Evening star., 1949-05-18
This and That
BIZ Charles Z. TrdcetDeH
SIXTEENTH STREET.

Dear Sir:
enclosed is a clipping from the London
Times about a ranking list OF songoirds.
(which of these birds do we have here.
by the same or different names?
Have you ever presented such ranking
list OF American songbirds?
do they have our wood or. hermit thrusnes
and how would you rate their songs Win
those Of the nightingale?
What efforts have been made to trans
plant their nightingale and other songbirds
of the British to the United States'
Believe me. Sincerely yours.
"E. Mac ""
The article referred to listed the British
songsters as follows:
The nightingale the nnnet. the blackcap.
skylark, goldfnch. greenfinch. thrush black
bird.
Another, more recent classification gave
the birds as follows:
Blackbird. blackcap. garden warbler. marsh
warbler. nightingale. robin. skylark, song
thrush and woodlark.
The writer of the Times article concluded:
cot all the bird songs know the blackbird's,
the nightingales. the blackcap's and the
woodlark's (not necessarily in that ORDER
are the four that thrill me most"
This is the same as asking for "the best
Sousa march," or the 10 best novels
Every literate person has his own ideas.
It is much the same with bird songs.
No one would put In the blue jay or the
hummingbird as . singer, but every one
would have his own list.
In most cases the mockingbird. wood
thrush and song sparrow would be included,
but every one could take 1t from there.
htrI
depends so much on the listener. There are
some who would rave" over the song OF the
little house wren. but to others that same
song is nothing but nuisance.
No less an observer than Theodore Roose-
welt said, with his usual emphasis:
In melody. and above all in that finer.
higher melody where the chords vibrate with
the touch Of eternal melody. 1t (the night
ingaleD cannot rank with such singers as the
wood thrush and the hermit thrush
Many home lovers would want to include
the robin and bluebird as among our sweet
est singers.
The American robin must not be confused
with the British robin. The latter Is an
entirely different and smaller bird, with
real "red breast"
Our robin is really q thrush and while its
song cannot compare with that OF the true
thrushes, 1t still possesses something wildly
sweet and infinitely appealing. but the trou-
Bile is that so many persons fail to listen to
1t. This is because the robin song blends so
we'll with the other outdoor sounds that 1t
is commonly overlooked" by all too many.
Attempts to transplant British birds to
this country have ended in failure, with the
exceptions of the starting and English
sparrow.
Some people wish that these had failed.
too. but the better feeling Is to admire them
for their persistence and bravery and be glad
that they consume SO many inimical insects.
Both eat japanese beetles.
The European goldfnch was introduced
into America on many occasions. notably in
1872 at Cincinnati. in 1878 at Hoboken, in
1880 in Massachusetts and in 1886 In Cuba.
few specimens remained as late as 1911.
according to some observers.
Several attempts to introduce the skylark
failed. There were few in Flatbush. now
q part of Brooklyn. N. Y. in 1887. A nest
was found as late as 1895 and reports Of
specimens seen were made in 1907. The
species is now believed extinct in America.
There are a few nightingales In Florida.
under strict protection, but the bird has been
q fiat failure as an importation.
All In all, it is best. without doubt to leave
the birds alone. The sooner mankind learns
this, the better OF we will all be. birds and
humans.
British and American birds belong, in the
main, to much the same bird families. but
their songs. appearances and habits are
different Thrushes. for instance found
around the world. are indubitably all
thrushes, but not the same a. our hermit
and wood thrashas