ite number of bluebirds. When this number was
suddenly reduced the chances to make a bluebird's living were so
wondrously multiplied that young bluebirds had such an opportunity in
life as their fellows had not had for many long years. Accordingly
they thrived as never before, and, of their progeny, a larger
proportion lived to the following year. It was only a few years before
the number of bluebirds had risen. Now we probably have as many as we
have had for a long time past. I cite this simply to show that a
region can support a certain number of animals of any one particular
kind, and that the animal is likely to multiply, if given a fair
chance, until it has reached such proportions. Now to my story of the
rapid development of a newcomer.

In the year 1850 a resident of Brooklyn came home from a trip to
Europe. He was a lover of birds, and while in Europe had been
particularly attracted, no one now knows quite why, to the common
House Sparrow, as it should be called. It is no more abundant in
England than in many parts of the continent of Europe. A name that has
been used for a long time is very hard to cast aside, and we shall
probably continue to mistakenly call him the English Sparrow to the
end. Our Brooklyn traveler brought home with him from Europe eight of
these interesting little birds and succeeded in inducing his
colleagues in a scientific society to share his interest in them. Not
wishing to commit the newcomers suddenly to the rigors of the American
winter, these men built a large cage for the sparrows, meaning to set
them free in the spring. For some reason or other when the winter was
over the birds were all dead, and this first attempt to introduce the
sparrow into America failed entirely. The little bird had won so many
friends that his success was now sure. Finding a favorable
opportunity, these Brooklyn men dispatched an order to a man in
Europe, asking him to supply them with one hundred English sparrows.
The consignment came in good shape and the birds were liberated on the
edge of Brooklyn. This was the first of a number of introductions. A
little later New York City sent for two hundred and twenty of these
interesting creatures and turned them loose in her parks, while
Rochester, with what was then considered great public spirit,
purchased one hundred for herself. But the most progressive city in
this respect was Philadelphia. She had long been troubled with the
spanworm on her trees. This det