I’m lunching al fresco and a fat sparrow waits patiently on the planter beside me, hoping for a morsel. What is it about these unremarkable little birds that warms my heart.  I wonder if my kitty would allow a cage-full of little sparrows or finches twittering away in my house – or, would it drive him to madness, warbling and staring at the feathered snacks just out of his grasp.