[va-richmond-general] Times-Dispatch Sparrow? or Finch?
- From: "Jim Blowers" <jimvb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'RAS Listserv'" <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 11:33:00 -0400
I notice that in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2011 May 31, on page B8,
there is a quarter page ad in the left bottom of the page by the TD itself.
It shows a bird in a tree with the caption "Finch or Sparrow?" Then it goes
on to say "You'd know if you read Home & Garden in The Times-Dispatch every
Saturday". The bird looks to me like a house sparrow, with lighter colors
that may be due to the color rendering of RTD's inks.
Huhh? I read at one time that a house sparrow was not a true sparrow but
rather a weaver finch. The bird is imported from Europe. I have a European
bird book but it merely classifies it as a songbird. My Peterson's guide
(1980) places the bird at the front of the finch section, followed by house
finches, purple finches, cardinals and the like. Sibley's (2000) puts it
near the end of the book, putting it together with finches, but putting
cardinals in a separate section. Neither book classifies it as a sparrow.
However, the answer given by RTD was that the bird is a sparrow, not a
finch. Wikipedia says it's a sparrow.
So who's right?
Jim Blowers
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