Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-25
WAR TO THE DEATH.
Ihe Relentless Onslaught which
wiz In Few Days be Carried on
TO the Extern ina, ION OF English

In very few days now-after next
fuesday-the small boys will begin to
lay the foundations for fortunes by i'm
augurating relentless war upon the pest
ferrous bird. the English sparrow The
law passed by the last legislature, as
heretofore alluded to in The ARGUS, pro-
vides that a bounty of cents head
shall be paid on every sparrow killed dur,
ing the months of December. January and
February. The slaughter will begin
therefore early on the morning Of Tues
day, Dec. 1, and the work of extermina-
ton will continue until dewy eve of the
20 IA day of February. AS next year is
leap year the birds will have to suffer one
day longer than otherwise. Ard they
deserve to suffer. as they are murderers
and robbers themselves; and the sooner
they are exterminated the better.
1t should not be the part of the state
or the press as rule to encourage boys
in slaughtering birds-the sweet song,
tiers of the woods and municipal police
should take it upon themselves to see that
young America is not reckless in the use
of his weapons of warfare. In fact, he
should not be permitted to use gun of
anysort in the city limits, as it is g question
of doub tful expediency in reaching the
end in view, to vest discretionary
rights in The hands of small boys, not
only because many of our own American
birds will paw the penalty aimed at the
English importation, but because it is
dangerous 20 human preservation to
place bounty on the skill Of Johnny and
his little gun.
The English sparrow, however, is a
songless. soulless and worse than useless
bird-a bandit that robs and destroys-a
bird unclean in habits. murderous in prac-
tice, with song painfully rsspiug TO
every lover of bird music. A writer who
signs himself "a. B. A." writes from
Lincoln to the Bloomington Pautoeraph
about the wicked sparrow as follows:
in size he more than makes up in multi
tude. Having already become very
numerous and destructive in the Unite
States our government has. at great eX>
pense. looked carefully, thoroughly aud
impartially into the habits of this bird, and
has published a report on the subject in
volume of over 400 pages. In this volume
will be found the testimony of over 1000
witnesses-witnesses from the United
States, Europe and many other parts of
the world
1 can no better than briefly sum up the
conclusions of this voiume-coDclusions
and judgments abundantly confirmed by
the facts OF daily observation.
l. The English sparrow (passer domes-
ticus) was introduced into the United
States about 80 years ago. Only few
pairs were then brought over from Eng.
land, but they have spread into al the
older states of the union.
? The insect pests have greatly in
creased. which the spsrrows are supposed
to destroy.
8. The sparrow is insectiverous only
small part Of the year. and for the rest of
the time consumes vast amounts of grain;
also attacks various kinds of fruit.
4 While the sparrow is partially in
sectiverous. he is the inveterate natural
enemy of certain native birds that are
wholly insectiverous, such as the wren,
bluebird, aud purple marten, birds much
more valuable in every way than the spar
row.
B. The government recommends the
destruction of the sparrow, and that, for
MANY important reasons
Some Of the measures recommended by
the government are these: Poisoning the
birds-due care being taken in the use of
poison. Another method is the Gestruc.
ton of nests with their contents in
spring and summer.
Our legislature has passed the bounty
law for heads of sparrows. This law
goes into effect Dec. and continues until
the last of FEBRUARY. Let US hope that
this enactment will result III the de.trac-
ton of millions of these pests. 1t is in-
deed much cheaper and better to check
the spsrrows when there are millions of
them than wait until there are billions.
Should the boys fail 10 kill them all by
Feb. 90. 1892. it is hoped that every
Thoughtful citizen will destroy all sparrow
nests about his premises during the
spring and summer, thus greatly check
ing the sparrow nuisance, while at the
same time helping the county treasurer.