Evening star., 1946-01-05
This and That
Bu Charles E. Trace1DeH.
BELLEVUE, Wash.

BELLEVUE, WASH.
Dear Sir:
II just can't help writing this letter
to wish you the greetings of the season
and to say that your column This and
That, is much enjoyed by more than one
in these parts.
In a recent column about reading
books, you spoke of the books written by
Maurice Thompson, and it just hap
pened that his niece is my neighbor.
"I handed her the clipping, which she
enjoyed reading, and then she sent it
travelling on to France and Germany.
so you see your words bring pleasure
far and wide
You have taught us much about
nature. We have even learned to love
the English sparrows.
Sincerely, J. M. c.
*E xx
of many bird lovers until they realize
that Coleridge wrote true when he
penned the lines:
"He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all"
1t is one thing to accept these thoughts
mentally and quite another to carry
them into the practical affairs of life.
Perhaps as good and easy way to
make beginning, for many OF us, Is
with the English sparrow.
Even the professional friends of birds
no longer vent their spleen against him
Surely amateur bird admirers, in their
homes, can accept these fellows from
across the sea and learn to put up with
them in their gardens.
They are here to stay, and with good
food and cleaner surroundings, such as
they find in the suburbs, they become
better and more presentable birds, just
as downtown cats, brought out from the
hard streets and pavements, wax fat
and clean.
The English sparrow Is regarded by
some as a weaver finch. Various forms
of their nests have been discovered here
some of them closely approximating
those woven in Africa.
Members of the great finch family
include two favorites of all who watch
| the birds, the cardinal or redbird and the
| junco or snowbird.
The fact that most species feec
amicably with the English sparrows ir
time causes some who are against then
at first to tolerate them at last.
If bird is judged by the friends i
makes then these sparrows, feeding
peacefully with the cardinal and sons
sparrows and white-throated sparrows
are good enough for any yard.
The truth is that birds of feathel
flock together" No English sparrow car
be half as bad as he has been painted
The truth is somewhere in between.
Bird feeding, as sport, might be bet
ter without these former gamins of th'
streets, but methods to get rid of then
vitiate the whole idea of feeding.
One puts up with them and finds IL
the end, as we mostly do in this world
that they are not as bad as we has
feared.
The native birds may leave our yards
or not come in such great numbers, bu
they make their nests in the woods ant
are not in any way harmed by the spar
rows.
If they cannot nest in given yard, ye
they nest somewhere in Gods world
No other species puts on choral sing
ing as do the English sparrows in tn
winter months where feeding is carrie,
on regularly, especially in the morning
hours.
BY afternoon the sparrows are full an,
are ready to repay in song their fin
feast. They gather in shrubbery o
vines and sing heartily. Each voice
not the best in the bird world, but to
gether they sound very we'll This happ
song often continues for an hour, stop
ping now and then as If by command
These rests are integral and set of tn
singing as nothing else could.