Evening star., 1947-03-13
This and That
By Charles E. Trdcepeu
~COLTONs POINT, Md

CoLlONS PO1N1, Mu.
Dear Sir: R%
i although have enjoyed your column
for years, this is the first time I've
obeyed the impulse to write in.
1--WE enjoy and appreciate your praise
Of the common sparrow, for to us here
he Is far from that. For three years
we had such pet that to have described
him and his trustful 4riendliness would
have seemed fiction.
"He would fly from window to window
and peek in, standing on tiptoe. While
working in my flower garden he would
follow from one place to another with
confiding chirp occasionally to let
me know he was there
THE following episode must be un-
usual. Three summers ago the mother
of this little brood must have disap-
peared and he daily brought all four
babies to be fed at our doorway.
"One, a Httlest fellow would take
crumbs from my hand If left 1t very
still and fiat on the walk.
But this worried the father bird who
evidently thought his children should
be taught distrust OF humans. So he
would pick up the cr1lmb just as they
reached for it and lay it further down
the walk, repeating this many times
until he seemed to be satisfied as to a
safe distance.
Our early evening enjoyment was to
watch him gather his brood into the
upper branches of our maple just above
the house top-tw1ttering away as at
tentively as any mother bird.
"By careful searching we could see
them, four soft little feathery 'puffs' all
cuddled up close to one another on the
one limb.
This was the only summer he had
to be father and mother both, but how
well he did his duty! We miss him a
great deal.
IT am, yours truly, w. A. L."
This is well deserved praise of an
often maligned bird.
There is nothing common about the
English sparrow, of course, except that
there are so many of him.
In day of bigness, however, this
ought not to act against him. The
world having decided that numbers
count, the sparrows should gain a bit
from such human attitude.
Certainly their position now Is far
In the old days, after they had estab-
nshed themselves in this country, de-
ternlined hue and cry went up against
them by the comparatively few persons
who were interested In bird life.
Today 1t Is different. Hundreds of
thousands of persons feed the birds
every winter and thousands Of them
feed them in summer, too. Most Of
them accept the sparrows.
AS city conditions dry up their source
of food, the English sparrows have
migrated to the suburban communities.
1t is no longer true that they drive
away native birds. Or, if they do, in
some cases, the native birds simply go
some place else. No particular harm is
done.
There is no belief now that these
"gamins," as they used to be called, are
really harming the native birds.
Kind people no longer devise traps
to catch them. It has been proved too
many times that too many would-be
bird lovers do not know song sparTows
from English sparrows, and hence mur-
dered far too many of the natives.
Today it Is not fashionable to speak
of the harsh chirp'' of these English
cousins. Persons brought up on good
phonograph records and the best or
chestras on the radio know better
The English sparrow has a pleasant
chirp, and in concert he and his mates
make fine music.
He is real American, now. with
plenty of hustle and hustle, and given
to making the best of conditions.
If little sense is used in watching
him, he and his cousins and his aunts
will be seen to be pretty nice birds,
eager for food, but willing to let other
birds eat with him.
His cousin, the cardinal, thoroughly
approves Of him, % the rest Of II
might a. well, too.