Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-01-26
OUR ENGLISH SPARR0WS
THE HARM THEY DO CONTRAST
ED WITH THE GOOD.
History OF the Bird in This Country
Imported from Europe in 1850 by
Brooklyn Men-With Spread Came
knowledge Of It's Destructiveness.

la consideration Of the discussion
that has arisen over the poisoning of
English sparrows here in Brattleboro,
| "A brief history of this bird may be OF
interest ms showing its true status
From n bulletin on the subject, com
piled under the direction of DIR. &.
| Hart Merriam and issued by the depart
ment of agriculture in 1889, are. taken
| The following statements which ought
! TO help everyone IN understanding the
subject:
The English sparrow, or more prop
erly, the house sparrow (passer do
mcsticus) was first brought to this
country in the fall of 1850 at the in
stance Of the directors OF the Brooklyn
institute, The initial importation con
sisted of eight pairs, which were liber'
ated in the spring of 1851. but did not
thrive. In 1852 the institute attempt
ed n re-intrOduction of the bird, sub
scrihing 5000 for that purpose and inn
porting a much larger number of pairs.
The following spring these sparrows
were liberated in and about New York,
aud they Immediately began to multi
plv. From that time on the sparrow
craze increased, and during the next 30
years sparrows We're directly intro
duced from England and other Euro
mean countries in lG cities Of the Unit
ed States, the largest importation be-
ing made by the city of Philadelphia
in 1869 when 1000 pairs were shipped
TO that city. In addition to these di-
rect importations the birds Were ear
ried from place TO place, carefully
watched. protected and fed until the
wear 1856 found them established in 80
states and five territories of this coun'
try.
The sparrow Gloom" is due in part
70 the fact that many Europeans, liv-
ING in this country, remembered with
pleasure the familiar chirp of the bird
in the surroundings of their former
homes; also to the exaggerated reports
of the good the binds did in destroying
insects in the larger cities In fact the
prices asked for sparrows were so high
in New York at Que time that people
found it cheaper TO club together and
import them.
There was no hostile feeling toward
the sparrow from 1885 to 1870, but
during the next decade a gradual oppo'
sition was noted and there was no lit
tie retrenchment in the cities where
the birds had become abundant. That
they multiplied and spread with great
rapidity there is not the slightest
doubt, for the bird S fecundity is
amazing. 1t is no unusual thing for
single pair, in the latitude of New
York or farther south, to rear 20 or 30
Young in the course Of "A year; and as
Stunning the annual product of a pair to
be a Young half males and half fe'
males, and assuming further for the
sake of computation that all live, 1t
will be seen that IN 10 years the pro-
geny of single pair would be 215,-
7169S3. sos. There was no sudden
change but a gradual falling off IN the
number of sparrow adherents during
the years following 1870, and this
change was not due to any one argu-
ment but to gradual accumulation of
evidence against the bird, Finally the
array of evidence became so damning
that the advocates of the sparrow were
reduced to "A feeble minority, and cam
paigns of determination were begun in
various parts of the country. In some
states bounties We're offered and in
Others hunting clubs were formed for
the purpose of killing the feathered
pests, but in spite Of these measures
the sparrows have continued to be
fruitful and multiply until their num-
Der is so great that determination is
out of the question. All that can be
done now is to keep them down as
much as possible.
The English sparrow thrives in all
sorts of climate, and has comparatively
few natural enemies. Constant asso
citation with human beings has made
the bird wary to be caught by cats
and other domesticated animals, and it
is safe to say that the former have far
better success in catching the wariest
of our native birds. There are a few
native birds which kill the sparrow or
eat its eggs and young, the most useful
bird in this respect being the northern
shrike although the blueiay, crow,
blackbird and sparrow hawk help the
cause along,
On the other hand, the damage done
by the sparrow is enormous. In the
first place there is the damage result
ing from filth ana the injury to trees
and vines due to this cause. Then
there is also the injury to buds and
blossoms, the damage to fields of grain
and vegetables and the molestation of
native birds, no less than So varieties
coming under this head. 1t has been
claimed that the sparrow is of great
use in destroying weed seeds but inves-
tigation shows that fully as many use
full seeds are destroyed as well. As to
the value of the sparrow as destroyer
of insects it has been proven that the
bird is not an shabitual insect eater,
does not prefer insect food and seldom
produces any perceptible effect on the
number of any species of injurious in
sect. The sparrow does not discriminate
between the beneficial and injurious
insects; there is no injurious species
which the sparrow destroys, which is
not much oftener devOured by native
birds; the presence of the sparrow pre-
vents the other birds from accomplish
ing this needed work.
Taking it all in all, the good which
the sparrow accomplishes is so greatly
outbalanced by the damage it does that
no good reason can be advanced for its
preservation Indeed, the welfare of
every community demands that the