr. Lyon’s record by months is herewith given, with the explan- 
ation that he was away most of the month of August. 
fiiuary 0, tevruary, 2; March, 2; April, 6: May, 2; June, 
foe uly, 217; August, 131; September, 14; October, 17; Nov- 
ember, 17; December, 18; total, 504. 
Mrs. Benjamin Bachrach, Jr., reports of the work of the 
Bird Protection Committee of the Decatur Bird and Tree Club, 
this committee giving considerable attention to the extermination 
of the English Sparrow. The funnel-shapped trap recommended 
by the government has been used. The catch up to October 
had numbered 459 sparrows as reported by the chairman of the 
Committee, Mr. C. C. Caldwell. Of her personal experiences 
Mrs. Bachrach writes: ‘“‘We have a bird garden and to the best of 
our ability have identified 75 or more varieties. As usual the 
bete noire of this garden is the English Sparrow. We have so 
many lures for our bird friends, our small sanctuary seems to 
be known to the feathered world as a safe retreat for nesting, 
for resting, for mating, and naturally the Sparrow, this gamin, 
this alien, so readily acclimatable, takes advantage of all this, 
and methods of extermination must naturally be sought, some 
way to outwit his keen little brain. We found the sparrow trap 
not so satisfactory. 
“We tried shooting from ambush, but the city ordinances dis- 
couraged this method. So in the extreme cold weather we sat- 
urated corn or bread crumbs in a solution of strychnine, then 
baked it in the oven to kill the odor and make it look normal. 
We found they would not touch it when it was wet. Then com- 
menced a vigil, for at no time was that pan permitted to stay 
outdoors unless it was watched for fear some useful bird might 
partake. We have killed as many as twenty in a few hours, and 
never another species of bird would go near the pan. 
“In my talks to school children in large groups at schools 
or to Boy Scouts I do not hesitate to teach them that the Sparrow 
is a detriment. We do not consider him a bird but a pest. I tell 
‘them how they usurp bird houses sized for other birds, how they 
cruelly torture the Wren and the Bluebird for no reason. They 
are cruel and spiteful, unclean, noisy intruders.” 
