The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1875-04-15

Gus orders. will be made during the
summer. We predict success for the
plucky ColoradiAns. The sparrow is
. mortal enemy OF the grub, grasshop-
per and other insects, for they are his
favorite food. and his appetite Is yora-
cious. But he will not prove wholly
= blessing, this sapey, cheerful little
stranger from over the sea- Like his
fellow British subject, his naturaliza-
ton is an easy matter, and he increas-
es even more rapidly. A few years
ago, certainly not more than Eve, four
hundred of these little emigrants were
invited to take up their abode in Phil
adelphia, to rescue the shade trees in
our streets aud parks from the ravag-
IS of the disgusting grub that breeds
the chronological miller. The four
hundred did their work well, and the
nuisance has been abated and the
danger is past, but there arc five mil
lions of birds now. They fill every tree
in the city with their nests, the streets
are fuller of them than they are of Pc
Iestrians, they forage in the yards UNI
Ter the nose of Biddy, and pick up
their MONDAY meals on the pavements
without fear of the small boy. All
this is very agreeable to the dwellers
Of the city. The sight of the sturdy,
plump little fellows in brown is not
unpleasant, and calls up associations
fol which every city man signs in vain
their incessant chirping is the sweet
est Of all sweet sounds. We give them
the right of way; some Of us train
vines and cultivate the clematis
against the bleak sides of our houses
that they may have comfortable
home, and we have seen many a
housewife or clcan-faccd, tidy exile
from land near to the sparrow's ma
tive isle, sweep the crumbs that have
fallen from her own or her mistress
table where the hungry seekers after
food nigh: find them. Indeed, we
have taken the little strangers to our
hearts and feed them with our hands
but not SD the farmers hereabouts.
The sparrow has migrated and multi
piled, and all the country round and
about knows him, although not as we'll
as we do. Still we hear an occasional
protest against him from the agricult-
urast. Where he has not the tender,
juicy grub, and rich swecpings of the
Kitchen to cat and grow fat on, he
helps himself to the equally nutritious
grain in the husbandman's fields. The |
devices that intimidate the crow are
wasted on him, he breeds faster than
the enragcd bucOlic can load and re. |
load his gun. We do not wish to an
ticipate evil, but wise men tell us that |
the day will come when the farmers of |
the Suburban counties will declare
that the people of Philadelphia opened |
a Pandora's box when they swung
back the doors of the cages in which |
the sparrOws were imported. Still |
this is something that worries the
tOwnsman in small degree; he has
not the grub and he has bird, pleas
ent companiOnable sort of fellow, who
has added another element to city life,
and given the streets new attraction.
We believe the Coloradians will like
the sparrOws too, and that he will ex-
terminate their pests. Certainly he
will increase as fast as the grasshop-
per. The four hundred. brought to
philadelphia five years ago and their
defendants now number, or would
if census were taken, more /
than thirty millions. Ifthis flock could |
not cope with the largest army of To-
Gusts that ever marched across the
plains and fell upon fair Nebraska and
tree Kansas, the people of those I'M
fortunate states had best abandon
their present homes, and In one numer-
Gus caravan seek the eastern bank of |
the Mississippi River and the Atlantic
slope.