Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-05-27
War On the SparrOWs.

IL ootlElS 10 Do only question or
me when the slaughter of the sparrows
shall be commenced. In this city they
are now recognized as lite better than
11nmitigated nuisances. Scarcely a
n1tclfe or crevice In any of the buildings
but is filled with their nests, and in the
immediate neighborhood of these it is
far from safe to walk if the matter of
cleanliness it at all to be considered.
Besides this, the object for which they
were brought into this country is not
attained. 1t was supposed that they
would clear the trees of worms, but they
seem 10 clear away everything else but
worms, and drive away the birds that
clear them off. Only few days ago a
gentleman living in the first ward saw
two American birds come into his yard
and commence to build their nests.
They were peaceful little fellows, and
their singing, when they did sing, was
sweet music compared with the noisy
squabble and chatter of the sparrows.
They had not been long in the yard be-
fore the sparrows found them out and
attacked them. The mother bird
fought bravely, but the sparrows came
by the half dozen and actually killed
her, and then took noisy possession of
the place. Last year this same gentle
man could getno fruit on hispear trees,
and 1t was SO unusual that he knew not
what to make of it, He found out q
day or two ago. His wife was watching
at the window, and saw the sparrows
in the pear trees pulling off the bios
SONS. She called her husband to see,
and while he was watching he saw one
OF the sparrows light over bunch of
half a dozen or more blossoms, and &C
tually pull them all off the stem and
| fly away with them. +'+.
In speaking of these noisy and al
ready troublesome birds, the same gen
tleman said that where we used to have
a number of blue birds and robins and
"chippies, birds that do pick worms
off trees, there is not one now to be
found. In Germany, he said, the spar
rows are such a nuisance that there are
laws for killing them. In certain Sec
tions every boy between specified years
of age is obliged to bring to the officials
of the borough in which he lives at
least twelve sparrows, dead or alive,
every week, and in other sections where
they are exclusively numerous, the girls
are obliged to do the same. The only
way they can protect the grape vines in
some sections of Germany is by
covering them with netting to prevent
the sparrows from tearing off the bios
SONS or ripening fruit. AS for fruits,
they can't raise any Whole fields Of
rye and wheat are destroyed in short
time by sparrows. They pull it up
when it is just sprouting, and carry it
away. This last little practice of the
sparrow has been exhibited in this city.
A gentleman sowed bed of lettuce.
When it began to come up the sparrows
got at it, and have pulled up nearly
every sprout 1t will be almost worth
less.
Between their filth, their war upon 9th
erprettier and far dantier birds, and thei1
destruction of fruits and young plants,
it seems not improbable that when the
sparrows have increased to few hun
dred thousand more in each city, and
carry on their depredations according
ly, the work of ruthlessly slaughtering
them will be a necessity, both for the
sake of cleanliness and economy
Elizabeth Journal