Evening star., 1948-11-02
This and That
By Charles r. Tracetpell

Dear Sir ' -" 1' -
There is q new bird in my shrubbery, and I
wish you would tell me what 1t IL.
IT has . Quavery sort OF voice. and yellow
on its head, g ~
In appearance, but do not know what It H.
1T seems to get along well with all the other
birds: 1t Is pleasant to have it here.
What Is It? Yours, H. D. G."
1t is the white -throated sparrow.
A good-looking bird, by some observers be-
lievsd to be the h4ndsomest Of them all, 1t has
q voice quality oil Its own, and many pleasing
ways.
Surely 1t Is accepted by all other birds,
including the various members of the sparrow
family particularly the song sparrow and the
white-crowned sparrow.
The white-throats song starts out on a
note usually put down on paper as d. and
rises to A, which it strings out lengthily, but
with sort of pathetic quaver all its own.
This Is the famous call to which various
celebrated persons have attempted to put words,
one being "Ah. poor Canada, Canada, Canada"
And so it goes.
The little song really has no words, but it does
no harm to put words to it If one desires It
other birds speaks English.
White-throated sparrows fly in during the
latter part Of October and early November
They will stay until next spring.
This sparrow Is large, for q sparrow, being
slightly more than inches long.
He has rusty brown upper parts, streaked
with black; the under parts are white and gray.
The crown OF the adult Is black, divided
centrally with a line or narrow stripe of white.
There is broad stripe over the eye, bright
yellow, with broad streak Of black behind the
eye.
There is q conspicuous patch OF white cover
ing the chin and upper throat.
The birds song may be put on the piano.
but no piano tune ever heard gives the right
sound.
The violin, on the Z string, comes closer 10
1t, since the quaver may be used.
Some hearers feel that the song is . lament,
but others insist there is no despair, but only
hopefulness in the song.
The white-crowned sparrow must not be
confused with the white throat sparrow.
Only careless observers will do 50. The
white-crown lacks the yellow patch before the
eye, the white stripe over the eye. and the
white patch on the throat Of the white
throated sparrow. -,
The white-crowned sparrow has q dome
shaped head, to distinguish 1t from the nat
head of the white-t throat.
In deep winter the two birds meet on an
equality, and some care must be taken to tell
one from the other, especially II one has not
seen them both many times before
The white-crowned sparrow has two bands
Of black, inclosing Q center one Of white Of
equal width.
The song sparrow is the third Of these little
beauties. It Is smaller than the white throat.
with crown streaked with black and divided by
q narrow center stripe Of gray.
This Is the bird whose song has been more
studied, probably, than that Of any other bird.
1t is said that more than 1000 variations
have been noted and put on paper!
But the winter listener, hearing this tiny
musician, as it perches on o gate post in the
snow, will not worry about such numbers.
One such melody is enough. It usually con-
sists Of two notes Of the same pitch, followed
by one about five times higher, accented, fol-
lowed by q descending run.
The late John Burroughs said that the song
sparrow's song expressed simple faith and
trust" Probably that is SO, though here again
we have mans Interpretation of simple sounds.
The song sparrow Is found all over America.
in each section taking on variations believed
to be caused by climate and food difierentials.
Our own variety is good enough, and in
winter he is one of our most beloved musicians.
In the spring he nests in barberry bushes along
sidewalks.
All Of these handsome sparrows eat insects
and weed seeds, and may bs considered great
friends Of man.