| Show + The Sparrow U r ASH1NGTON = October 17 Material ng isflargely in hand in the newly o ganiJ zed disum of Economic qrnitKblogyj J of the 1epartment of Agriculture fort for-t of bclleiinsupon the relations of Several common species of birds in this country to agriculture Tne evidence evi-dence collected will have a strong tendency tend-ency is some cases to upset the widely prevslentmotionsTespectingthe habits and values ofcertain birds in others to lead to an organized effort for the mitigation miti-gation or ex i ctie n of pests which onus destruction to valuable branches of agriculture In the latter category Dr C H Merriam head of the division places the English sparrows as the chief This herd was imported with a flourish of praise some years ago as anent an-ent for the protection of shade trees from the ravages of the caterpillar inchworms inch-worms and other creeping things and has so multiplied and developed among the new surroundings as to become a vastly greater scourge than the one it Iwas expected to counteract Its increase in-crease is enormous and the new territory terri-tory which it invades is estimated at more than 130000 square miles annually It is essentially a town bird nesting almost exclusively about and upon projections of buildings but it takes long vacations during the fruit growing seasons and wreaks its arinaci ous appetite upon the largest and juiciest of grapes and daintiest of tree fruits iu which work of destruction its aggregate of damages is almost incomputable How best to prevent its further increase and curtail its ravng propensities is an unsolved problem It may be shot or poisoned or it may be despoiled of its nest but neither plan promises permanent perma-nent relief The estimated annual loss to rice planters from the depredations of this bird is between 3000000 and 1000000 Dr Merriam recently spent some time in the rice fields of South Carolina for the purpose of studying the habits of the bird and of expert menting as to its depredations He found planters making their usual heroic efforts and with a partial success to save their crops For illustration a field of 200 acre required the employment employ-ment of more than fifty men and boys their duy morning and evening being to create such a hubbub with guns and other noiseproducing implements as would prevent the birds from settling upon this particular field and scare them over to those of their neighbor where a simiar din was in process for a like purpose Dr Mercian thinks that a single hawk trained as were the falcons with which sportsmen of the middle ages amused themselves would be an effective protection to a rice field of 209 acres It is probable that an experiment ex-periment in this direction will be tried if a person of sufficient experience in the training of the bird can be found to undertake it With regard to our idi geneous bird of prey hawks and owls I for the killing ot which Pennsylvania and perhaps other Sates pay a premium pre-mium Dr Merriam and Ornithologists are convinced that their Services are of great value to the farmer No more than three out of upwards of thirty of the species prey upon domestic fowl and even these more than remunerate the farmers by killing field mice |
