Evening star., 1947-10-27
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1UeH.

In flew the white -throated sparrow, another
sure sign that autumn is here.
He followed the junco, or snowbrd.
These two alone would prove that the prelude
to winter is at hand
Few better birds exist than the white-throat
He Is a cousin to the common sparrow, but
larger, with stripes on his head, including some
white and yellow.
big sparrow he, about 7A inches long; he
eats insects, weed seeds and wild berries
He comes to us from the North, where he
built his nest on the ground, and raised from
to 10 babies, in two groups. Sometimes he
builds his nest in low bushes.
This is not only fine-looking bird, one sure
to attract attention, but his rather sad sweet
song always appeals.
Careless observers often mistake the white
crowned sparrow for the white -throated spar
row.
An authority puts it this way: 'The white
crown lacks entirely the yellow patch before
the eye, the white stripe over the eye, and the
white patch on the throat all of which are
conspicuous marking of the white -throat's
plumage. Then, too, the white-throat's head
is much more nearly fiat on the crown than is
the white-crowns, which is distinctly dome
shaped On the other hand, the white-croWns
and White-throats frequently associate and FEED
together, and their manners are not unlike"
All this is bit confusing, but fortunately the
the chances are 10 to that the new bird he
sees in his shrubbery at this time of the year
is the white-throated sparrow.
The song of the white-throat is one of its
greatest contributions to the pleasure of man
kind. 1t Is composed of two notes, each the
same length, followed by about eight notes at
a somewhat higher level, the latter being bit
guavering, and seeming not to come to any
definite end. 1t is this quality Of indefniteness
that distinguishes the melody, and gives 1t a
cynical twist. Some listeners think the song
of the white-croWned sparrow the better of the
two. We do not agree with this. To our ear.
the plaintive melody of the white-throated
sparrow is the better. Songs of both of these
sparrows may be heard in the dark, now and
then.
The white-crowned sparrow has two broad
white stripes on the head, alternated with two
black stripes. There Is no yellow.
X
These fine sparrows ought to make any
observer think better of their distant cousin,
the common sparrow.
While they are not precisely related-indeed,
some experts say the English sparrow is really
no sparrow at all, but weaver bird-the song
sparrow white throated sparrow and the white
crowned sparrow are so 1ndubltably ike the
common sparrow that admiration of the three
must extend to admiration for the common
species, at least to a certain extent.
Common Sparrows have been observed TO
make nests in odd places, and of odd shapes,
although in the main their nests are not elab-
orate merely enough to do the work of caring
for the young until they are able to ny.
OF the three special sparrows mentioned, the
song sparrow is the one we mostly see nest
making often not more than two or three feet
from the sidewalk in barberry hedge.
Special sparrows, let us call the song sparrow,
white throat and white-crown, but at the same
time let us not forget that the common sparrow
is well liked by these, and by another fine
relative, the cardinal, or redbird.
Surely with such friends and relations, the
common sparrow cannot be as bad q bird as it
is sometimes painted. Even some Of the bird
books contain poorly painted representations
as if the author felt himself forced to put the
bird in but meanly would not do it justice but
made it as far worse looking than it actually is
As matter of fact, for q downright pretty little
bird, there are few better than the female
English sparrow.