to travel from one place to another until there are few cities 
in the East where they are not in possession of the parks. 
-_ Even in the cities and in the country of the Northwest, they 
ae are slipping in, and unless the first pair is destroyed they 
goon are able to drive out other birds, as they multiply — 
_ rapidly and thrive under almost any condition. | 
Mr. Samuel Rathbun, a most careful bird student, is. 
a authority for the statement that the first pair of these 
ttle pests appeared in Seattle in the vicinity of Third and 
- James in 1897. The next year fourteen were seen, and the 
oF next, seventy. From this nucleus they have spread over the 
2 entire city.’ ‘How they came is not known definitely. They 4 
probably came in on a freight train; having slipped into a 
ear for food at some point along the railroad far east of 
Seattle, as it has been observed that House Sparrows have 
followed the shining steel rails westward from o big 
a centres where they were introduced. 
__ _In an exhaustive report made to our government by 
Walter B. Barrows, it is stated that the young of one pair, 
if protected, would amount in ten years to 275,716,983,698 _ 
birds. Wherever they appear, they finally. drive away the 
: native song birds. While they are spreading somewhat into _ 
| the farming regions, they are naturally lovers of the city 
and can be easily seen fighting over some morsel in the 
_ streets, or heard fussing over household matters in vine- 
| draped or tree- ‘shaded homes of cities. The sparrows which 
- gearcely take the trouble to step out of the way of a foot 
passenger on the city docks or about stations are usually , 
= house sparrows. 
The male bird may be i Paruishes han other helpful 
x “little brown sparrows by the black throat-streak reaching 
down on the breast, and the chestnut patch spreading from 
- the eye to the shoulder, with some white on cheeks and 
wings. With the males will be seen the inconspicuous ~ 
_ brownish- “gray females with no particular marks of re- 
cognition. They have taken out no citizenship papers, but 
