The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-11-06
The Ameriean Career Of the sparror.

The first attempt, as far as is known,
to Introduce the common hOuse-sparrOw
of Europe to our country was made bv
gentleman named Desblois. in Port
land, Maine, during the autumn of 1858:
he brought over q few birds from the
Continent, and liberated them in a large
garden which was situated within the
central part of the city. They remained
there sheltered and secure under the
caves of a neighboring church through
out the winter, and in the following
spring settled down happily enough to
the labor of nest-building and rearing
their young. Two years later the first
pair of these fnches were set at liberty
near Madison Square, New York CITY;
the importation was steadily repeated,
the birds being released in the Central
Park and at Jersey City. They were
first introduced to Boston in 1868 by the
city government, and to Philadelphia by
the municipal authorities in 1869, and
from these small beginnings the house
sparrow has been spread all over this
Northern country wherever we have a
city east of the Rocky Mountains, and
| the huttering fiOcks of the robust, noisy
| little foreigner enliven the streets there
of in every direction. Their numbers
are nearly countless.
| The object at first for the introduction
of the hOuse-sparrOw does not seem to
| have been one of practical suggestion,
but rather one in the nature of senti-
ment. Since, however, the attention of
/ the citizens was called to the great nui-
sance of the existence of canker and
measure worms in the shade trees of the
old cities of the Union, the fact that the
/ h.,x,e .
us all winter, and feed as ener-
/ getically upon the worms as any of our
own birds-which always, without
exception, left for warmer chimes every
seasOn-the thought of practical appli-
cation took life in encouraging the in
PRODUCTION of the English sparrow as a
means of relief more certain than that
| afforded by any or all of our indigenous
tinches. AS soon as this became gener-
ally understood, the little John Bull was
distributed with great industry all over
the country for this purpose; but as SURE
as it became numerous in any town OF
city, a spirited opposition sprang up t.
it, and exists to-day with more or les:
vitality in every section where the birC
is fairly settled. Whole books have beer
written pro and con, and naturalists hav,
waged unrelenting war upon one an
other, as they differed in estimating tn,
value and the services of PyrgitG do
nleSticG; but in the Judgment of tn,
writer, the entire practical bearing o
the controversy has not been fully pre-
sented by either the friends or the foe
of the little finch, for it must seem cleal
enough to those who will follow the lin,
of argument in this article that while
the hOuse-sparrow is eminently fit ant
wonderfully well constituted for life il
Northern cities, yet it is a sad rowd,
and nuisance in the country Will,
in the former case it renders admirable
service in destroying insect pests tina
disfgure the shady avenues of city for
estry, yet in the latter field it can no
compete with our native birds in ento
biological service to man, and havin;
given good reason for dislike on tn
part of the growers of fruit, they ar
dOubly incensed because the law vii
not allow them to shoot, trap, or de
stroy the enemy.-Prof. II. ". Elliott
f IN HGrper's for November.