Evening star., 1917-09-23

81 ZEN do not generally discriminate
Ml between the sparrows. because a
SVS knowledge OF birds, though 1t may
be acquired with little difficulty, is not pos
sessed by many To a considerable num-
Der of men all birds look alike unless the
birds happen to be red birds, blue birds,
yellow birds or black birds. and when it
comes to tho matter Of sparrows the case
all sparrows look alike. and really many
species of the sparrow arc SO much alike
that it taxes a keen bird observer to dis
tinguish them. In one Of the cases con-
tanning mounted birds found in the Dis
the National Museum, is this descriptive
card: The birds in this case are spar
rows. finches and grosbeaks belonging to
the family Fringillidae Of the Passerine
around Washington. Eleven species breed
here and eleven others may be found
here in the winter"
The list Of sparrow species is surpris-
tngly long to persons unacQuainted with
BIRDS and. although some species are not
found around Washington, as that phase
is commonly understood, 1t is probable
that every representative OF the sparrow
observed in the fields and woods and es-
pecially along the roadsides in the vicinity
Of this city.
The sparrows which have been noted
Audubon slips Of bird observers. are
the Bachman sparrow. Baird sparrow.
black-throated. chipping. clay y-colored,
field, fox. grasshopper. Harris and
Leconte. Lincoln. pinewoods, sea-
side. sharp tailed, song. swamp. tree,
vesper and the white-crowned and the
white-throated sparrows, 1t is difficult to
rf,,on nf fhnd trYh ff1a, 10 NO
lish sparrow, because Of the distinctive
black patch on his throat, but some con-
fusion is apt to result in trying to dis
tinguish the female English sparrow from
some of her native relatives. Common
Sparrows around Washington are the field
sparrow. chipping sparrow and the song
sparrow. and the tree and swamp spar
rows are fairly common.
In the exhibit at the National Mu-
scum, an exhibit which has been there
now for quite number of years, are
specimens of the Henslow sparrow, the
oldest of which is an adult male taken
in Alexandria county in 1884 by VIII
liam Palmer of the museum. 1t is re-
lated of this bird that 1t is q common
summer resident ionly in very old briery
fields. and so shy is 1t in it's habits
that it is not often seen. This sparrow
is brown and gray above-the familiar
sparrow markings-and olive-gray be-
meath, and it is quite different in its
plumage from the English sparrow.
Close beside it In the case is a Savan-
nah sparrow, captured near Kensington
in 1899 by Mr.. Palmer. It is formally
described as "a usually common mi
grant in early spring and fall" 1t is a
large sparrow with markings of green
ish-brown and bronze. Then there is
the Lincoln sparrow, sometimes called
popularity Lincoln's sparrow. and de-
scribed by bird men as "Melospiza
Lincolni." These specimens were taken
at Marshall Hall in 1893 by DR.. E. NJ.
Hasbrouck. and 1t is described as "an
uncommon migrant in damp open
woods"
The field sparrow should be familiar
to everybody around Washington, but
to all city people and even to very many
country-bred people a sparrow is a
sparrow and that's all that Is to be said
of the matter. It il a dark gray mouse
color and has none Of the usual spar