The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-08-19

certain sum being paid for a dozen sparrow
heads. There is, however. another side to
the question.
II Is perfectly true that the sparrow, when
adult does a certain amount of damage by
his grain-eating Pr0cliyities- But during
the earlier portion OF his life, his 0eak IS
soft and he must be fed with soft food, Just
the young of the higher animals are
nOurished with food not only soft But liquid.
Its food consists of various grubS and cater
pillars and it is well-knowR fact that a
single pair of sparrows will destroy more
than four thousand caterpillars every week,
during the period when the young birds
occupy the nest. BY degrees the agricul-
tural mind, which Is prOVerbially slow in
accepting ideas, began to realize that in
proportion as the sparrows diminished, the
grubs increased, and in some places
thefarmers were obliged TO bring spar
rows TO their grounds. In France,
where every small bird was ruthlessly
killed, il was found necessary TO import
fresh stock as the gr1bs and caterpillars ate
every green thing.that grew. have seen in
summer long avenues OF trees on which there
was nota leaf. When first came to live in
the country, and was quite ignorant of gar
dening, i fell into a controversy with
neighbOr respecting the small birds and their
uses. He was an enthusiastic gardner,
man of leisure and mans, who spared nei-
Their time nor money liz the pursuit of his
hobby.
He.especially prided himself on the devil
ces by which he protected his plants and
fruits from birds. Argument was useless,
anu so proposed thas we should SOW the
same amount of the same kind of pea or the
same day, he protecting them from the birds
and letting them alone. The result was,
that, despite my ignorance and his experience
he had TO sow his peas three times and then
had very poor crop; while those on my
ground produced a bountiful supply Of
plump and well-favored peas.
Now, / find that there is much dissausfac-
ton expressed in this country about the
sparrow. He is1accused for not doing that
which he cannot do, and cannot but won-
der at the simplicity of those who brought
him to America. and expected him to per-
form in a strange country task which he
never undertakes i'm his own. Rabbits might
as well have been imported for the purpose
of killing rats, and then blamed because they
fed on vegetables and not on rats.
Theonly bird that cen eat the canker-vorm
torgyia antiqua), with ats chevaux de frise of
prickly and irritating hairs, is the European
cuckoo, which could not live in New Eng
land. The only European bird that could be
of the Least service would be the blue tit
mouse (paTus ceruleusl 1t is very little
bird, scarcely more than half the size of a
sparrow.
1t is equally hardy, AID equally fearless of
man, unlike the American Chickades, which
keep themselves aloof fFom man.
Ii Will build its nest in all kinds of places.
Ihave seen a living pair that made their
nest in an old shoe. The finder took tine shoe
home with him, and the courageous birds
stuck TO their nest, becoming so tame that
they would take food from the captOrs hand
He was in the habit of carrying the shoe
about forseXhibitiOn, and the titmice took
their Journeys rs matters of course.
j have seen the home of a blue titmouse in
the wall of a railway station, where the
engines passed continually within a few
inches OF the nest.
These tiny birds are mighty hunters of in
sects and insect eggs and but for them we in
England could hardly hope to preserve a
frUit-tree from the devastatiOns of the canker-
worm. The caterpillar itself Is too much for
them. but they traverse the trunks and
branches of trees in search of eggs, hanging
with heads or backs dOwnw2rds, Pecking
away vigorously as they run along.
They are match for the sparrow himself,
and if the forks of tree branches were fitted
with empty cocOanuts, having holes too small
for the entrance of the sparrow, the ttmouSe
would thrive freely. We in England find
them so valuable that we attract them to our
grounds by hanging nets filled with lard, or
fat of any kind to the branches. The nets
are suspended at the ends of strings several
feet III length, and no other bird can cling to
the net and eat while it is swinging in the
wind. As for the sparrow whether for good
or evil think for goOd,-he is hvra, and
extirpation is impossible He cannot per-
form the expected task, but that is no fault
OF his. But | am sure that he must in this
country do as good service in the spring as he
does in England, and that if his destruction
were possible, it would be impolitic.
Rev. j. w. WOOD.