Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XIX · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
19. The English sparrow
Goal: Your child can describe the male and female English (house) sparrow accurately, color by color, as practice for watching wild birds.
You'll need
- A place where sparrows gather: a street, parking lot, farm, café patio or feeder
- Colored pencils (gray, brown, black, chestnut)
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (observe in the street; the lesson trains accurate description of color and markings) and fifteen questions about the flock, cock and hen colors, comparison with the chippy, tail and beak, food and temper, winter, nest and eggs, how they drive off native birds, and bird-boxes. A note to the teacher says not to tire the child with questions.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Any day of the year, nearly anywhere people live. Today we usually call this bird the house sparrow. It came from Europe and Asia and was let loose in America in the 1850s.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The English sparrow was introduced into America by people who knew nothing of its habits.
As a sparrow it has interesting habits which we should observe.
Comstock says the greatest value of this lesson is training: learning to see and describe a bird's colors exactly.
Him and her
The ones with the black cravat are naturally the men of the family, while their sisters, wives and mothers are less ornamented.
Ask your child to describe the male, part by part: top of head, sides of head, back, tail, wings, wing bars, throat, breast. Then the female.
Are the young birds, when they first fly, like the father or the mother?
Tail and beak
Is the tail when the bird is not flying, square across the end or notched?
What is the shape of the beak? For what sort of food is this shaped beak meant?
Watch the flock
Describe the actions of a flock feeding in the yard or street. Are the English sparrows kindly or quarrelsome in disposition?
How much of English sparrow talk do you understand?
Neighbors
Why do the English sparrows stay in the North during the coldest of winters?
Comstock disliked this bird because it pushes bluebirds and swallows out of nest boxes. Bluebird keepers still make the entrance holes a certain size and watch their boxes for this reason.
Put it into words
Ask your child to describe a male house sparrow to you without looking, as if telling a friend how to find one. Then share the leading thought.
Nature notebook
Draw a male and a female house sparrow side by side in color, with labels for the black cravat (bib), gray crown and wing bars.
Afterwards
Use the same color drill on one new bird each day this week.
Tip
Comstock's own advice, printed under this lesson: do not tire the child with questions; lead the child to ask you questions instead.