ce. Then I scold her for daring to talk to me, and sometimes
make her fly away while I teach the young ones a thing or two. Once in a
while a little fellow among them will "talk back." I don't mind that
though, if he is a Cock Sparrow and looks like his papa.

No, we do not sing. We leave that for the Song Sparrows. We talk a great
deal, though. In the morning when we get up, and at night when we go to
bed we chatter a great deal. Indeed there are people shabby enough to
say that we are great nuisances about that time.

[Illustration: From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.
ENGLISH SPARROW.
Copyrighted by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.]

THE ENGLISH SPARROW.

The English Sparrow was first introduced into the United States at
Brooklyn, New York, in the years 1851 and '52. The trees in our parks
were at that time infested with a canker-worm, which wrought them great
injury, and to rid the trees of these worms was the mission of the
English Sparrow.

In his native country this bird, though of a seed-eating family (Finch),
was a great insect eater. The few which were brought over performed, at
first, the duty required of them; they devoured the worms and stayed
near the cities. With the change of climate, however, came a change in
their taste for insects. They made their home in the country as well as
the cities, and became seed and vegetable eaters, devouring the young
buds on vines and trees, grass-seed, oats, rye, and other grains.

Their services in insect-killing are still not to be despised. A single
pair of these Sparrows, under observation an entire day, were seen to
convey to their young no less than forty grubs an hour, an average
exceeding three thousand in the course of a week. Moreover, even in the
autumn he does not confine himself to grain, but feeds on various seeds,
such as the dandelion, the sow-thistle, and the groundsel; all of which
plants are classed as weeds. It has been known, also, to chase and
devour the common white butterfly, whose caterpillars make havoc among
the garden plants.

The good he may accomplish in this direction, however, is nullified to
the lovers of the beautiful, by the war he constantly wages upon our
song birds, destroying their young, and substituting his unattractive
looks and inharmonious chirps for their beautiful plumage and
soul-inspiring songs.

Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller in "Bird Ways" gives a fascinating pic