The Princeton union., 1898-10-13
THE SPARROW AND THE TROUT

THE SPARROW AND THE TROUT
Concerning the English Bird and the
English Imported Fish.
The English sparrow is one Of the
most unattractiye birds-we should
say the most unattractive were it not
that pictures of the apteryx and the
dodo suggest that it is possible that the
avian family may contain specimens
more ill-bred and generally disreputa-
Die in appearance than he, says the
Hartford Courant. Both these, how
ever, we believe are extinct, having
persisted like the ichthyosaurus of ssin-#
nate homeliness, and have been set
aside in the scheme Of evolution as inn.
perfect and mistaken conceptions.
The English sparrow, therefore, re-
mains the most ill-conditioned disa-
greeable- looking and unpleasant man
nered OF all the Birds It would be un-,
fair to compare him with our song
sparrow, for he makes no pretensions,#
to musical skill and frankly admits,
that his voice is harsh and strident and
III tor seedlings, chickering's and insults
only, but compare him to our famil--
1ar "chippy: The feathers of the Eng
l1sh bird-it is not possible, conscien-
t1ously, to use the word "plumage" in
connection with him-the feathers Of
the English bird are of dull color and
look dirty and faded, his clothes have
never been brushed. His heavy bill,
coarse head, hunched-up shoulders,
pugnacious tail, with two feathers
pulled out and one turned sidewise,
suggest that the pronunciation of his
name, "sparrer," is correct, for like a
professional prize fighter, he is always
quarreling out loud and practicing ''the
preliminary objurgations." Compare
all this to our chfppy, whose plumage
IS neat, but not CANDY, whose form is
the refinement of elegance and whose
air and manner are the perfection Of
unobtrusive cheerful courtesy. His
adjusted proportion. Observe him as
he goes systematically through the
Woodbine on the piazza in search Of
noxious insects-how thoroughly and
neatly he works, neither inviting nor
soliciting your observation. There is
no lost motion" about the chippy, but
all the movements of the English spar
row are jerky and aimless as of some
thing that has no definite place in the
scheme of creation and is working for
one. Much the same contrast holds be-
tween OUR brook trout and the i'm
ported English trout known as the
brown trout" OF course all trout are
beautiful, but the English fish is
chunkier and blunter, the curve of the
back, which in the American is said by
artists to be the most beautiful line
in animate nature, is fattened slightly
by the increased size of the head. The
colors are all toned down and subdued
by the slight but all-important degra-
dation which marks the line between
the work Of the great colorist and the
successful imitators. In disposition the
English trout is at once sullen and
voracious, and is an Unsuitable canni-
bal. The American trout, it is true, is
not wholly free from blame in this re-
gard, but he does not devour the young
of his own race in the wholesale and
promiscuous way that marks the feed
ing of his English cousin. The con-
trast between the typical caricatures
of John Bull and Uncle Sam is not al
together without justification in fact.
There is a tendency in this country to
produce simmer more active and
elegantly formed animal than the
English prototype. We have no wish
to lessen the international good feeling
between the two great branches of the
English-speaking people, but we must
say firmly that the pugnacious and pro-
creative English sparrow is an ugly
looking bird and an unmitigated nui-
sance, without brains enough to teach
him to go south in winter or breast
enough to make him worth eating.