The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-02-23
The FREEBOOTER BIRD.
Sparr0WS the 4 SaSsinS Among
America FeathePed Gioriey.
About the Only Small specisnen of
the ornithoEoseieaI Tribe So,r Elk
listing in This Country-Others
Driven Away by His brutality.
Suggestions fer His determination.

a great change has been wrought By the
English sparrow. II appeared here first
some ten years ago. Five years after
ward the natives began to notice that its
general appearance and demeanor had
changed From cheerful twittering and
unobtrusive manner 1t had developed
strengthening bull head, a short sharp
beak. a raucous voice, and desire to fy
at every other feathered thing not more
than three times its size. Its numbers IN
creased rapidly. Where then there were
hundreds there are now thousands. Il is,
in fact. with rare exceptions, the only
small bird to be seel.
Connecting Shreveport and New Lewis
Vile, Ark. is a little spur Of .he Gotten
belt Railroad system some seventy miles
long. This spur pierces a reS1ch first of
plantations cleared back to the swamps OF
river, and then of small farms, around
which grow pines and other forest trees.
The towrs are small and few. From the
wide fields of the cotton plantations near
y all of the other small birds are gone.
One sees an occasional scissor-tail, look
ing lonely enough; or from a clump of
thick grass, or the bottom Of ditch half
checked with briars, weeIS, and cotton
stalks, may come the faint cheep Of a
grass bird. The sparrOWs are numerous.
One result of their presence IS that a man
may see in day twenty sparrow hawks
where three years ago he would not see
five. The sparrow hawk has rare fun with
the English midget, but savage ami yora-
cious as il is it can make no appreoiaDIe
diminution of the horde
Deep in the woods where evergreen
pine saplings grow within foot Of one
another sometimes a single thrush Ii
its brilliant voice, but If the listener re-
turns to the spct few days a-terwarj
he will not hear the song. The -hrusa
has been killed, or forced 20 d9canP, +ur
the sparrow has spread from the ofen TO
the forest and may be recognized by IT'S
curious duttering around JEe t0pmCSt
branches Of pines q hundred feet hizh-
The sparrow has confined its aJJen-
tons, Of course, TO undeTs-zed tree Lids
It has not bothered the quaiIs.- (which j
on the ground and take to the air only
for snort flight. There are not lacking,
however, men who assert that the various
forms of snipe, killdeers, sandpipcr5. and
others, excepting the jacks, have teea
driven from their usual haunts- The
sparrow does not attack any foWl it may
find blinking IN the daytime, an INST -
tive fear seeming TO restrain II. though
the owl is then nearly helpless; it does
not attack any form of hawk for the
same reason, but 1t does attack the Iur
key buZZard whenever that dark sailor
gets in its way, and there is no more
singular sight than one OF these huge
birds surrounded by a crowd of things
that look like insects. swinging rapidly
higher and higher in successive circles,
attempting no defence, buffeted by
hundred blows pecked TO desperation by
hundred TF.uF Nv no
the empyrean and is at peace. It is
matter OF common observation 10 see
sparrows lured by a chase OF this kind
10 d height of a thousand feet or more,
which is five times as high as they ever
go under other conditions.
The e.y beautiful and melCdious North
ern birds which have visited upper Louis
lana are supposed TO have gone even fur
Their south TO the Gulf country. but the
sparrow VIII seek them out even there in
the course Of few years, and where they
! viii go then no man can say They are
! not sea-COveTing birds and viii have
( reached their limit with the edge CT the
/ Gulf These birds are Of q thousand nueS.
and a hundred notes used to make glad
/ the hearts Of those who live here the year
around. and their absence is a serious de-
/ priyatiOn 10 bird lovers and bird students.
| None of these tiny flyers which have
!
/ derful instinct is By nature fighter. and
/ il is not surprising that the sparrow has
/ had no trouble in killing or dispossessing
I them The various grOsbeaks. Including
/ that splendid indiv dual the crimson
| breasted grOsbeak. the warblers. the green
! and brown hnches. the viTeos. the
! thrUshes. the orioles are known Of these
/ fields and woods no more. The scarlet
! tanager which lay like a stab Of living
-, ~ L..
! has been slain or forced 10 flee. These
are the tender, tImid kinds. But the worE
of which the sparrow in its enOTmou.
numbers is capable is best exemplifed b]
| the fact that the native birds have alsC
been EXTERN mated or conquered and made
fugitiyes-
| There used to be a Southern belief tina
the king bird. or bee martin, was able 4
| whip anything that wore feathers an'
| weighed less than q pound It is probable
that a martin is competent to put 70 IIS n
any four sparroWs that ever hoped. Blu
where there was one martin there wer
| 100 sparrows. and numerical superiorit,
told-numerical superiority Joined to
| disposition Of incesSant cambatiVeness an,
| anger against everything else. In III
farmyards of tbs region there stood
pole some thirty feet high and on its TO
a dry goods box with the top nailed o.
| and holes cut in the side It was intende
as home for the bee martin. It took tn
ipIace OF the pigeon cote with people VII
had no pigeons and wanted semi-tam
birds about The box is now the home 70
the sparrow. and where the martin is u
ornith0iogiSt can say
There never was gamer fight inch 70
inch than the hooking bird that won
droUs minstrel whose voice made glad IN
moCnlit nights 4 singer q such suparla
I've excellence that T. admitted no rival, Il
operate performer whose tFiIls and rOu
ladies' and bravuras. crescendcs and dimu
endCs and general coloratura work wer
/ the establishment Of all Indeed, next
minstreIsy and mockery. fighting was thI
| fellows mainhold Where is il now
Where are the chaps that twanged thei
harps in sunny Provence 500 years aga
! The patient search the vigil long vi
J reward the hunter with the sight OF OF
hooking bird at a time one week at
time
The redbird was another warrior who's
crimson copknos flashed in the front of e7
cry fray. Smaller than the martin or II
mocker. il was yet Of such pugnacity III;
it would attack even hawk which sougl
to disturb II in the Tickets which il q
fected. There are few Southern boys WI
nave not trapped the redbird and not OF
: vicious captive to wriggle in the hand az
i drive its strong beak into thumb or III
!, ger. When half dozen Of these hrav'
?, disagreed among themselves, as they d
l. generally when they could find no OH
; | foemen the air was filled with scream
\ ard dartines and desperately eEtwin