THE UNDERLYING IDEA 75 



lieve the truth to be that, while the sparrow is un- 

 doubtedly a quarrelsome fellow, his bickerings are his 

 form of social converse with those of his own kind. 

 A quarrel among themselves seems not to indicate ani- 

 mosity, but would appear to be the sparrow's idea of 

 conviviality. It rarely leads to serious results. I have 

 never seen a male sparrow trounce any other bird with 

 half the vigor that I have occasionally seen the mother 

 sparrow evince when she caught her male companion 

 by the feathers of his head, hung him over the side 

 of the limb, and vigorously and thoroughly shook him 

 until he desisted from his annoying and possibly in- 

 sulting attentions. The truth of the matter is that a 

 colony of these little birds, with their continual social 

 chatter, including their quarrels, makes such a con- 

 tinuous noise that the ordinary bird, which is gen- 

 erally of rather quiet disposition, is too much annoyed 

 by the unending nuisance to find the neighborhood at 

 all to his taste. Where a large number of sparrows 

 have gathered together the conditions are such as 

 would give a robin or a bluebird nervous prostration, 

 and his only recourse is to depart to a neighborhood 

 where there is more peace and quiet. But our Eng- 

 lish sparrow is not only better fitted for the struggle 

 than the robins and bluebirds, the orioles and the 

 wrens. He has one important advantage over even 

 his own sparrow cousins. The males are handsome 



