The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-19

ed. There is Memphis, for example. In the fall of 1871 Colonel c. J. Selden brought in three pairs, and as no other importation was made, and is was too far for them to migrate direct from other cities at so early date, the present number Verihes the asser- tion that they are thrifty, hardy and prolific multipliers. Strathoy, Canada, bought twelve in 1874 at one dollar apiece, and fifteen years later the man who imported them modestly ad- mitted that if those then in his city were all descended from his original dozen, and were also worth dollar each, he muct be quite a millionaire. Hundreds of years of experience have taught these sparrows that the closer they stay to man and his habitations, the safer they are. They have learn ed that out in the forests, the fields and the meadows there are lurking kshrikes, owls and hawks that will prey on them. They know that the jayN will eat their eggs and break up their homes in the country, so they turn cityward and dwell as close und- CT the caves of the houses as they can. Those same centuries have taught them to beware of cats, and even that | means of helping exterminate them is not worth considering.
 It Is only within the past twenty five years that people on this side the Att lantic have begun to realize that spar rows were anything but unqualified blessings Them someone discovered flock destroying a grain field, ari- other saw chattering colony Of them destroy thousands of buds in an orchard in a few days, another noted that they were scratching up grass seed and garden seed, another saw them mutilating a towering shrub b, another noted the damage done tho vines and trees where they had been roasting, another found the attic of his house half filled with straw and feath ers-a mass of infamable materi- al piled there for nests by the indefat- igable sparrows. Then public opinion was awakened to the fact that as pests the sparrows were among the worst. In order to give them a chance, a member of the Biological survey of the Department of Agriculture col- lected great mass of information some years ago, from all parts of the country where the sparrow had then spread, and weighed all evidence care fully to see if the great good the early importers of sparrOws had hoped of them might not still be true. After carefully compiling all the facts ob- great lover of birds, am naturally inclined to be mild when eensuring their misdeeds-but the experience of this spring has demonstrated more | clearly than ever before that Ieniency toward the house sparrow would be a crime.
 Since then evidence has been aceum- | ulating against sparrows, and from up- per Florida to Puget Sound, from Manitoba to Texas, from Georgia to California, reports prove them to be | of great hindrance and little help. Their insectivorous hagits are said to be quite credltable. so far as they go, but as insects make up only two per cent of their food, that doesn't dc much good. As from "A to 90 per cent of the remaining food is good grain, 1t leaves but small per centage
 of weed seeds for them to eat, and st as an aid to the farmer they are worse than useless,-the per centage of grain being against them.
 Various meth ods have been resorteo to in order to destroy the English | sparrows They have been trapped, killed and poisoned. but as a species they, like Banquo's ghost. will moi down." In an old report it Is urgent ly advised that sparrows be eaten at food, the statement being that many people eat them daily as rice birds anyway, when rice birds are not even in shipping distance, and further re- commend that in the cities they be caught and coop-fed for awhile or meal and oatmeal as one does with chickens.
 In some states sparrows are pro- tected by law, in others bountieI have been offered for their remova The wariness of these clever creatures their hardihood and the rapidity with which they increase. makes their de. cimation a laborious process. During | 1899 the American Society of Bird
 Restorers inaugurated crusad against them on the Boston Common
 where twenty had been carefully re. l leased and nuteured in 1888, and an.
 other twenty in 1869. A ruthless wal was waged on them for nearly thirty days. Six men devoted their entire time to the task, and in that time
 plugged up 5000 nesting holes, de stroyed 4,000 nests, and broke 1,0oC
 eggs. They destroyed no birds, bu | where 500 pairs had before been noted they saw only 300 or 300 pairs after | their crusade. Since this proved SC
 effective, 1t has been recommended al
 the best fashion in which to rid tn,
 nation of its greatest feathered pest.
 Copyright. 1908, by Frederic J. Has
 kin.)