eh AsUPDEUe BIO Ne Bevin label iN 3 
Baby chipping sparrows are the most demanding offspring on the shelf. 
I have seen four greedy, fat little fellows about run the thin little mother 
ragged. They crowded around her, pink mouths gaping, wings a-shiver, 
literally pushing her off the shelf. They never get filled up, and squeak 
all day long. One day the mother stood on a small perch above her infant 
and crammed cracked corn into its greedy mouth as fast as she could pick 
it up. I expected to see the little bird explode. He kept right on squeaking 
and shivering his wings till at last she stopped, gave him a long look and 
flew away. The little wretch stopped squeaking and fed himself. 
The worst actor among the birds we have is the common house sparrow. 
Aside from his dirty, noisy habits, I have such a violent dislike of him that 
it is hard to write about him. One of my reasons for this feeling is that 
I had a pair of bluebirds nesting in a house that we put up for them. They 
had four baby birds. One morning I heard the bluebirds crying and making 
a great fuss, and when I looked out they were dashing to the house and 
away again as though terrified. I went out and found a male house sparrow 
in the house. He flew out as I came near, but came right back, squawking 
and acting like something possessed! He had killed and thrown out all the 
baby birds. I was just sick about it. The bluebirds are such gentle in- 
offensive things. In a few days the sparrows built in the box. We decided 
to wait till there were eggs and destroy them. One night we covered the 
opening and trapped the hen. She played possum and seemed to be dead. 
We foolishly emptied the box, eggs and all, in the dump. Away flew Mrs. 
sparrow. The bluebirds took over again, and this time the sparrow 
destroyed the eggs. We took the box down then. Whether it goes up again 
depends on whether we win our private war with the bird Nazis. They are 
clever, and murderous varmints. I keep a trap set now. 
Hendersonville, North Carolina. 
ft fi ft 
Bird Walks in Thatcher Woods 
By ESTHER A. CRAIGMILE 
ALEXANDER SPRUNT, JR., of the National Audubon Society, conducted field 
trips for bird study at Lake Okeechobee, Florida, in the spring of 1942. 
He is a great teacher and ranks first as a conservationist. What pleasure 
he took in showing students for the first time Florida warblers, yellow- 
throated warblers, Florida pileated woodpeckers, red-cockaded woodpeckers, 
Florida crows, brown-headed nuthatches, chuck-will’s-widows, nesting 
Florida cranes, Florida clapper rails, anhingas, caracaras, knots, dowitchers, 
white and glossy ibis, seven species of herons, white pelicans, and the 
limpkin! I went from St. Petersburg to spend two days in a station wagon 
touring along the lake and visiting the Kissimmee River Valley. Mrs. 
Wasson and Elizabeth were later attracted there, and during spring vaca- 
tion in River Forest Mrs. Ellsworth Wescott and Charles were enrolled in 
Mr. Sprunt’s tour. 
Is it any wonder that this group became leaders in conducting field 
trips along the Des Plaines River the following spring? Mrs. John Shawvan 
also gave hearty support from the beginning. February 27, 1943, we met 
