Evening star., 1949-03-22
This and That
BIZ Charles Z. Tracepeu
CLEVELAND PARK,

n,
Dear Sir
What this atomic age needs is more This
and That, with its intensely human aspect,
most especially Its jottings about bird life
around U.s.
you are making a, tremendous contribu-
tion to saner living by the interest you are
stimulating in Gods feathered creatures.
From throwing out few crumbs from
the breakfast table each morning we have
reaped the pleasure of having a varied and
interesting collection-a whole colony of
birds has been with us all winter and from
my bird guide have identified them as the
slate colored junco.
will you write something about them
their habits, etc." Sincerely, A. c. P F."
Juncos, or snowbirds belong to the finch
family, the largest bird group.
Some people have lamented the use of
the word. "junco." introduced in $780, but
it has taken root so widely that every one
uses it naturally enough now. But the
bird will remain snowbird to some. of course
He Is. for us living here. almost the only
snowbird. The white snowbird, or snow
fake. is seen here rarely
It is the junco from the Latin juncus.
meaning seed) that spells "snowbird" to most
Of us.
Sometimes he is called the black snow
bird. to distinguish him from the snowflake.
He is just inches long, rather on the
chubby side, with small bill and long mod
erately rounded wings. The tail is little
shorter than the wings.
The male junco has slate-colored head.
neck chest upper breast and sides lower
breast and abdomen white. The adult
female is similar, except that the slate color
is lighter. The young in their first plumage
show gray brown on the back, Streaked with
black, the breast somewhat f1ecked.
All juncoS have neat pink bills.
These friendly SparroWs mix amicably
enough with most Of the birds near feed
ing station, but they prefer crumbs thrown
closer to the back door.
We have just the one junco here, but out
West there are more than 20 varieties, in
Guiding the beautiful Oregon junco with
black head and breast and mahogany
brown head. In Arizona there is junco
said to have more the manners of a water
thrush than snoWbird. In high mountain
sections of Colorado there is gray-headed
species.
Our junco eats more than it's share of
weed seeds, the remainder of its food being
harmful species of insects.
Hence we have here not only beautiful
and interesting bird. but one most helpful
to mankind.
What more could one ask?
More than 200 species of birds belong to
the finch family
That makes it the largest. Two hundred
finches, including many of the birds we love
most, are found in the United States.
They all are singing birds, and are SO
classified.
Their strong bills make them good seed
eaters. although they feed small insects to
their young at nesting time. and, of course,
eat some themselves from time to time.
Their help to farmers is immense, but
often the agriculturists do not realize this.
The common sparrows. for instance. are
often trapped and killed, when they should
be left alone because of their aid. They
consume literally tons of weed seeds, and
are at it all the year around, eating in the
snow of winter and the blistering heat of
summer. The many children of sparrows
Immediately take up seed eating, and
through their instincts turn to the weeds.
All the members of the sparrow family some
10 in this vicinity, are useful birds, the
common sparrows no less than the song and
white -throated sparroWx