The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-10-09

The song sSarroW Is the singer of The
year Neither winter cold nor summer
heat has power to check bis tuneful de.
sires. IN the February nelds. whrn the
snow still lies banked deep afalzst the
condning fences. the cong sparrow Vol.
ces the promise OF spring before The
robin and the blueblrd dare.
N August when every other pird
voice is stilled and the earth is baked
and The green Is parched. the song
r9arrow sings Of coming autumn ra.ns.
In no month Of the year is he Wholly
silent. and though storm and hunger
may force aim to long journeyo he has
o song ready for each new resting
plsce. The search for sweet and per-
feet optimism ends With the song spar
row
The bird is nothing TO the eye ard
everything to the ear. He dresses in
drabs and browns. with streaKngs Of
a9d bay and ash, with white enough
below to make prominent en- ident-
tying brown patch on the breast.
The song sparrow gave the FROST
bound pilgrims Of the Pnmouth Colony
the trst sylablsd hope that somewhere
beyond tle awful winter lay the spring
lie has been giving the same wotd OF
hope to every Northern farming house
hold for nearly three centuries. He IS
tho true herald OF the spring, notwith-
ltanding the fact that the robin and the
bluebird have that honor OF men.
The robin and the blueDird are cou.
spicuously beautiful; the song sparrow
is an ugly duckRng. Snd while be pipes
his spring song for a week before the
others come, tlse ones in the nne rai-
ment as is the way OF things IN this
world. get the credit OF the welcome.
The song sparrow ought to have won
some songs in return for his music. but
most OF the poets have been neglectful
The song sparrow is known to the peo-
PIE Of the country as the ground oird. E"
Poets as a rule are not ornithologists,
and IL is probable that when they have
caught uhe sparrows melody and have
been moved TO questioning they have
Geen stopped from Isingfng by the
earthly name OF the songster. Ground
bird, indeed The poet would have
none OF il, for poets must soar. Not
AL the human singers, however, have
neglected the bird. though none Of
them has given 1t any length Of lines.
George Parsons Lathrop. who did
much more in prose than in poetry. was
nevertheless moved out OF mis- wont to
sing when he heard the spring song
sparrow at his garden gate.
Climmers grey the leafless thicket
Close beside my garden gate.
Where. so light, from post TO wicket
Hops the sparrow, blithe. sedate.
Who. with meekly folded wing,
Comes tu sun himself and sing.
Mr Larnrop caught the manner OF
the sparrow and drew his proper pis.
ture. Let not every one, however, look
for the song sparrow at his garden
gate. The birdie presence there de-
psnds altogether on the garden. The
song sparrow shuns no man save the
man who makes artificial his surround
tags II is the id-fashioned garden
with tangles here and there, that the
song sparrow loves. He does not dis
plse the fruit garden, and though. like
the soaring lark he prefers tc make
his nest on the grouno, he will on occa-
don place II in the currant bush CT in
iome thlcket which the hand OF the
gardener has spared
The song sparrow is ore OF the few
American birds that are ftiy named
The scientists have classed the birds
properly and have given them a prob
ably correct naming in Latin, but the
people in naming the fowls OF the afr
have played havoc with truth. Some
Sf our so-ealled thrushes are not
thrushes at ali; our robin isn't robin;
our nighthawk isn't a hawk, but our
song sparrow, praise be. is both a SPAR
row and songster.
+. Schuyler Mathews, 10 his Field
Book OF Wild Birds and Their Music, +"
declares that the song sparrow de-
votes himself To pure. simple melody.
and IS in consequence the best erpon-
ent OF the song motive among all thG
members OF the feathered tribe
Mr.. Mathews has made a transcript
tion OF the song OF the sparrow and
has set II down in notes so that a man
may play il upon bis Interpreting IN
Etruments lie fnds a swing and ac-
cent to these few tones which perfect,
~ express an exultant feeling, some
thing akin TO that SO eloquently given
In the hrst bars OF Siegmund's love
song In the Nibclungen LED
John Burroughs interprets the song
I sparrow's music thus; "Swee-e-t
swee-et. swee-e-t, bitter and then he
says uhat this is a simple but profound
summing up OF life
And so il may be, but Il shakes one 3
faith even in Burroughs to know that
be can hnd a suggestion OF bitterness in
/ the music OF the song sparrow. Chi