Sparrow Row 155 



a long lost relative arriving in the nick of time to save 

 a hungry family from starvation. Mercy 1 What could 

 I do with such a family on my hands? A big, bungling 

 man with such tiny nestlings to feed 1 I sat down to think 

 it over, but before I had been there a minute here came 

 the father white-crown, hopping from limb to limb, and 

 chirping excitedly. To my astonishment, he was followed 

 by the mother. Not much, the cat had not eaten her I 

 She was well and happy, but absolutely tailless. " He 

 didn't catch me. Here I am," she seemed to say, as she 

 perched in the top of the dogwood over my head. She 

 chirped, and at every chirp she jerked to throw up her 

 tail in emphasis, but she couldn't emphasize in her old 

 way. Whereas yesterday she was graceful and could talk 

 with an air of dignity, now she had lost balance, and was 

 ridiculous because she could hardly poise on a limb. 



But now the tailless bird had more interest for us than 

 she had before. We wanted to watch her and picture 

 her, so we focused the camera on the tree-top and hid 

 until we could get the sparrows into position. 



If one thinks the tail of a bird is not an important 

 factor in flight, he should have seen that mother sparrow 

 try to catch a fly on the wing. Several times I saw her 

 dart out from the tree in pursuit of an insect that flew 

 past. Almost every time she missed at the first strike, and 

 then I could see that she sorely felt the loss of her long, 

 guiding feathers. She scrambled about in mid-air in her 

 efforts to turn abruptly and start off in a new direction. 

 She was always successful in the end, although at one 

 time I saw her make five tries before she landed a moth. 

 At another time she darted with such vigor that she 



