The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-01-05
The PUGNACI0US sPARRoWs.
THEIR BENEFIT AND INJURY AS DEMON
sFRATED SINCE THEIR IMPORTATION.
Philadelphia Tines.


These bride, which are spread over
Europe, but are most abundant in Great
Britain and the neighboring islands, were
frat brought to Maine in the autumn of
1858, to New York in 1860, and TO oston
in 1868. The "measaring worm,' gas 1t is
commonly called, from it's method of pro
crossing, having inj ared the foliage of the
shade tress in Philadelphia, and by it's
suspeuding or letting itself down by q
thread, like tae spider, become constant
source of annoy ance to pedestrians during
tho period Of its development, various
ptans for i's exterminatiou were recon
mended aad tried, without e1ccess. 10
sectlvorous birds, it was well koown,
would remove the evil, but the greater
part Of them prefer the open piaia aed the
forests, aud s2un rather than seek the
abode of Iaan. Among them, however,
the sparrow, 80 long familiar to thu inhab
iSents of the fatherisnd, is an exception.
Like the bee among insects and the rat
and mcGae among Qeadrupeds, it eeems
naturally to be sea- domestic creature,
seeking the habitatioHs AID sheltering it
self aEplg the means OF protection and
gathering tho food incidentally aTJrded by
man. 1t is, therefore, we'll euited to be-
come 3 denzan of cities and towpe, being
alike unatfflghtad by the presence of man
or the noise acd hGstle attendant on the
pursuits and employ ments Of denaely po
pulated districts. Aware of these facts,
Mr. j ohm Bardsley, of Germantown, with
the sanction of Councils, imported nearly
thousand Of these birda, which reached
Philadelphia in March, 1869. They were
cared for until the close ofthe April imme-
diately following, when they were left to
provide for tbemselves, which they soon
proved that they were fully able to do.
The measuring worm was almost entirely
extirpAted the frat season after their in
Production and thu increased beauty aud
do rNfk khnF F<~It0 NG frnn in hn
public ssquares and along the sidewalks
show that the sparrows have fully accom-
plished the work assigned them. Bat, like
many methods Of removing annoyance and
redressing grievances, the question has
arisen whether the remedy is not greater
evil than that which it has removed. In
rural districts, over which the sparrows
have rapidly spread, this is certainly the
case. Naturally pugnacious, the sparrow
has driven the wren, the jay and Others OF
the smaller and most familiar of the insec-
tivorous birds from their usual places OF
resort and installed i5self iu their stead.
Nor is this all. Not content with the food
of tho feathered eoDgsters which it has
banished, it preys on the buds Of the vine
and the blossoms of many of the cereal
grains aud bids fair to become the annoy
ance to the farmers of the Uuited States
which it has long been to the husbandmen
Of Europe.
There is no doubt that the increasing in
Jury which the cereal and orher crops have
suffered of late y ears from the depredations
of insects is owing to the wanton destruc-
tion of birds, whose food consists princi
pally of "those myriad pests" The rava-
ges of the grasshoppers were either un-
known or Of limited extent before the al
most entire destruction OF the prairie hen,
and Pennsylvania alone has sustained a
loss of millions by the cruel sport of killing
birds which were neither useful for food
nor injurious to the products of the fields
and the pastures. The time may come
when it will be as much of an object to
exterminate the eparrows as it has been in
many localities to diminish the inroads of
squirrels or the dangers arising from wolves
and other beasts of prey. Even now the
sportsman whose object is only to kill
might show his ekill with advantage, in
many portions of this and other States, by
shooting sp&rrows and thereby removing
source of loss aud annoyance 10 the cuitl-
vators of the soil.