Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-10-20
THE SPARROW AND THE TROUT
Concerning the English Bird and tne
English imported Fish.

copee-n.ng the English Bird and tnS
English Imported Fish.
The English sparrow is ona Oh tne
most un~attractiye birds-we shoaiu
say the most unattractsve were IL nos
that pictures OF the apteryx and thc
dodo suggest that il Is possible that the
avian family may contain specimens
more ill-bred and generally disrcputa-
be in appearance thar he, says INC
Hartford Courant. Both these. now
ever. we believe are extinct, haVlns
perished like the ichthyosaurus OF IN
nate homcliness, and have been SCI
aside in the scheme OF evolution as I'M
perfect and mistaken conceptions
The English sparrow, therefore =
mains the most ill-condltioned, disa-
| notwithstanding and unpleasant man
nered of all the birds. 1t would De UNI
fair to compare him with our song
| sparrow, for he makes no ~pretensiohS
TO musical skill and frankly ADMITS
that his voice is harsh and strident n
fit for seedlings, chickering's and insults
only, but compare him e. our iamil-
lar "chippy.' The feathers of the Eng
lish bird-it is not possible, conscieh-
tiously, to use tho word "plumage IN
| connection with him-the feathers OF
the English bird are OF a dull color ana
look dirty and faded, his clothes nave
never been brushed. His heavJ DILL
coarse head, hunched-up shoulders,
| pugnacious tail, with two feathers
pulled out and one turned sidewlse'
suggest that the pronunciation OF us
name, ''sparrer." is correct, for ike a
professional prize fighter, he is always
quarreling out loud and practicing the
preliminary o~biurgations. Compare
all this to our chippy, whose plumage
is neat, but not gaudy, whose form Is
the refinement of elegance and WnoSe
air and manner are the perfection oil
unobtrusive cheerful courtesy. his
outline is the perfection Of grace ana
adjusted proportion. Observe him as
he goes Systematically through n
woodbine on the piazza in search OF
noxious insects-how thoroughly ana
neatly he works. neither inviting no
soliciting your observation. There IS
no lost motion" about the chippy, put
all the movements of the English spar
row are jerky and aimless as or 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 flattened slightly
by the increased size of the head. The
colors are all toned down and subdued
by the slight but all-important aagra-
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 carieatures
of John Bull and Uncle Sam is not al
together without justification in fact.
There is a tendency in this country to
produce a 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 p~ugnacious 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.