St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-03-09

consideration bill offering a bounty
for their destruction. 1t is claimed be
fore the committee that one-half of tn,
apple crop of Massachusetts was de-
stroyed by them last year.
Had the original importers of these
birds consulted our naturalists and or
nithologists they would have advised
them not to import seed eating birds OF
Europe, expecting them to live on
worms in America. The family .frine-
gilIide, to which the sparrOws, finches,
(canaries) ETC., belong, have short,
stout, hard bills, made for cracking
seeds and picking fruit; while the fam
lilies Tardide, SylUicolide, ETC., ETC.,
have soft, slim and longer bills suited
especially for worm and insect catch
ing. Birds of the latter sort should
have been imported, if any, which in
clude rObins-the various thrushes-
warblers in great variety, fiy-catchers,
etc. But | claim we have enough such
birds in this country, if properly pro-
tected and cared for, to save our trees
from the ravages of noxiOus insects. 1t
would be as proper to import cats to
eat grass, and horses to eat tobacco, as
! English sparrows to eat worms. l do
not say but that sparrows will eat
worms. So will cats eat grass and
horses tobacco. have seen both, but it
is not the natural food of either. Peo-
pie living in northern Vermont can
have no idea of what a nuisance these
birds have become throughout some
portions of our country, unless they
have visited cities and villages infested
with them.
A gentleman living in st. Louis, and
who rides from his home to his store
some two miles every morning, told
me that his cOachman often amused
himself by killing the spa.rows on the
streets with his whip as he was driving
down town, so numerous are they. In
Boston and New York, and indeed in
other cities, am informed, architects
have been obliged, in erecting new
buildings, to omit SO far as possible
any OrnamentatiOns that would furnish
resting place for these birds. | have
heard repeatedly of beautiful ivys and
other trailing plants being torn from
churches and residences in the cities,
which had become such a harbOr for
these pests, they could be endured no
longer. | have made these articles al
ready too long, else would speak OF
these birds, which have no song, driv-
ing from villages and city parks those
insect-eating birds, the robins, Balti-
more orioles, vireOs, warblers, hy-catch-
ers, etc, all of which in their season fill
the air with the sweetest songs. 1t is
a terrible desOlatiOn. | will cite such
towns as Westfeld, Palmer, Greenfield
and, in short, almost every village in
eastern Massachusetts and in COnnec-
ticut.
enter plea for our native birds,
who i'll the summer favor us with their
delightful music, and destroy millions
of flies and other insects. TO this end
will not our citizens, and those of 9TH
er villages in northern Vermont, dc
what they can to destroy the English
sparrOws, now while they can be SC
easily captured in our streets, and be-
fore our native birds arrive from the
south When dressed and broiled, OIL
baked, they are a dainty dish to set be-
fore an invalid.
| who kills our slumbersl
l, said the English sparrow,
With voice like wheelbarrow,
l kill your slumber.
Who'll kill the sparrow
We, said the people
All we who sleep ILL
Wen kill the sparrow"
FRANKLIN FAIRBANKS.
SummerViIIe.
The post office boxes will not be in
readiness before next week. In the
meantime mail left here will be for
warded the same as usual. Austin
| Howe has been engaged to fix up the