Evening star., 1936-03-11

They are the first to arrive every morn
Ing and the last to leave the feeding
stations at night. sharing the seeds and
grains with their chosen chums, the Eng
lish sparrows.
One may think 1t speaks volumes in
defense of the latter that the cardinal
family puts the stamp Of its approval
upon them.
1t is as If an aristocrat took gutter
snipe by the hand and said, CSee,. this
Is my friend. ! hope you will like him."
- y
The discriminating bird feeder accepts.
He tries to find out what it is about the
English sparrow which wins the favor
of the aristocrat.
In time he begins to understand that
these ubiquitous birds are really the
background. as 1t were, for all the rest.
Just as every good opera must have
its chorus, which in some scenes must
carry the soloists, so the sparrows from
abroad form the fluttering, happy bird
chorus of the Winter scene.
1t might be more distinctive without
them. just to have the chosen chickadees
and titmice and snowbirds, and certainly
it would be less expensive, but still
something would be missing beneath the
feeders.
Nature, in other words, does not do
things that way. She brings the hun
cry. When you put out food, you can
not grumble because some guests come
unlimited.
But really the English sparrows need
little defense. We have watched them
consistently for four months, and dare
to say that they are not one-fourth as
bad as they have been painted. They
are pretty little birds and remind one
Of canaries, some way.
~ X n
No bird mentioned excels the chicka-
dee when 1t comes to all-around bird ex-
cellence. If we had to select one bird,
and one only, We believe it would be
this one. The purple finch is charm
ing, sparrowlike thing. another comrade,
naturally, of the English variety
The little junco, or snowbird, is
universal favorite. It has been steady
beneath the feeders all Winter, contrary
to the nuthatches. which left us for a
month or more, only to return recently
Four months have shown very clearly
the advantages Of some sort Of auto.
matte feeding device placed within 10
feet, say, of a comfortable window seat.
A windowsill feeder might be even bet
ter, but we have our doubt. feeling sure
that it would not attract such large
numbers of birds.
In bird feeding, numbers are desirable.
The more birds you can attract, the
more varieties you will draw, ultimately.
and the more kinds you have, the greater
the interest and benefit all around.
Even at a close distance a good pair
of field or opera glasses is necessary.
unless one is gifted with exceptionally
sharp eyesight. The purple finch. for
instance. would easily pass as an Eng
lish sparrow, and at little greater dis
tance even the mother cardinal might.
AS for the fox sparrow, no doubt many
persons have had them in their yards
without recognizing them.
This is where good book of colored
bird pictures Is essential. Even the tyro,
with such a book, can identify prac-
tically all the birds which will come to
the average feeding station. Spotting
the new birds, as they arrive, is one of
the real joys of this occupation. What
bird is that?" Not to know, and espe-
cially not to be able to find out, is to
miss something. knowledge may not be
power, but it is always powerfully inter-
esting, is 1t not?