Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-12

| And as to who was
| the misguided being
that introduced him to these shores the
chronicles are silent, that culprit. In the
general hue and cry of disapprobation fol-
lowing shortly on his worse than worthless
importation, being only too glad to escape
into obscurity.
| but mat the sparrow has been installed
with US now all of forty years, is a melan
choly fact that is daily growing more mel
ancholy as the little feathered nuisance
moiupfes ten, twenty and a hundralfold
| with the passage Of time
| ne was brought here under the impress
sion that he would destroy caterpillars and
| other worms and insects harmful to the
trees in the streets and parks of American
! ciues' though why anybody with an ability
10 read the English newspapers. that for
| years nave teemed with accounts Of his on
| sets onto gardens and orchards where he
mas wholesalely devoured everything but
what he was desired to eat. should imagine
that with his transportation to another
land he would forthwith change his nature
| f. 9 mystery.
| In old church wardens books indeed dat
| ing back as far as the beginning of this
| century, entries of this kind are commonly
TO Joe Willett; for one dozen and four
sparrows, one shilling one pence"
puisoIy payment of church rates sparrow
| clubs" We're formed, whose sole object was
the determination of the bird that gave
them their name. these organizations exist
| ing all over rural England to this very day,
and whose work Is further abetted by the
shooting clubs who give from six to
eighteen pence per dozen for sparrows to
| supply their traps
This bird will, it is true, sometimes eat
insects insects ana worms. but only in the way. of
dessert. or as an entree, the piece de resist
ance OF the sparrow menu being the mis-
| celIaneous contents of garbage receptacles.
made piquant by earnishing of young
garden peas. the new buds of trees and
other little relishes of the sort, the con-
sumption Of which brings woe to the hus-
a fat grub. If particularly luscious and
juicy looking. and which is withal wrested
from bird three times his size. as an as
| tonished robin, for instance, who is about
to convey the tidbit to his babies. Sir
| Sparrow Is not now and then averse to the
| sweet Of conquest making a palatable sauce
| wherewtth to wash down this not-too-weil
relished Wand.
But in the face of all this direct evidence
against him an habituai worm slayer
he was brought here, and in the first
months of his landing carefully harbored
and fed. In Boston, where he is said to
have made his initial chirp TO the American
public, boxes for nesting being placed in the
parks and his wants generally thoroughly
looked after.
| The Immediate success Of his under
| taking must have been very gratifying
| to this now mysterious parsonage, their in
I
Common and witnessed the hveliness and
the multiplication OF his precious bird,
since 1t could not have been long before he
must have been assured that the sparrows
| had gained a permanent foothold, each
pair producing here on their native
heath. from eighteen to thirty young in a
season. and his glow Of pride being at that
| time. Of course undimmed by the fact that
a very few decades later the far away
invited them thither. would be offering a
reward Of so cents hundred for their dear
little heads, and that IL 1898 the Columbian
mented with their nests, would be beseech-
| ing the powers at the national capital to
| suggest some means for getting rid or nest,
occupants and owners.
From n Singing Race.
One wouldn't think 1t, but this "comical
little wretch" the sparrow, as the sage OF
Chelsea calls him, belongs to a family CT
BIRDS the fnches, that numbers among 1t
the most beautiful singers Of the air, and
that the sparrow has an idea of performing
| a sort of matip no one can doubt who has
ever been awake at peep OF day. The per-
petrator of this morning lay very probably
| thinks il beautiful, but to US humans, whose
riety of voluntary, it is only a harsh chirp-
ing that we class with other awakening;
city sounds-the rattle of heavy wagons
over pavements, the untranslatable shrieks
Of early vendors, fitting so perfectly with
them that we almost forget they are not q
necessary part OF urban industry.
If the legions OF sparrows that fnhabit
our cities sang as sweetly as the robin
whose sunrise choruses these summer
dawns wake the country dreamer only to
send him into more beatiic frances. All
II Sparrows sang!
But If they are no more melodious than
the little gamins crying their first editions
| (who knows, indeed. but that they are the
newsboys Of bird-dom. screaming the latest
tidings Of the feathered world, and so oil
course undeniably essential in the economy
Of their race. let us at least felicitate our.
selves upon the fact that they are not any
bigger, for If the sparrow were rs large
for instance, as domestic fowl, thlnB
what dangers we would encounteri Fol
were this birds present pugilistic spirit
supplemented By size. he would be dis
jeopardizing the comfort of timid minded
people
|; For aside from his absolute uselessnes.
his pugnacity leading him to drive away
timid and more valuable birds, is one Of
the sins that Is laid at his door.
He will quarrel, indeed, with everything
In the shape of bird, superior size not de
terring him at all from at least beginning
row; while for cats. the arch enemy Of hi,
son. wher parental responsibilities unsettI,
his nerves. an insolent scorn.
The writer recalls one day last winter
seeing low bush quite filled with thes,
birds. while under it crouched a huge gray
grimaikin looking up as longingly as evel
did child to some toy-iaden, candle Ii
occupants not in the least daunted sa
careiessy eyeing the cat with heads first OF
| one sue anu tHeI on the Other and chatter
ing tauntingy as IL saying:
Catch us, catch US. Don't you wish 70,
Eoui cs,cb D0 on you wish you could? catcl
While puss being An experienced feline die
not crafty them by making an attemp
that would certainly end in ignominioI.
failure, but took out his satisfaction In i'm
agintnS how very good they would tast,
4 could he but get them.
A Modern Traveller.
When one reflects on certain qualitie!
. possessed by the sparrow it is not surpris
ing that he has thriven so remarkabl,
under occidental transportation, for he ha.
some eminentiy American attributes. He Il
all push and energy and busy to the las
degree. so very busy in fact as frequentl,
! to never complete his nest, but as late II
the season as when he is tending hi
last brood of f1edglings, still intersperse,
family duties with making additions anc
notifications to his house.
| Perhaps though that is because his idea
of a nest Is so very high, or rather so yer,
| large, for some of their structures in thiI
| line would make initiated observer al
| most believe that the harmless necessa r,
| barnyard hen had been seized with lofty as
pira tons and made her nest on high
Then, too, he has no objection to goint
west and growing up with the country o.
north and usurping Canada, and takes in
deed very modern methods of trayeiin.
while getting to these places. The frs
sparrow colonies of many remoter parts q
the continent being directly traceable I,
the instrumentality of box cars in which
upon the eve of their departure from som,
eastern city sparrows had sought a night,
| lodging and where thew perfOrce RENAME,