The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-15
THE HOUSE SPARROW.

I'm the only bird the game laws don't
 protect,
 Don't respect,
 But I old my bloomin' own, for ere
 I am,
 And I'm ere by tens of millions, recol-
 feet;
 So for game laws really do not care
 damn.
 The house sparrow is six anu tnlfa inches in length if he were as large as a crow. I wonder what would become or us! | am afraid our condition would be much more serious than that of the an cient peoples who had to contend against dragons and griffins for neither the dragon of WGntley nor any other ever had as much ginger to the square inch as this sturdy little guttersnipe who defes the worst that can be in- flicted on him. by an outraged poDuia- ton of seventy million people, including the police force and the United States army. Dragons, griffins and giants used to meet their match occasionally the sparrow, as A race, never meets ms 1ldJCu, duDdl tllllS I4N 10 HiiNNf'tNN
 He has all the characteristics necessary for the making of a great invader, He is strong and hardy, pugnacious and unscrupulous: he can live on anything | or almost on nothing, He can stand | the most severe extremes of heat ana cold. he can build nest anywhere and of almost any material, and. last but not least. he is shockingly prolific. We may say all the nasty things about nm that we choose, but the fact remains that in many respects he is the most | wonderful bird in the world. We often hear him referred to as the 'despised sparrow pest though he is, confess admire him. I admire his dauntless courage his all-conquering persistence and his ability to accomplish the pur- pose of his life in spite of all opposi- ton. But whether we like him or not, he's here and he's going to stay, and since we can't exterminate him, we might as well make the best of it.
 To give the sparrow his due, which he seldom gets, he is not in any sense re- sponsible for his first appearance in this country. Tn 1851 and 1852, he was introduced at Brooklyn, New York. by a well-meaning gentleman, who, Tor some reason, imagined that grain eating bird would be the very thing to rid the shade trees of the worms with which they were infested.
 Fully sevhnty-fve per cent. or the food of an adult house sparrow consists of grain of some kind and while it does at times eat insects and their larvae | ohp1E m Inc increase Ot insect life is very small compared with the hycatchers and most of the war blers.
 It was not long before observant and far-sighted naturalists were able tc predict the evils likely to result from the introduction of this pugnacious lit tie immigrant The sparrow very soon began to show his superior strength and fighting qualities by taking posses sion of the boxes and bird-houses erect ed for wrens and bluebrds, and by anc by as his numbers increased and as he needed more room, he drove the weak CT birds further and further from the vicinity of the houses and gardens which they had formerly frequented Many people seem to think that ht changed his mode of life after becom ing naturalized, and that in England
 he was quite we'll behaved. This is mistake. as the gentleman who is re
 sponsibe for his presence here mfgh , have known, had he taken the trouble to study his character on English soil , The pugnacity of the sparrow was wei known in England al that time. Gil t bert White speaks of his annoying ant driving away the swallows when thu latter were nesting and the following is an extract from "YarrelPs Britisl Birds" "The grounds of Lambetl Palace. where, twenty years ago, wer : 1 to be found thrushes blackbirds chaf [ fnches and other country birds. nov