The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-10-03
THE ENGLISH SPARROW.


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A Leuiatan man y1aoae RoSert Nll
hane Quimby-has fopnd what i,
claims viii rid the city Of the EnRlisl
spazrows, which he thinks are q pest
OF course. many Of us would seriousl,
miss the saucy, 1oodEnGthrsdsktae 1kf
lows that chatter around the window
and build nests in caves and behind si1n,
with the most utter aiapeepect TO til.
fselings;and tastes of the ewnerx Tier,
arc thousands and thousands Of them IL
every section OF the city, and it 10 th<
belief of many people that they drive
away the other birds; but in the spring
the Baltimore oriole plays anong tn
trees In the resident part Of the city
the robin nests in tho tall trees IN th1
outskirts, and frequently is seen in the
city all summer: the bulejay il seen il
his season, the pine grosbeak makes VI
9 pleasant cell. and the ntghthavl
"spealns over our heads al TIE pleasant
evenings of the long summer. The
doves, q half-dozen kinds of them, nest
in every belfry tower, and tie Jolly,
clannish English sparrow hops about
the streets, keeping them clean.
ButAr. Quimby wants them killed OF,
and after long study on the subject
has devised q means at once melan-
choly and tragic. He has invented a
disease that viii kill them all within q
year of the day that it IL unbottled
among them-so he says. He got his
ideas from . German professor, who un
dertook not long ago to rid Australia
of the rabbit curse. This German said
that he could introduce chickenpox
among the rabbits of Australia and kill
them Oh in no time. He did 20, andthe
rabbits in. several sections died like
sheep, but the disease soon ceased to
spread.
Mr.. Quimby thinks that the disease
he has found is similar to the sickness
that has recently spread 30 fast among
the Msine turkeys and has killed them
of, so that to-day you'll hardly find one
on a ride through the country. He
caught several birds and dexperimented
with the germs Of different human dis
eases, but none Of them would take"
Then he fed them on a certain kind of
food and they died in IN hour. He put
fresh birds into the cage with them and
they died also, in the same way. He has
become certain that the disease thus
started is very contagious and will rid
the city of birds in short time il it il
let loose among them.
But he has misgivingA Suppose that
the death of SO many birds should cause
a pest among the plucked bipeds, too?
1t would be no laughing matter then.
Another Lewiston man says that he
believes the sparrows do q great deal of
good. They keep the streets clean and
the city free from the accumulation of
decaying matter. A piece Of bread'can-
not be dropped in q back alley without q
dozen birds being around it in . moment,
and in an hour the piece Is gone. This
man has to suggest, however, that if the
people want to be rid of the pest, as
they call the bright little fellows, they
can follow the example of western
city. which ,hired-he says-an expert
to kill them. The expert bought large
amount of yeast-thousands of cakes,
in fact, cut them up in small bits. One
the streets were found to be
covered with these pieces of yeast. BY
sunrise Thousands and thousands Of
English sparFosvs were seen picking UP
the pieces. Soon the edges of the water-
ing troughs were lined with the birds,
drinking as fast as they could. When
they had drunk for awhile the birds
would rise up in the air and-pop! they
would explode ike Z. .heecrackAr and fell
10 the ground. It needed no second
lose of yeast tocomplete the task.
City Marshal Teel suggests that he
was always told that the best way 10
.atch q bird was to put salt upon his
tail! He says that il it 10 the opinion
II the inAabitaHes that the Euklishapar
ows must 80, he will have the dcg Of
acer commence on this tAsk as. soon
is he has caDtared oil Of the unliceased
logs in the city.
Mr.. w. B. Bunker, of Lewiston. has
built . martin house. which he
'ays will contain them. The English
perrows will drive out anything from
he kind of birdhouse that will allow
crowd of them to get into it At once.
}ut with apartments in the houses the
title fellows are 1t disadvantage, and
will not try more than once to dislodge
he martins. He says that be has built
martin houaes hetore and knows where.
4 he speaks.
The plan that some one has suggested
I trapping the sparrows with steel
raps ia cruel and not feasible. Thomas
of Strawberry place, often
expressed himself a. against the plan
I the traps. They would catch too
,any Of his valuable blooded doves. He
oes not try to trap tn hawks that tor
lent him on that account.
Many farE,ers place steel traps on
be top Of poles and bait them with
seat. but If they should try that at the
place dove farm some Of
bese hne tumbler. doves might Be
Iught in the Same way.-Lewiston
4e.) Journal
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