The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-11-06
THE ENGLlSH SPARROW.
Ceaseless Warfare Upon Him
Fails to Drive Him Out.
Various Devices Employed in the East
to Exterminate the Pest-Dop-
relations Of the Saucy Lit
tie Britisher.

tie Britisher.
A Lewiston man-Uncle Robert Will
liams Quimby-has found what he
claims will rid the city of the English
sparrows, which he thinks are a pest.
vi course, many of us would seriously
miss the saucy, good-natured little fell
lows that chatter around the windows
and buildnestsin caves and behind signs
with the most utter disrespect to the
feelings and tastes of the owners. There
are thousands and thousands of them in
every section of the city, and it is the
belief of many people hat they drive
away the other birds; but in the spring
the Baltimore oriole plays among the
trees in the resident part of the city,
the robin nests in the tall trees in the
outskirts, and frequently is seen in the
city all summers; the b%ulejay is seen in
his season, the pine grosbeak makes us
a pleasant call, and the nighthawk
speaks" over our heads all the pleasant
evenings of the long summer. The
doves, a h%alf-dozen kinds of them, nest
in every belfry tower, and the jolly.
clannish English sparrow hops about
the streets, keeping them clean.
ButMr. Quimby wants them killed off,
and after a long study on the subject
has devised a means at once melan-
choly and tragic. He has invented a
disease that will kill them all within a
year Of the day that it is unbottled
among tlem-so he says. He got his
IDEAS from a German professor, who IN
dertOok not long ago to rid Australia
Of the rabbit curse. This German said
that he could introduce c~hickenpoX
among the rabbits OF Australia and Kill
them of in no time. He did so, 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 so fast among
the Maine turkeys and has killed them
off, so that to-day you'll hardly find n
on a ride through the country. He
caught several birds and experimental
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 an 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 a short time if it is
let loose among them.
But he has misgivings 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 a 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 ina back alley without a
dozen birds being around it in a 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 a western
city, which hired-he says-an expert
to kill them. The expert bought a large
amount of yeast-thousands of cakes
in fact, cut them up in small bits. One
morning the streets were found to be
: covered with these pieces of yeast BY
sunrise thousands and thousands o.
English sparrows were seen picking uI
the pieces. Soon the edges of the water
ing troughs we're lined with the birds
drinking as fast as they could. WheI
they had drunk for awhile the birds
u-o,,)1 rico mn in tho mir or1-rSOni thoy
would explode like a frecracker and fal
to the ground. 1t needed no SECOND
dose of yeast to complete the task.
City Marshal Teel suggests that hi
was always told that the best way t.
catch a bird was to put salt upon hi
tail! lie says that if it is the opinion
Of the inhabitants that the English spar
rows must 60, he will have the dog OF
ficer commence on this task as sool
as he has captured all of the unlicensed
dogs in the city.
Mr.. w. B. Bunker, of Lewiston, ha
recently built a martin house, which b
says will contain them. The Englisl
sparrows will drive out anything fror
the kind of b%irdhouse hat will ALLOW
a crowd of them to get into It at once
But with apartments in the houses tn
little fellows are at a disadvantage, an
Will not try more than once to dislodg
the martins. He says that he has bui.
martin houses before and knows where
Of he speaks.
The plan that some one has suggeste
Of trapping the sparrows with stet
.raps is cruel and not feasible. Thoma
hJo,cfo1J of Cfroyyhorrv r1oco otto