Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-11
LITTLE ENGLISH TRAMPs.
Noisy SparrOws and the Great Nuis-
aDce They Have Become.

LITTLE ENGLISH TRAMPs.
Noisy s%parrOws and the Great Nuis-
ance Tihey Have Become
For q purely gratuitous and nneces
sary nuisance, unredecmed bv a single
good quality, the English sparrow ranks
first and foremost, says the Chicago
Tribune. This ugly little dirty-brown
object was introduced into this country
some years ago. when a sentimental fad
prevailed in some of the eastern cities.
1t was solemnly advanced by the advo-
Gates of this noise and dirt making
nuisance that he possessed all the vir-
tues which pertain to birds. The
cheerful twitter of the sparrow was to
e~nliven the parks and open spaces of
the cities, while he would earn his
living, and combining himself to q
strictly animal diet, would rid the gar
dens and trees OF ntless myriads of
worms and insects. The introduction
of the sparrow into the United States
was about rs brilliant an achievement
as the importation Of the English rab-
bit into Australia or OF the Scot
tish thistle into Canada. Thousands
of pounds are spent yearly by
the governor of Australia as bounties
for the destruction of the four-footed
pest, aud thousands of miles of fencing
have been built at great expense tokeep
them off the farms. Even the resources
of cieuce nave been called into play,
and NJ. Pasteur has tried with little
success to abolish the rabbit plague by
the dissemination of Observation-Disclosures
microbes. OF the million of dollars
worth of farm Land which has been
ruined by the Scotch thistle any farmer
can tell But it, like the sparrow, has
-r, - ~ et.,, aDl th~ ,la--,~ l., ,~n
stantly on the increase.
The sparrow in no way iUstifies the
claims of his advocates. He Is a noisy
and dirty bird, and instead OF living on
worms and insects, he delights in ruin
ing gardens by digging up seeds. Heis
OF Il most pugnacious and quarrelsoine
disposition, a perfect r~Shmaelite of
birds, with his beak against every other
bird. Two or three years ago Douglas
park was vocal with the sweet notes of
hundreds of native American robins.
and to-day scarcely II eau be seen or
heard. This un%naturulized foreigner
has driven away the birds TO the man
nor born, and lords it trIumphantly
over all the smaller feathered songsters.
When first introduced in the, eastern
~cities-for it was by Boston angloman-
iacs that the interloper was first well
coined to these Shore5-the sparrow
became the fashion. and d lot of seuti-
mental slush was written and printed
about his reported good qualities.
Boxes for nests were provided in the
trees in the public parks. But with
the native which is his prin-
cipal characteristic the sparrow de-
clined to occupy these homes. Instead
of that he stacks up half a bushel of
chips and straw in a waterspout or
under the of a house, where his
litter is most unpleasant in evidence.
With q persistence worthy of a better
cause the sparrow devotes himself when
not fighting with other birds or running
garden crops TO the propagation Of his
species. Rearing from two to four
broods per annum, the sparrow is en-
gagged in notification from April until
August, and as each brood usually
numbers Eve, the multiplication OF this
persistent pest is becoming alarming.
In various states Legislation has been
had and measures taken to prevent the
spread of the SPARROW. A few days ago
General Cassius M. Clay declared that
1.-The English sparrow must CO." He
says that Legislation, private bOunties
for the heads of the vagrant bird. traps,
p~oisons, and the shotgun must be en-
ployed to eXterminate the pest. His
idea is that the sparrow will, IL per-
mitted to go on his evil way, cost the
United States many millions OF dollars,
and so he hoists the black flag and pro-
claims a war a La %outrance against the
noXious bird.
The truth is that the sparrow is a
fraud and n nuisance to be suppressed.
In his native land he s-treated as a
public enemy, and 40 En- glishman could
be made to believe that any people not
originally pestered by his presence
should deliberately invite him. In Eng
land he is exempted from the law which
forbids the plundering of the nests Of
other birds, as the thrush, ~blackbird,
starting, and other songsters. If these,
or the English lark, all of which live
upon worms and insects solely-the black
birds weakness for cherries excepted
could be imported and acclimatized here
the northern states would gain some
beautiful songbirds as well as useful in
sect destroyers. But the predatory
sparrow should be extermlnated, and 1t
might be a good thing to encourage his
humiliation by putting a price upon his
head. In the bl ack catalogue OF his Of
lenses the SPAR DIV must be credited
with one exception. Although noisy,
dirty and useless when alive he is good
for food after his neck is wrung, and
sparrow pie is a frequent article OF food
in England. Considering that reed
birds on toast cost a quarter per mouth
full the sparrow might in the shape OF
pie make some amends for having nrs-
sumed 10 exist.
II you suffer froGi fooseness of bowels
m. ia var and nt1a AuanatIIan Rftfana