Evening star., 1936-08-12
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

English sparrows, which have been
living in the woods for weeks, are flying
back now to the suburban areas and the
deep city they love so well.
While not the town birds they used
to be, for fairly obvious reasons, in the
main their instinct is for the paved
streets and sidewalks.
During the heated term the nearby
woods called to them, and thousands
OF these really pretty fellows could be
seen winging around the parks, notably
the many acres Of Rock Creek.
Only those interested in the birds
notice them there. for the vast expanses
of park dwarf their numbers, and make
them just small things darting here
and there, without name or place to
most observers.
1t is only when they return to city
and suburban areas, in the search for
warmth in their Winter quarters, that
they are identified for what they are
either friends, if you really like BIRDS
or nuisances, if you do not.
There is a third class of persons, in
regard to English sparrows. These are
a few otherwise sincere birdlovers who
have worked up a mental antipathy to
these Sparrows.
In some cities of the United States
where ardent bird friends have devel-
oped civic consciousness in regard to
our feathered friends, usually there is
at least one person who becomes a
fanatic on the subject of these mem
bers of the sparrow family.
1t is the pride Of one Northern city
for instance, that it has no English
sparrows at all. They are as relentlessly
hunted, trapped, shot and prosecuted as
if they were not birds at all, but some
queer insects, bent on the destruction of
the plant life of the countryside.
1t is said that this was, for centuries
the exact attitude of all Mexicans to-
ward all birds, which they accused OF
running the crops. Only recently has
that land. which ought to be, as indeed
it was by Nature endowed, one of the
banner bird lands of the world, come to
| its senses in this matter, and stopped
prosecuting the birds.
OrnithologiStS evidently are convinc-
| ing the great average person there that
| birds are one of the greatest factors in
the determination of crop-hurting insects
Before We of our own America become
indignant at bird persecution in foreign
| lands, let US stop to think that it is not
altogether unknown in this!
The English sparrow is still without
the pale of the law.
1t is a police offense to kill starting
here, but not an English sparrow.
These little fellows. really as much
birds as any, and quite pretty in theil
soft grays and browns and blacks, de-
serve to be thought well of at least by
| all persons who have made up theil
| minds that killing is not for them. and
who look upon all small birds as highly
interesting and profitable to watch.
Things may be profitable in more
ways than one. Money is not the only
| profit. although most people think so
| Actually there is much profit in watch
| ing the birds, and trying to identify
! them, and feeding them, especially in
| the Fall and Winter.
Since there is no bird feeding In this
| vicinity without English sparroWS, per-
haps it is just as well if We try to make
| the best of them, and determine to see
| their good points, not just concentrate
| on the bad.
These sparrows belong to one Of the
most interesting and highly developed oi
all bird families.