The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-08-11
THE F-RiENpLEss SPARROW.

England Declares war on enc nird Pest
-His Career IN che United states.
Ever since the ancient and rather
boastful declaration OF the sparrow.
that he had killed Cock Robin, a large
portion Of mankind has believed that
the sparrow, the English sparrow.
should pay the full penalty for the
crime, and his self-appointed judges
and executioners have been legion. But
he has lived and thrived In spite Of
them. Other crimes OF many kinds
have been charged against him in
many countries; a price has been put
on his head in this land Of the free,
and he has been declared an outlaw by
state government ava municipalities.
The department Of agriculture has
Illuminated It's lightnings against him
from Washington, and learned societies
have Numbered his doom. But every
spring he chirps and twitters with re-
newed vigor, and mates and nests and
grows In number amazingly. Now,
however, the cable brings the news
that he has been condemned in the
house Of his friends, in Merry Eng
land itself. Mr.. William B. Teget-
meier, a naturalist Of renown and an
author whose word on scientific sub
1ects carries great weight, has pub
lished a book about the sparrow, and
In It declares that the bird is a pest,
and that in England alone he inficts
damage which amounts yearly to mill
lions Of pounds streling. Through all
mis- trials and during all the crusades
against him the pert and clipper spar
row has had hosts Of warm friends who
have defended him CALAMITY and have
met the onslaughts Of his enemies with
all the vigor and often with the bitter
ness Of Jealous partisans. But what
can they say now2 Found guilty by a
judge In his home, what remains
but to pass the sentence of death upon
him finally and forever? II seems clear
that the confessed murderer OF Cock
Robin is doomed for good and all and
that at last the sparrow must go. That
looks simple and easy, but It isn't, for
little Mr.. Sparrow in answer to the
condemnation, and the sentence Of the
court will simply cock his head on
n side and ask: "Well, what are you
going to do about it?" And his SUI
preme confidence is justified by expert
ence. Ever since he was first intro
duced into this country from his ma
tive heath, about fifty years ago, he has
prospered and multiplied immensely in
spite Of all efforts to keep him in
check, and against commissions Of ma
ture and the Vaccinations Of powers
and principalities." The blizzard Of
1888 came, and he was frozen by the
tens Of thousands. One storm in the
summer Of 1898 scattered dead spar
rows through the city parks and in
country lanes "as thick as leaves that
strew the wales Of Vallombrosa." Pot
hunters have sought his life and sold
him by thousands as reed birds. Small
boys with air guns and pea shooters
have been his scourge, and the man
who spread nets under his roosting
place at night and She him down to
death In hundreds q heeA his bane
But he has p.sd on and brought nm
his wond-rfully increasing families
vear A. e Poison has been tried
out it was found that other birds, .n5
animals were hurt more than the span
row, who just winked and passed by
the other side from the envenomed
morsel. Boston has lately been stirred
up against the sparrow. The Ameri-
can Society of Bird D~estroyers, whose
headquarters are there, and whose OBJ
iect It Is to bring back native song
which have been driven out by
one mean or another, has taken up the
cudgels against the slayer Of Cock Rob
In, and is carrying on a lively crusade
him. A petition thirty feet
long was presented to Mayor Quincy.
that steps be taken to extermi-
nate the hated bird, and the mayor
went into the work with a will. The
method which is being tried in Bos-
ton to execute the condemned criminals
Is to destroy his nests and eggs, and
The enemies Of the bird hope for great
from the warfare. The Bos-
ION indictment against the sparrow in
his crimes against Cock Robin
and other mild-mannered birds, whom
he drives away with his vicious and
nagging tactics, as well as his destruc-
.iveness to trees and shrubs and his
general course as a public nuisance
New York Herald.