CHAPTER IX 



THE COMPREHENSIVE SPARROW TRIBE 

 AND SOME OF ITS MULTITUDINOUS KIN 



Indigo Bunting — Rose-breasted Grosbeak — Car- 

 dinal — TowHEE — JuNco — Snowflake — Fox Spar- 

 row — Song Sparrow — Swamp Sparrow — Field 

 Sparrow — Chipping Sparrow — Tree Sparrow — 

 White - throated Sparrow — White - crowned 

 Sparrow — ^English Sparrow — ^Vesper Sparrow — 

 Goldfinch — Purple Finch 



Like the poor, sparrows are always with us. A forced 

 famiHarity with mischief -making members of the class has 

 bred contempt for them, even among many bird lovers. 

 There is not a day in the year when you cannot find at 

 least one member of the great tribe which comprises one 

 seventh of all our birds — ^by far the largest North American 

 family. What is the secret of their triumphant numbers? 



Many members of the hardy prolific clan, wearing dull 

 brown and gray-streaked feathers, in perfect color har- 

 mony with the grassy, bushy places or dusty roadsides 

 where they live, are usually overlooked by enemies in 

 search of a dinner. Undoubtedly their protective coloring 

 has much to do with their increase. They are small birds 

 mostly, not one so large as a robin. 



Sparrows being seed eaters chieflly, although none of the 



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