El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-26

constituent to all. Indeeden ext to min
strelsy. and the mockery fighting was
this fellows mainhold. Where is II
now? Where are the chaps that
twanged their harps in sunny provence
five hundred years ago? The patient
search the vigil long" viii reward the
hunter with the sight Of one hooking
bird at a time one week at time.
Shreveports residence districts are
noted for the width and depths of the
wards which surround the houses In
these yards are splendid SpcImenS OF
the ornamental trees common to the
south-cedars. arborvitaes. magnoliaS.
bays. and so forth. These trees were
4 once the homes of singers and part-
colored visitors innumerabie. Just now
they furnish abiding places for the for
eisners and nothing more. The sight
| of bunch of dusty-brown, dirty, offal-
eating. cluttering. swearing spsrrows
amid the glossy green leaves OF the
magnOlias is not good for the temper.
The cemeteries of Shreveport are heav-
lily freed with thick-branched ever
green's. Wandering among them 1t Is
sometimes possible to find a mocker or
even a northern thrush or two, the
brown-backed or the cat-bird; but the
! fact that they have been forced to take
refuge among the tombstones is evil
| dence of the violence with which they
have been pursued. In fact. they would
be disturbed even there but for the
cemetery keepers who do as much as
they can to keep the robbers out
The bird which has made its way
thus far southwark from Massachusetts,
is of somewhat lighter color than its
northern progenitor. owing probably
to the fierceness of the long-continued
SUM- but it is not smaller or less Wig
orous. Everything else away below
the Mason and Dixon line shows some
tendency to wilt during the dog days,
TO take SieStas. to avoid unnecessary
exertion. and so to ease along until
frost comes: but not so the sparrow.
Its indomitable measures keeps it rob-
bling and breeding and assassinating
steadily the year round. In the large
cities of the north there are certain
seasons so Indictment that the bird can
not or will not nest and reproduce, but
here it is not deferred from continuous
matrimony by any climatic considera-
lions. For this reason it's growth in
the south is apt to be even more rapid
than its growth in the north. and what
it is doing to the northern birds in the
spring and summer is we'll known to
every ornithologist. Bird lovers assert
that unless some general and forcible
means of relief is found there will not
be any song birds at all in America
twenty years hence
Many remedies have been suggested
and several of them tried. but they are
all open to objection Poisoning spar |
rows with wheat grains soaked in !
strychnine and water and then dried is |
an easy matter. The sparrows con- !
gregate about barns and stables in |
clouds and will take the wheat readily. I,
1t bowls them over as il they were ten /
pins. The trouble is that other birds |
will take it as well and if the grain is /
not found and destroyed after the spar |
rows leave the place some valuable and |
rare songster my be slain.
1t is believed that so far as the city |
parks are concerned the pests could be |
made to get up and get by sparrow
hawks bred in captivity and accustom-
ed to returning to the neighborhood
from their wandering, but the spar /
row hawk does not discriminate be-
tween a sparrow and a red-eyed vireo
and would as soon eat hermit thrush
as either. If every man who owns a
gun should load it with No. 10 shot
and turn it loose at the proper time, 1T
would result in a notable diminution
of the marauders, but there is an ordi
nance against the discharge of firearms
within city limits. and the town crop
of sparrows would be sufficient and
more than sufficient to keep up the
supply. More than one ornithologist
has put in time endea voring to discov-
er. cultivate. inoculate. and spread
specific sparrow disease. but has stop
ped by the knowledge that what will
kill a sparrow would be apt to kill two
Of any other bird. =
There are three remedies which. if ,
conformity, would prove
undoubtedly. but the difficulty i
lies in the administration. Stated in .
the order of their relative value they ,
are:
A resolve by all gun clubs to discon-
tinue the use IT pigeons at the traps
and substitute sparrows for them. The
sparrow is small and tough and erratic '
Of flight, and if thrown upward strong
ly by a plunge trap would make a diff
hcult target. Indeed. it is pretty GER I
tain that not any of the cracks from ]
Fred Gilbert up, or down. would be
able to make so good a score on them G
as pigeons.
steady breaking up of the sparrow
nests. 1t has been stated by competent
observers that when a sparrow's nest ,
is broken up twice in succession the ,
bird will not breed again in that year. ;
This alone. if persisted in by lovers of
song birds, would make great inroads
upon the hordes of winged pirates
which now infest trees and fields.
An offer by the legislature of every