Evening star., 1947-07-15
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrdceUell.
"THRTY-THIRD STREET.


Dear Sir:
Living here in Chevy Chase, D. C.. Just q
half block from the Maryland line, still con-
slider myself q city dweller. but one would not
think so to witness the variety Of wild creatures
coming and going in my back yard. What
with birds, squirrels and rabbits, there is never
dull moment.
II am kept very busy catering to their
fnicky eating habits. A pair of tame catbirds
are very much overjoyed when appear with
raisins. The cardinals and sparrows cart away
pounds of moistened bread crumbs for their
young while the robins look on disdainfuly
and keep right on pulling fat worms from
the ground.
There is a pair Of mourning doves nesting
close by and their doleful cooling can be heard
most OF the day, probably expressing parental
JOY when their youngsters left the nest.
Yesterday had just thrown on the lawn
box OF a cereal which most Of the birds love
saw large baby dove chirping loudly and
following hard on the heels Of a sparrow about
one-third its SIZE
THE sparrow was picking up pieces OF cereal
and feeding the dove. I thought might be
mistaken as to the identity of the dove, but
in few minutes one of the older doves ap-
peared and I noticed the young dove had
exactly the same markings.
1T was definitely not young sparrow
THE older dove just rested in the grass
seemingly content with what the hard working
little sparrow was doing for the young dove.
Il had never seen anything like this before
What is the explanation?
Sincerely, A. S. D."
The explanation is that the common sparrow
Is very nice bird, despite all that has been
said against it.
Mother sparrows probably feed more birds
Of other parents than any other species, and
do it willingly and with pleasure.
This must be because of good hearts, for they
do not have to do 1t. 1t is not q case Of being
imposed on, as when cowbird lays its egg in
nest and the foster mother is fooled by the
strange baby
Evidently the yawning mouth of the imposter
is just the same to the mother as the yawning
bills OF its own young.
Outside the nest, however, mother bird who
feeds young of other species is able to see them
properly. without too much interference from
maternal instinct.
She cannot mistake a baby dove or baby
startling for her own little sparrows, can she?
We think not-but she goes right ahead,
feeding them just the same, and that she does
so proves that she does it for the fun of the
thing. That is what we think, anyway
Any one who watches birds fairly will come
TO this conclusion, we believe.
Mother sparrows, including both the English
and the song sparrows, will feed almost any
young bird that comes along, even when her
own babies are present.
There has been so much slander against the
common sparrow that many bird lovers" as
they like to think Of themselves, never really
see them at all, but see instead preconceived
plexus OF ideas, most of them wrong
In the spring and summer, the common
sparrows have great deal to do in the nesting
line. They nest sometimes five times in
season, and bring forth from five to eight
young at each nesting. This means on an
average Of about IS new sparrows each year
from each pair. 1t may be realized that there
Is no dearth Of mouths to be fed, but still the
hard working mothers have time to help out
other mothers. Not all of the sparrow young
are raised, by any means. Too often kind
hearted people supply them with too much
bread, and this tends to make fat but week
sparrow youngsters. Such birds, If discovered
in time, may be saved by feeding them on
scraped beef and liver. Some persons would
not think few sparrows, one way or other,
would make much difference. but dying baby
bird is not sight to cheer the heart of the
real lover Of birds, and II he can save
such q one. he feels q glow Of achievement
even If 1t Is "tust afsparrow."