THE SPARROW TRIBE 
T IKE the poor, the sparrows are always 
with us. 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 Amer- 
ican 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 colour harmony with the grassy, bushy 
places or dusty roadsides where they live, are 
usually overlooked by enemies in search of a 
dinner. U ndoubtedly their protective colouring 
has much to do with their increase. They 
are small birds mostly, not one so large as a 
robin. 
Sparrows being seed eaters chiefly, although 
none of the tribe refuses insect meat in season, 
and all give it to their nestlings, there is never 
a time when they cannot find food, even at the 
frozen North where some weedy stalks project 
above the snow. They are not fastidious. 
Fussy birds, like fussy people, have a hard time 
in this world ; but the whole sparrow tribe, with 
few exceptions, make the best of things as they 
107 
