Evening star., 1949-08-19
This and That
Bv Charles E. TraceweU

The English sparrow an eminent profess
sional birdman once said. docs not deserve
to be considered as a bird. but rather as
feathered rat"
Which only shows how far wrong an emil
nent professional man may 60.
If the common sparrow did nothing else.
1t deserves our kindness because of the fact
that 1t directs our gaze toward our native
sparrows.
Nineteen sparrows come here including the
tree sparrow. the field sparrow and the chip
ping sparrow.
Those of us who are not in any sense pro-
fessional bird men. but simply like to watch
the feathered folk, are often mixed up in our
sparrow identiications. just as we are about
the warblers.
We throw up our hands over the warblers,
there are so many of them. But even the
10 sparrows can cause much confusion.
Here is the description of the tree sparrow,
for instance, in a well-known guide:
Upper parts, gray, rusty and black,
streaked; underparts, gray"
From the same work. on the chipping SPAR
row:
Upper parts. gray, rusty and black,
streaked; underparts, gray"
And the field sparrow
Upper parts, gray, rusty and black.
Streaked: underpartS, gray.
At this point. the average searcher after
bird wisdom is ready to throw up his hands
and call for help.
The song sparrow, the white-crowned spar
row, and the white -throated sparrow are well
known to most suburban watchers.
The little tree sparrow is not here long.
only at migration. Breeding is done in the
far North
In some localities the tree sparrow is called
the snow chippy or winter chippy.
Just why the bird is called the tree spar
row is mystery, since it is not too often seen
in trees. but mostly on the ground.
The chipping sparrow is even smaller than
the tree sparrow. Whereas the latter is 5A
inches long, the chipping sparrow is only 5h
inches.
In some localities the chipping sparrow Is
called the hair sparrow and thereby hangs
q tale.
In the old days, this bird liked to use hairs
from the name and tail of horses in it's nest
and 1t still does in rural communities where
there are plenty of horses.
The hairs being stiff, ends are likely to
stick out. and in these the birds sometimes
become entangled.
The chipping sparrows just go on using
the material. despite its danger. That is.
the way birds do. They never seem to learn.
This Is fascinating study. At what point,
thousands of millions of years ago, did the
birds and most of the animals stop using
their brains? They look so wise. They seem
to understand us, but actually respond only
to reflexes. They have not used their brains
because there is nothing to help them use
them. That is. they have no one, as Emerson
said, to help them be better than they are.
They respond to hunger but always in the
same old way. They. can be taught few
tricks but actually they never use their gray
matter. No bird can tell another, Nov, my
grandfather got caught in loop of horse
hair, so I advise you not to use the stuff"
Each bird, in its turn, sees the hair, and
thinks it would be nice to put it in a nest.
Again. actually it does not think-it just
does it,
II we want to differentiate the sparrows,
we are told to look for the reddish bill and
plain breast of the field sparrow
For the chipping sparrow, we need to see
the white stripe over each eye and the white
breast
For the tree sparrow, let us distinguish,
if we can, the dark spot in the middle Of the
breast.
Those who rather shrink from Thoreau
(and there are many such. despite his present
popularity will find fuel for this small dis
like in the great mans speaking Of the sing
ing OF the female field sparrow. "She
jingles her small change. pure silver" he
says. ION the counter of the pastures"
It is the male bird, of course that does the
singing. So much for the great Thoreau!
An investigation of the food habits Of the
field sparrow in Is States and the District Of
Columbia showed Al per cent animal and
50 per cent vegetable matter