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CLARENCE; THE LIFE OF A SPARROW, by Mrs. Clare Kipps. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons, 210 Madison Avenue, New York City, N.Y., 1954. $2.50. 
The 126 pages include a prologue and an epilogue by the author and a 
foreword by Julian Huxley which of itself is a sort of a review. There is 
also a quotation from “The Problem of Pain” by C. S. Lewis, presenting the 
point of view that man was appointed by God to have dominion over the 
beasts, and that therefore the tame animal is the only natural one. 
The story is of a remarkable attachment between Mrs. Kipps and the 
sparrow which she rescued after ejection or fall from the nest, naked and 
with as yet unopened eyes. The sparrow, which later developed the black 
bib of the male, was fed on milk, egg, haliver oil, bread and later seeds, 
which is described as a vegetarian diet. He was devoted only to his mistress, 
paying scant attention to other birds, even to a little blue tit female who 
courted him for three seasons. He developed song to a high degree, some 
of which Mrs. Kipps, herself a musician, wrote to music; also a yellowish 
collar, saffron waistcoat and primrose pants. (The author attributes this 
to “color feeding” with yolk of egg.) The coloring, the song, and the lack 
of attraction to other birds may possibly be due to hybridization, which is 
not considered in the text. 
The sparrow was also trained to do a few tricks, and for a while served 
as an entertainer before audiences during the dark hours of the blitz. (Mrs. 
Kipps was serving as a warden.) 
He lived to be twelve years, seven weeks, and four days, dying apparently 
of “old age” much as humans do, having had a “stroke” toward the end, 
from which he partially recovered. No doubt, without loving care, and ex- 
posed to natural enemies, his life would have been much shorter, as is the 
fate of birds in the wild state. A series of fourteen photographs illustrate 
some of the sparrow’s habits and tricks. 
Dr. Alfred Lewy, 25 E. Washington Blvd., Chicago 
