Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-11-21
SPARROWS' CRIMES.
The Imported British Bird solamuly
Indicted as a Nuisance.
Painful aud Revolving story 81 Esis
IrimcN-A plea for Mercy
cats Worse Than
SparrOyVs.

ornithuingi>i, has taken evidence AGAINST
the imported British sparrow aud has in
dict,d Inn H.a nl auCc. The committee
rcports tnHt me sparrow is an impostor Il
thirf. and murderer. and recommends
that he be c>tcrmihatvd without further
delay
The story Of the sparrGW'S crimes is
painful and revolving one lie was brought
here to destroy IhcmcaSuring worm which
formerly infested the shade trees in our
cities Not content with doing his duty
in point of worms. the sparrow dcIitcr-
atciv a.d wickrdv dcvotrS grain. and
thus ruins the inrmer'S most vain. bic
crous. Filled with haired of all honest
birds the sparrow makes war 1pon our
native sonr-bird.. and. according to the
testimony taken bv the committee. he is
ropi,llv rX,rrminatinp them. Meanwhile
he uavs no attention to worms and thus
ent.rilv ignores the contract under which
he was brought to this country. He is a
faithlcss araminivorous. murdGrouS thief.
and even the most hardened crow looks
upon him with contempt and DISGUST.
THIS is a terrible Indictment, hut until
the committee of ornithoogists submit, its
evidence AGAINST the sparrow to the public
il will not do TO assume that the indict-
mrnt is a lust one. In behalf of the spar.
row il may be urged that he did his fun
duty in regard TO the meaSuring- worms,
and totally eNtcrminatcd those pests in this
city. IS if fair 70 ignore this fact. and is
it reasonable to complain that the sparrow
no longer feeds on measuring, worms
when the simple truth is that there are no
more mcasuring-worlns for him to cat? In
the absence of 1neasurinr-worms the spar
row has contracted the habit of eating
grain. This is also the habit of many of
our native singinr-birds. whose threatened
determination by the sparrow is bcwailed
bv the committee In what respect is the
graminivorous sparrow worse than other
graminivorous birds? OF course. if he is
more numerous than other birds he will
eat moro grain but is it lust to call him
criminal because he multplics more rap
idly than our native birds?
That the sparrow is discriminating our
song-birds may hc doubted. He does not
extcrmnate the English ong-birds, and if
it be true that us soon as he reaches this
country he plunges into murder and other
crimes, we must make the huniliating adj
mission that there is something demoral-
Ting to birds as well as to statesmen
in our political atmosphere Doubtless
the sparrow fights occasionally with other
birds, and. owing to his skill and pluck.
he usually defeats them There are. how
ever. IA rood many singing birds still left.
and if they are in process; of determination
bv the sparrow the proc. s. is a very slow
one Ii must be remembered that an in.
lcmcnt is moi conviction. and until the
sparrow has had a fair trial-with the aid
of able counsr--and been duly and legally
convicted We cannot treat linn as "A con.
dcmncd criminal.
But, granting all that is said ayanst the
srarrow, how is he TO I've extrrminatrd? 1t
is idle to talk of shooting him. for he is
too small to be hit bv the average sports
man at a greater distance than three wards
Even the experienced German spoItsmen
who 20 forth from thi, city to the wilds of
Long island. ACCOMPANIED hv SpitZ DOES.
rarely succeed in hitting a sparrow.
Poison. too is out of the question, for. rs
one of the committer mournfully remarked
the Australians have already tried TO
poison their sparrows. and have in 80
doing poisoned their chickens n result as
unsatisfactory as it was uncypcctcd
There remains but one means of ex
terminating the sparrow. To the cat
alone can we look for efficient aid in carry
ing out the determination policy. When
sparrowS are abundant an active cat will
Kill from three to four daily. There are
at the lowest estimate 100000, GOO spar
rows now in this country. Let Ms assume
that one cat can Kill three sparrows in
tWcnty'lour hour. II VIII therefore take