Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-21
HABITS SET
FORTH BY SPEAKER
Youngsters Eat Weight Of
Food Each Day, Says
Dr.. OberhoIser.

It IL a good thing that children do
| not eat like young birds, according to
DR.. Harry c. Oberholser Of the biologi-
| cal survey, who gave an illustrated lee
| ture on birds About Washington" be-
fore the Columbia Historical Society
meeting at the Cosmos Club assembly
hall. last night.
"Then you parents would think some
| thing about the high cost Of living. for
| young bird eats it's weight Of food
every day." declared DR.. Oberholser
although you may think your children
eat a great deal Of food, as. indeed
they should. they are not in the same
| class with young birds as eaters
The young birds around Washington
as the young birds everywhere. take an
eating rest about noontime. the lee
turer told the society After having
| succulent worms dropped into their
| maws by a solicitous mother bird all
| morning, they get fed up presumably
| and cease eating for several hours in
the middle of the day.
Resume Feeding in Afternoon.
But later in the afternoon their appe-
tftes catch up, and the parent birds are
| kept busy catching less agile worms and
| insects for the sustenance of the
greedy f1edglings Pictures Of various
species Of young birds on nests added
to the entertainment Of the club mem
| bers.
What a finished criminal" as a hen
thief the great horned owl is was ex-
planned by DR.. Oberholser If this owl
ever gets taste for chicken, only
shooting will cure him.
But the horned owl does not pounce
upon Mrs Hen and carry her off
squawking. He achieves the same re-
suit in the end. but he does it in much
Hv,A%
Method OF killing Hen.
The great horned owl flies down to
where the fowl is roosting." explained
~. poerholser, and alights on the
perch, in full fellowship with the
fowl The owl then edges over close
TO the hen. who politely moves over a
bit on the perch or bough The owl
nudges little closer. and the hen
moves over again. The owl keeps up
these tactics. and the hen keeps NOV
ing over. until the hen is nudged off
the perch.
AS she flies down Mr.. Owl throws
on his mask of politeness and hurls
himself on the Inflated hen and car
ries her off for his dinner"
The best places to see birds in and
around the District were given by
the speaker as the canal, between
Chain bridge and Great Falls: the
Eastern branch. National Geological
Park. Arlington and south to Mount
Vernon, various places between Mount
Vernon and Alexandria. and Piney
branch. As many as 166 species of
birds were once observed by eighteen
parties.
Tells of Their Habits.
The lecturer told of the habits es-
pecially in the way Of nest building
Of the English and song sparrows
purple grackle. wood thrushes. oven
bird. cardinal. chickadees. jacksnipe.
humming bird. hooded warbler. king
fisher and others. He gave imita-
tions of the songs of the cardinal,
the favorite around Washington"
and several others.
Several pictures showing express
sions of a screech owl as it faced
the camera caused laughter. Follow
ing the lecture the society expressed
its thanks by standing.
President Allen c. Clark concluded
the meeting with the reading OF a
recent editorial in The Star. entitled
Birds in Spring" and Roosevelts
observations on the birds he observed
in the White House grounds.