Plea of the English Sparrow 



By Helen M. Richardson 



I'm but a common sparrow and I dress 



In colors plain. My song an untrained chirp. 



By brave persistence, only, have I earned 



A right to live among the birds that sing 



Their love notes 'mid the branches of your trees. 



When other birds fly southward I remain 



To make the winter hours less dreary seem 



To those whose kindness I have learned to prize. 



Beside the junco and the chickadee 

 I've fed on crumbs within your dooryard strewn, 

 And chirped my thanks in my plain sparrow way. 

 Yet ever have I sought to match my skill 

 At arts less homely with the feathered tribe 

 That make the trees melodious with song. 

 By patient efifort I at last have learned 

 The trick whereby, poised upon outspread wings. 

 Unwary insects and the harmful moth 

 I may secure ; while in its leafy haunts 

 I have been known to trap the timid worm. 

 The trade of woodpecker I've e'en essayed. 

 Nor can the agile grasshopper escape 

 When I the chase begin. 



Methinks, kind friends. 

 Now that an expert's skill I have attained, 

 I should be treated with the deference due 

 All laborers who have worked their upward wa}i 

 So when you bid the sportsman stay his gun 

 And let the song-bird live and multiply, 

 Because, forsooth, he is the friend of man. 

 Pray heed the English sparrow's chirping plea. 

 And class him in the song-bird's company. 



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