New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-30
LIKE A STREET URCHIN
The Sparrow Gains Its Sharp Wits AL
Pugnacity Through Adyeniy
- EDITOR Of The Tribune.

10 the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir; The excellent article on the Enyt..
sparrow ~ Hr. Archibald {. Weeks "a.
with much interest having made a stuSv !,
bird life for twenty years about the ,I,..
parks and the woods along the Hudson a. ..
ND a. Highland Falls. Mr.. Weeks speak, viz.
knowledge Of the subject. and can be,,.,,
dence 20 the accuracy Of his statement.
The present impoverished cond,ioD =,
Central Park is remarked by all who ar. !.
terested in that breathing space. The NJ.
management Of pas. administration. h...
at fault. The present Commissioners
less task % reform has been worked -.
quietly and fearessly it vas no. an a..
matter 20 rid the park o. the human ,...
sites that battened on tn. city for NOR. Ia.
twenty years and can affirm that "A. ,,...
and plant life Of tn. park owe their IN.
largely 20 the sparrow incessant v,,,,..
against the canker and cut worms and 49,
worm, or tent caterpillar moth (,her. -.
various yaristiesJ
The study Of bird life requires infpi,. =.
tience with much leisure (Which few pso,,.
possess) many, therefore, are led 20 r.r.,,
the statements % others. who, IN turn. A..
not we'll informed Il has been said TIA, ~.
sparrow Is destroyer % grain. frait "a
blossoms, which misleading statement give,
the idea Of devastated grain fields where,
the English, or house sparrow. being u,n.
site OF man, picks up a precarous liyir,
about mans habtation, It's grain food b.,,
picked from the droppings in the street,
The small farmers complain bitterly sbos,
that robber Of fruits, the robin, saying The,
must plant enough Strawberries and chsrr,s,
for the robins before expecting any tt.w.
selves; and the robber Of blossoms !, N.
oriole. That bird almost extinguished :,
gunner for its plumsge, once frequente1 u.
streets Of Baltimore as commonly {. Il,
sparrows do now. The sparrow, hayis,
neither fine plumage nor song, does hi, Use,
ful work unheeded Again, II is said and
constantly repeated by superficial observer
that the sparrow has driven al other bird,
away. In fact, the increasing traffic Of larrs
cities drove the forest birds back to tier
haunts. In quiet country towns they are still
found as usual
Central Park, the very heart OF this dens.
~ populated city. with It's deafening trsxc
is the finest spot in the state 70 study forest
birds. Because OF the food supply and 80
curity against hunters here they live and FEED
with the sparrow. which Is unusually intsli-
gent for his size, initiating the robins and
hickcrs watching for angle worms and ~
catchers for winged insects. He has learned
the ways of the downy woodpecker and brown
creeper, performing the same useful serTies
for the trees-larva hunting His wits have
been sharpened, like the street urchins, in
constant struggle against adverse eireum-
stances, and although considered to be hardy
bird three years buffeting by life's storm,
measures his span. This same struggle Tor
existence gives him the pugnacity found IA
man. who must wage like unequal warfare.
but it never makes robber Of him like the
bluejay, that fend In bird form, preJns
upon the nests OF smaller birds, eating esgs
and young.
It has been said. TOO. that the rsros
makes war on the bluebird, wren ani mar.
tin. This is largely misleading also. TIE
cocks OF all bird species peck at their mega
boris Aedglings found in their way. This 70
common TO all bird life. The robins and
bluebirds fight to the death; the vireos XII
the Young redstarts. | could multiply susa
examples.
Those who perform the necessary worn
for US are often Ill favored and despised but
what Abraham Lincoln said OF man holds
good also for the sparrow: God must love
the common people, because lie made {"
many of them" GENEVA GRAHAM.
New York. Dec. 81, 1916.