English sparrow

“ When the migratory birds return every first-class place is filled by a sparrow's nest. Nothing but second choice situations remain, and with these the late comers must be content. When we consider how much the safety of the next generation depends upon the security of the young while helpless in the nest, we appreciate what the English sparrow has gained by staying throughout the year. Often while the season is so inclement that it would seem there is still danger of frost, the sparrow builds her nest. ”

“ It begins to sing almost as early as the robin and will sing every hour in the day and seems never to tire of singing. The song sparrow is about the same size as the English sparrow.
Then there are the savanna sparrow and the seaside sparrow which are fond of marshes, near the sea; and the white-crowned. This and the white-throated sparrows are both fine singers and handsome birds. They are larger than the English sparrow. The vesper sparrow has a fine voice, singing late in the afternoon and evening. It is as fond of the meadows as the field sparrow. ”

“ The English sparrow, or finch, as he is more properly called, may be a troublesome visitor, but we invited him to come, and he is not to blame for some of his disagreeable ways. He is by no means useless, for he clears the gutters of quantities of unsavory and unsightly fragments which would decay and become a nuisance if not removed. The English sparrow eats also a great many of the army worms which have done so much harm in some parts of the country, and he has in many places entirely destroyed the cankerworms. ”

“ Life-history and habits.—The English sparrow was first introduced into the United States in 1850, and since that time has rapidly populated most of the cities and towns of the country. On account of its extreme adaptability to surroundings, its omnivorous food-habits and its fecundity it survives where other birds would die out. It also crowds out and has caused the disappearance or death of other birds more attractive and more useful. The sparrow annually rears five or six broods of young, laying from six to ten eggs at each sitting. ”

“ For information in regard to combating the English sparrow, see Farmers’ Bulletin 493, The English Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912.
Sparrows are not obtrusive birds, either in plumage, song, or action. There are some 40 species, with nearly as many subspecies, in North America. Not more than half a dozen forms are generally known in any one locality. All the species are more or less migratory, but so widely are they distributed that there is probably no part of the country where some can not be found throughout the year. ”

“ Few mortals are proof against the charm—when once the first half-dozen are conquered. The first three come easy. Most of us know the Crow—and the Robin—and the Bluebird—and—and—the Sparrow—until we discover that there are more than a dozen varieties of Sparrow, and perceive that this common brown bird, hopping so cheerily in and out of the bushes, may be a Song Sparrow or a Chipping Sparrow or a White-Throated or White-Crowned or any one of the dozen—or even the Cocky English Sparrow, despised by ornithologist and tyro alike. ”

“ In fact, the Shrike is especially useful in helping us to drive out the greedy, quarrelsome English Sparrow. This disreputable tramp not only does no work for his taxes—he hates honest work, like all vagrants —but destroys the buds of trees and plants, devours our grain crops, and drives away the industrious native birds who are good Citizens; so the Wise Men, who have tried the Sparrow's case, say that he is a very bad bird, who ought to suffer the extreme penalty of the law. ”

“ Where a large number of sparrows have gathered together the conditions are such as would give a robin or a bluebird nervous prostration, and his only recourse is to depart to a neighborhood where there is more peace and quiet. But our English sparrow is not only better fitted for the struggle than the robins and bluebirds, the orioles and the wrens. He has one important advantage over even his own sparrow cousins. The males are handsome—much [Pg 76] more so than the females or than their sparrow cousins in general. ”

“ The charge frequently made, that the English sparrow drives our native birds from their accustomed haunts, does not apply to this vicinity. The sparrows are very numerous, are noisy and sometimes aggressive in their habits, but appear to quarrel much more among themselves than with other species of birds. ”

“ They have quite the air of conquerors. All the other birds yield them precedence, and they positively domineer over the pugnacious little English sparrow, who is content to keep in the background and watch his chance when feeding-time comes. ”

“ As the area of distribution of the English sparrow rapidly widened, just so rapidly our native birds seemed to be brought into violent conflict with the garrulous stranger, or else they were driven to abandon to the newcomer their nesting sites and retire into the forests or prairies. The question arose as to whether the English sparrow itself on account of numbers would be driven from the cities and towns to take up nesting sites about country barns and farmhouses. ”

“ I have had quite an extensive acquaintance with the English sparrow, both in town and in the country, and I think that this bad boy of the air has a worse name than he deserves. Undoubtedly he is bad; so are all boys, and all birds, and all men and (240) women. We want supervision, correction, restriction—but the sparrow has good points.
Sparrow mothers lead all birds in mothering, as far as my observation goes. Again and again I have put a baby sparrow on the roof. He is a stranger picked up in the street. I do not know what nest he comes from, he does not know, no one knows. ”

“ Mother Sparrow is a hard worker, raising four broods every year. Just think how many children and grand-children one sparrow can have! English sparrows are called quarrelsome birds, and I believe it is true that they have driven away many of the pretty bluebirds, but we sometimes think they are quarreling when they are not. Have you ever noticed a crowd of sparrows following one bird? ”

“ The English or house sparrow drives away the native birds, although he is himself an attractive inhabitant in winter, particularly where native birds are not resident. The English sparrow should be kept in reduced numbers. ”

“ Results of two years' observations of sparrows at St. Louis, Mo. No molestation of native birds observed. 'I must say, however, that in my opinion the usefulness of the English sparrows as insect-destroying birds is greatly overrated, and that we have many native species who destroy more noxious insects in a single day than a sparrow will in a week.'
1875. ”

“ Altogether the bird is strikingly colored for a sparrow, and this characteristic is the more remarkable when we see how quiet and somber is his more modest mate. This brilliancy of male plumage in the presence of the somber color of his mate would seem to indicate that the English sparrow is eye-minded rather than ear-minded. It is true among human beings that most of them are eye-minded. ”

