The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-07-06
The English Sparrow.

The English Sparrow is as much a
nuisance in Cecil county as elsewhere.
The following concerning this much
cursed bird appeared in a Baltimore daily
this week.
The very popular case Of the United
States VS.. Hasser Domesticus, alias the
English sparrow, which has been pending
for number of years past, has been
reached on the calendar by the chief
prosecuting attorney-the Agricultural
Department-which, in the prosecution
ing all the evidence for and against the
chirper-maInly against, however The
charges against the sparrow are many,
indictments being returned in the follow
ing cases, where he is charged with ill.,
jury to buds, blossoms and foliage; Injury
to fruits, garden seeds and vegetables;
injury to gram; assaults simple and as
saults with attempt to kill other domestic
birds. A charge of gross neglect of duty
is also brought against the sparrow, it
being alleged and proved by reliable ties
timony that he does not destroy the per
ncious insects chiefly for whose destruc-
ton he was imported. These charges,
serious as they are, are fully substanti
ated, and a perussl of the pamphlet shows
the little pest so cordially welcomed into
| this country by the foolish enthusiast Of
ten or fifteen years ago. has not a single
most faithfully compiled by Walter p.
Barrows, assistant ornithologist under
the direction of DR.. G. Hart Merriam.
ornithologist of the Agricultural Depart
ment. Prof. G. V. Riley, entomologis
of the department, also contributed val
liable evidence to the document prepared,
in which he showed conclusively that the
only time the sparrow ever resorted to
insects for food was when he was starved
to it, and could get nothing else to eat.
Mr.. Otto Lugger, formerly of Baltimore,
also contributed largely to the work.
To summarize, the English sparrows
are rapidly becoming one of the worst
pests in this country. They were intro
duced between tt 9 wears 1869 and 1871
by a large number of fanatics, who for
years had been advocating their intro
duction into this country, alleging that
their presence here woul he wholly beI :
etcial They referred in glowing terms to
the truly rural delight of having the little
sparrow chirping about front of one g
door, picking the hairy caterpillar from
| the shrub berry, and making himself gen.
orally useful. He was hardy, and could
easily be cultivated, they said. THIS was
| found to be all too true. The sparrow,
| like the daisy, is very useful thing to
| build sentimental fancies on, but the
| farmer knows what nuisances they both
| are.
The sparrow, when first introduced,
was fully protected in every way by mu
nicipal laws, and soon spread over almost
the entire country where civilization bad
extended. Then his true character was
found out. This bird was seen to be not
naturally insectivorous but grain eater,
destroying when in the country the young
ears of wheat, the newly planted corn,
the new peas, and showing himself to be
fully as destructive in this particular as
the crow. Grapes, buds and blossoms OF
fruit bearing trees and garden seeds are
also destroyed by the little pest. In his
relations to other birds, too, he Is willy
strategist and pugnacious fighter. He
has been shown to dispossess the song
birds and insect eaters and drive then
forth into the fields and forest to hustle
for living. The sparrow, too, breeds al
if he was doing it for money, the light
ming calculator of the Department o