Evening star., 1944-04-14
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce,UeH.
s ID FORT MYER, Va.

Dear Dir: u s-
Il was very much interested In YOUR
recent defense of the house sparrow
ana heartily concur. You may be in
terested In our European tree sparrow.
whose progress we of the st. Louis area
are following.
Like the English sparrow, the Euro
pean tree sparrow Is weaver finch and
is OF an entirely different family than
our native finches. 1t is closely related
to the house sparrow, however Like the
latter, 1t was introduced in this country
as an experiment, but unlike its cousin.
1t has never spread far from the scene
OF its liberation. This has caused much
speculation among bird-minded persons.
The European tree sparrow was lib
Grated in st. Louis in 1870. when 20
specimens were turned out to make their
own way. Only one group was imported.
This bird has never become numerous,
nor has it deprecated in numbers ap-
preclably at any time. 1t has confined
itself to range of so miles of the
metropolis.
This bird is not considered nuisance.
in spite of the fact its habits are gen.
orally those of its slightly larger cousin,
1t has more pleasing personality. is
not so boisterous and is a bit more trim
as to f1gure, being of a more slender
build. 1t has two faint wing bars in
place Of the one worn by the house
sparrow and there Is dark spot on
each cheek. There is a black bib under
the chin. Both sexes dress alike.
Il greatly enjoy your accurate and in
teresting bird articles. l hardly need
tell you I am a devout bird lover. 7
owe my ability to find these birds to
my job, which permits me to spend every
day af1eld, because work at night.
very sincerely. Pvt. J. E. c."
Our own tree sparrow is winter
Vlsltant, in some years common, in
others rather rare
1t is usually seen from early October
to late April,
1t Is given the scientific name of
Splzella arborea arborea, in some books
and Spizella monticola monticola in
others, but both are given the A. o. U.
lAmerlcan Ornithologists Union) num-
Der of $50
1t would take an ornithologist to figure
this out
AT any rate, it is fine bird, which
annually eats a mass of weed seed
thus helping the farmer and the home
gardener.
IL IS too bad the tree sparrow is not
around here all spring and summer be-
cauSe 1t would be a great help to the
Victory gardener.
Some busy person has figured that
an average tree sparrow will eat one
quarter ounce of weed seed per day and
mat on this basis the tree Sparrows of
Iowa for instance, will consume 875
tons Of seeds annually.
He is known as the snow chippv in
some States and as the chip bird in
others. He is also called the Canada
sparrow and the Arctic clipper.
He is 5f4 inches long, slightly smaller
than the average run of English SPAR
rows. There is little doubt that he is
olten mistaken for the latter and some
times Killed along with song sparrows.
Spleen against English sparrows would
be very dangerous for this reason alone
that it 10 doubt leads to the death of
song sparrows. tree sparrows and others
by persons who cannot tell one from
the other
This column has never shared the
OPINION OF some people who have
branded the bird as a "feathered rat
rather than bird" This is nonsense
and slaader against one of Gods crea-
lures. We of today are beginning to
see the real worth of English SPAR
rows, blue jays and even starings, and
to believe that our attitude of tolerance
Is much better than the attitude which
has led to general slaughter, not only
OF animals and BIRDS but OF man by man.