Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/427

 increase the usual rate of their multiplication; if it is true that they are quarrelsome and pugnacious little creatures, and by their bad dispositions and excessive numbers are driving out other birds, and consuming the means of subsistence, which all should share, and, moreover, if they are specially destructive to buds, fruits, and grains, as is also alleged, so that on the whole they may do a great deal more mischief than good—then it is just as proper to destroy them as to destroy any other pests. If such is their character, protection should be withdrawn from them, and they should be exterminated in all suitable ways. Mr. Bergh ought to have addressed himself to these considerations, and shown if he can that the charges against the sparrows are false, and that they are entitled to all the favors they get.

But he puts the case on different grounds. He objects to the killing of his pets for teleological reasons—that is, because it thwarts the purposes of Divine Beneficence, and, by the prominence he gives to this notion in his letter, we must assume that he regards it as imperative. He looks upon Dr. Coues as a man who would exterminate one of the "pretty little creatures of the Almighty," and that he is therefore an "enemy of God"; and Mr. Bergh expresses a somewhat sanguinary wish that he could get hold of him, and subject him to the guillotine of New York law.

Now, there is something wrong here. Whenever one party wants to give another party the law in the name of God, the matter requires looking into. Mr. Bergh assumes to know the Divine intentions: does he probably understand much more about them than his neighbors? He seems somewhat reckless in his mental movements, but is he not aware that the water hereabouts is very deep? He plays off theology upon Dr. Coues, but we suspect that the naturalist might give the philanthropist large odds, and still beat him at the game.

For when Mr. Bergh says to Dr. Coues, "You would let loose the street boys upon the sparrows, and are therefore an enemy of God," Dr. Coues may reply: "How do you know that the propensities of boys are not among the divinely appointed means of dealing with sparrows? And if it is a question of Divine purposes, who created the sparrow-hawk—the most destructive little savage ever set free in the sky? If you wish some pointed information regarding the intentions of the Almighty in respect to the treatment of sparrows, consult the excellent volume on birds by the Rev. J. G. Wood, page 85."

Should Mr. Bergh see fit to comply with the suggestion, he will there find that sparrow-hawks for some purpose have been provided on a very large scale, being plentifully found in all quarters of the world. That it may do its work of destruction effectually, the sparrow-hawk was made one of the most vicious, sanguinary, and cruel of all birds of prey. Usually very wild, shy, and wary, it is difficult of approach, except when "hovering about a flock of sparrows," and then "the ardor of its destructive propensities is so great that all its faculties seem to be absorbed in the gratification of the ruling passion, so that it is evidently unmindful of anything but its flying prey. A sparrow-hawk has even been known to dash furiously at a man, who endeavored to rescue a small bird which it attacked."

Hawks, as is generally known, are capable of being domesticated and trained to hunt as in the art of falconry; but the sparrow-hawk is so fierce and untamable that it is the worst of all its tribe for this purpose. It is indeed courageous, and will dash at any quarry that may be pointed out to it, but it is crabbed, intractable, and so treacherous that it can not be trusted. Besides, it "is so quarrelsome that if