Added to the 'Short Pieces' page:

 

FOOLING THE SPARROWS:

 

Several years ago when I left the stress and confinement of the big city I purchased a run down country place – perhaps a small farm. I think I purchased this particular place for two reasons – because it was run down, and I might have the pleasure of building it up again, and because it was possessed by a scraggly old orchard. At once I could imagine bluebirds flitting through the old trees. We took the place in May. Instead of doing what I should have done at first, perhaps, fixing up the trellises and the like for the gentle madam, I built 12 cages for the bluebirds and hung them from the orchard branches. They came, 12 pairs of them, and we had a most delightful blue and green summer. Those bright flashes of blue we will never forget.

Early fall came and the bluebirds with their young disappeared. Then came the pirates, the idlers, the noisy good for nothing, the English sparrows. They took possession and looked forward to a prosperous and snug winter. “Never mind,” we argued, “when our friends the bluebirds appear next spring they will put the usurpers to rout.” Spring came and so came the bluebirds, but the foreigners refused to be routed. We tried the “Shooing” process, and in fact about everything except actual murder, in our efforts to assist the bluebirds to regain their rightful property. It was a hopeless task. Possession appears to be about 10 points of the law with the English sparrow. We tried blocking the doorways of the cages for a time, but while that hindered the sparrow, it didn’t help the bluebird. And the sparrow was always the closest by to make a dash when the barrier should be removed.

During a heavy blow one of the cages came down. I removed the bottom, emptied it of its contents, repainted it on the outside, and putting on a stronger wire, hung it up again. In this instance a pair of bluebirds got there first! They went in, looked around and appeared to be satisfied. The same rule of possession appears to be true of the bluebird. They stayed. The battle lasted for days, but the sparrows finally withdrew. This gave me the key to the situation. Now, every fall, I take the cages down, house them for the winter, clean them and freshen them with a coat of paint and put them out at the first sign of bluebirds in the spring. Not in every case do the bluebirds get there first, but a large percentage of them do and we still have the joy of seeing them dash across the lawn and hear their refreshing melodies in the morning.

If anyone tells you that birds are loth to enter a painted cage you must not believe them entirely. I was brought up in that belief. We have scores of cages of various kinds on our place and every one of them is painted. Usually they have green sides with red roofs; some have white sides with green roofs. None of our cage living birds appear to be hesitant to enter a painted house.

 

                                       (undated)