A SPARROW LYNCHED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1737, 11 January 1888, Page 3

A SPARROW LYNCHED.

The sparrow's intelligence and boub© ( justice must havo considerably increase m hie exile if we are to believe the Pa' kersburg (Virginia) correspondent of tt 11 New York Sun," who sends the follow log extraordinary story to that papei which, however, smacks too strongly c the ' ♦ gooseberry " and sr a-eerpent type t ( be a valuable addition to natural history — The English sparrows, which hay driven off all other birds and taken posset sion of every niche and corner about th courthouse of this city, publicly execo'ei one of their number on Tuesday, m plai view of a great number of citizens. 1 family of birds were buUding a nest unde the cornice In an angle of the buildirj] over the door of the sheriff's office, whei another bird, a pugnacious cook sparrov squatter, undertook to take possossion Tne noisy fight attracted the notioe of th deputy sheriff and prosecuting attorney who tel the /following story :■— " Th< plucky claimant was driven off half i doz u n times or more, bat returned to th< attack and kept up the fight for half at hour, perhaps, when a dozen or more birdi collected m the neighborhood of the nest and when he came back again they seized | him, and by some means wound a threac or string about his neck and threw hia ! over the edge of the nest into space. The bird fell, and brought up at the end oi the hal'.er. As he could neither release himself nor find a spot on which to real his feet, he was perforce compelled to fly back to the nest.. But around the edge was a cordon of birds who threw him back each time, until exhausted, he hung limp and lifeless, strangled to death After the birds had satisfied themaolvts of the marauder's death,. the reinforcement retired, and the family went on building their neat. The bird was left hanging by the neck three feet below the nest, and still hangs there as a warning to other ornithological outlaws,"