“ By such means the English sparrow has spread over much the larger portion of the American continent. Few birds are bold enough to visit a railroad car. Of the few who might be tempted, most are timid enough to fly on the first approach of man. Hence they fail to gain this chance of spreading. They must remain in the old crowded home. Meanwhile the sparrow, thus transported, finds a new home with fewer or no sparrows. The struggle is less keen. More of his kind can live. ”

“ Nest made of a few leaves or straws, in a bird-box when it is provided—otherwise in a hollow tree. Eggs white, without any spots.
A good Summer Citizen and a favorite everywhere; but for many reasons it is growing scarcer every year. The English Sparrow is one of its greatest enemies, and not only drives it from its nesting-boxes, but attacks the young birds. ”

“ The English sparrow has spread over much of the country and is driving many of the native birds from their homes, because of its quarrelsome disposition. It makes itself a nuisance on all our city streets. ”

“ The Report of the United States Department of Agriculture for the year 1889 on The English Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in North America, especially in its Relation to Agriculture, contains communications from many parts of the country testifying, not only to the destruction wrought by this sparrow in gardens and upon ripening grain fields, but also to the fact that few American birds seem to be able to resist the aggressions of this sparrow, and many therefore are compelled to abandon their nests to the intruders, even after their eggs have been deposited or are in process of incubation. ”

“ The English sparrow, by reason of his domestic habits and acquired capability of adapting himself to the manifold and varying circumstances of our city and country life, has become one of the most knowing and observing of all our birds. ”

“ If we build houses for the birds to nest in, provide feed for them and in other ways do what we can to attract them, they will soon learn that we are their friends. We must study their habits and always avoid frightening them. Next to a cat, the worst enemies of our song birds are the English sparrows. A sparrow is always fair game for the boy with a slingshot or rifle. In many places these sparrows have driven practically all the other birds out of the neighbourhood, have robbed their nests and in other ways have shown themselves to be a public nuisance. ”

“ Description.—Size and general shape of English Sparrow, but mandibles sharply pointed and crossed. Adult male: Deep dull red, brightest on rump, browner on back; wings and tail brownish black. Female: Dull olive-green, yellowish on the rump; head and back indistinctly streaked with blackish; underparts mixed with whitish. Immature male: Like the female, with some red mixed in the plumage. Length: 6 inches.
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL
Loxia leucoptera Gmelin
Description.—Size and shape of English Sparrow. ”

“ It is probable that in small numbers the English sparrow might be classed among the useful, or, at least, one of the only partly harmful birds, but there is no bird whose numbers it is more desirable to reduce. ”

“ The English Sparrow has long been regarded as an undesirable immigrant, but it would seem that it has scored a point in its own favor if it is to be regarded as an enemy of this destructive snail.—R. R. McLean, County Horticultural Commissioner, San Diego, July 26, 1922. ”

“ Indefatigable, persistent, industrious breeders—at once rebuilding their nests, if destroyed by accident or otherwise—there is little hope of their extermination, if such action should be desired in the future. Mr. Thomas Goodearl, an observer of these birds in their nativity, predicts that the English Sparrow will be the survivor—though not the fittest—of all English birds. ”

“ He has thrived because his adopted habitat has proved to be ideal. Let us not confuse this bird in any way with our truly native sparrows whose habits are so entirely different from this little English Colonist. The names of some of our North American birds of the same family are the field sparrow, the song sparrow, the vesper sparrow and many others whose lives, unfortunately, are not nearly so well known. ”

“ But the higher order—the perching Song Birds—should never be shot, except the common Sparrow of Europe that we call the English Sparrow. His habits are wholly bad; he meddles with the nests of useful birds and is a nuisance to his human as well as bird neighbors.
"To prevent confusion Heart of Nature has divided the habits and appetites of Birdland, so that instead of a great many families all building in one kind of tree, or eating the same sort of insects or seeds, each has its own manners and customs. ”

“ These parts of a Sparrow are bare; they never have any feathers; and the skin on them is hard and horny, as different from soft thin skin as finger-nails. Now look at the beak, and think how many things a Sparrow has to do with it. He has no hands or paws, and so he must pick up everything he eats with his beak. He has no teeth, and so he must bite his food with his beak. He feeds on seeds like a Canary bird; so his beak comes to a sharp point, because seeds are small things to pick up ”

“ There is no mistaking this beautiful sparrow. Among a bunch of his noisy English neighbors the rich brown of his feathers is easily seen, and the three white stripes on his head and the white patch on the throat attract your eye at once. In a group of thirty or forty whitethroats that were feeding on my bird seed I noticed also two plump song sparrows. They are brovm, too, but smaller than the whitethroats, and their breasts are streaked with dark-brown stripes, with a spot right in the center. This is the sparrow that makes music for us from very early spring until late in the autumn. ”

“ I suspect that we are nearer to his nest than he cares to have us, he is so uneasy."
"Where would the nest most likely be?" asked Nat; "in a tree or a bush?"
"Most Sparrow nests are near the ground," said Rap.
"A little lower yet, Rap; the Vesper Sparrow sinks his deep nest either in thick grass or in the ground itself; but though it is thus supported on all sides it is as nicely woven as if it were a tree nest."
"It isn't a very pretty bird," said Dodo. "Does it sing well? Why is it called the Vesper Sparrow—what does Vesper mean, Uncle Roy?" ”

“ You see, the ill-bred sparrows had been glaring at the little madam as she sat on her nest, which was a piece of impertinence that no self-respecting bird could endure with equanimity.
The English sparrows are not the only birds that disturb the harmony of the bird realm. Offenders must needs come there as well as in the human sphere. ”