The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1899-08-31
THE FRIENDLEss SPARROW.
England Declares War on tho nird Pest
His Career 4, the ntt~d s,.ses

Engiand Declares War on tho nird r-ss
His Career "a the unised states.
Ever since the ancient and rather
boastful declaration q, the sparrow.
that he had killed Cock Robin. q large
portion OF mankind has believed that
:he sparrow. the English sparrow.
should pay the full penalty for the
crime. and his self-appointed judges
and cXecuticners have been legion. But
he has lived and thriyed 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 and municipalities.
The department OF agriculture has
Illuminated its lightnings against him
from Washington. and learned societies
| have thundered his doom. But every
spring he chirps and twitters with re-
| Eewed vigor. ard 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. Teket-
| meier, a naturalist OF renown and an
| author whose word on scientific sub
jects carries great weight. has pub
| iished boob about the sparrow. and
| IN it declares that the bird l. a pest.
| and that in England alone he infiicts
damage which amounts yearly TO mil
| lions Of pounds streling. Through all
his 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 @. his enemies with
all the visor and often with the bitter.
ness Of jealous partisars. But what
can they say now? Found guilty by a
! judge in his own h0me. what remains
but 10 pass the sentence Of death upon
that the confessed murderer OF Cock
Robin is doomed for good and all and
that at last the sparrow must 20. That
locks simple ard easy. but IL isn't. for
little Mr.. Sparrow in answer TO the
| condemnation. and the sentence OF the
court will simply cock his head on
one side and ask: Well. what are YOU
going to do about it?" And his su-
rreme confidence Is justified by expert
| ence. Ever since he was first intro
duced into this country from his na'
tive heath, about fifty years ago. he has
prospered ard multiplied immensely ir
spite OF all efforts to keep him In
check, and against convulsions Of ma
ture and the Vaccinations OF powers
ard principaii;ies." The blizzard OF
13SS came. and he was frozen by the
tens OF thousands. One storm In the
Isummer OF 1893 scattered dead spar.
rows through the city parks and In
country lanes "as thick az leaves thai
strew the wales Of Vallombrosa." POI
hunters have sought his life and sold
him by thousands as reed birds. Small
boys with air guns and pea shooter
have been his sccurge. and the maj
who spread nets under his roostint
place at night ard shook him down u
death IN hundreds has been his bane
But he has lived on and brought nj
Ibis wonderfully increasing famiiie,
year by year. Poison has been tried
but il was found that other birds ant
animals were hurt mere than the spar
row, who just winked and passed b!
on the other side from the enyenome,
morsel. Boston has lately been stirrs'
lup against the SPARROW. The Aneri
can Society OF Bird Destroyers. who's
headquarters are there. and whose OBJ
ject it IL TO bring back native som
birds which have been driven out b.
one means or another. has taken up tn
cudgels against the slayer OF Cock Rob
in. and is carrying on a lively crusad
against him. A petition thirty fee
long was presented to Mayor Quincy
asking that steps be taken to exiermi
mate the hated bird, and the mayo
went into tie work with a will tn
method which is being tried in Bos
ton to execute the condemned criminal
is to destroy lis nests and eggs. an
the enemies Of the bird hope for gres
results frcm the warfare. The Bos
ton Indictment against the sparrow In
kcludes his crimes against Cock Ro5i
and other mild-mennered birds. wkor
he drives away with his vicious an
lnagsicg tactics. as well as his destrgc
tiveness to trees and shrubs and hi
general course as public nuisance
New York Herald.