Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24
SCHOOL TEACHERS
STUDY BIRD LIFE
Dr.. Paul Bartsch Instructs
Class at Haven Near
Roachs Run.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

tails, fetid pools hidden by thick,
green blankets of duckweed. number
less clumps of arrow.leafed peltandra,
pickerel weed with spikes of golden
anthered blue blossoms. patches of
spine-covered tear-thumb or smart
weed, sturdy. poisoning, button
bushes with roots sunk deep in gas
eous mud. yellow blossoms of wild
lettuce.
Scores OF red.winged blackbirds
perched boldly on cat-tail spikes. tiny
marsh wrenS singing sweetly in the
underground. wood ducks flying with
quick. nervous wing beats, killdeers
starting up suddenly from the pools
and arrowhead clumps. winged bit
terms swooping down in the distance.
A scattered group of knickered
Washington school teachers wearing
hip rubber boots wading about, fire.
quently above the boot tops in the
treacherous ooze. picking their ways
from clump to clump of peltandra
which affords safe footing. creeping
up on the nests of the marsh birds.
bending low behind cat-taii screens
and aiming field glasses at the red
wings, photographing the little wrens
at their nest building, taking copious
notes.
.. Open-Air Classroom.
Such is the scene almost any Sum-
mer morning in the marshes of
Roachs Run. just behind the Airing
ton Horse Show grounds, which is
serving as an open-air classroom of
George Washington University. where
the breeding. nesting and domestic
habits of local birds can be studied in
ideal circumstances. To this or 6
acre stretch of marshland many of
the swamp birds which frequent the
District of Columbia in Summer have
been driven as a last resort since
their old nesting places have been
destroyed with the filling in of the
Anacostia Flats and others along the
Eastern Branch. Even here. it is
likely, their tenure will be brief be-
cause the edges of the marsh are used
as dump and every month the heaps
of plaster, tin cans. bottles and auto
mobile junk advance further and fur
Their into the duckweed pools.
The class which frequents the
marsh these Summer mornings is
composed almost entirely of nature
study teachers of the District schools.
and is taught by DR.. Paul Bartsch.
curator of mollusks at the National
Museum, who is the discoverer of the
bird haven at the edge of the city
afforded by Roachs Run. DR.. Bartsch
always accompanies his pupils in
their venturesome exploration of the
treacherous pathways through the
marsh. 1t is a. tangle into which few
persons voluntarily would venture.
AT first sight there is something re-
pulsive- about marshes, suggestive of
bottomless depths and poisonous rep.
tiles This soon wears off. however.
and the beauty of the watery jungle.
with its teeming, singing life, grows
upon the observer. These school
love the duckweed pools and the cat.
tail jungles. There is not a square
foot of the area that has not. been
explored this Summer, and every bird
nest, regardless of how carefully It
has been hidden by the builder or how
difficult it is to reach. has been
marked. The birds themselves have
become quite tame.
Actually the threat of the marsh
turns out TO be pure bluff after wad-
ing through it two or three times. At
no place is the mud deep enough to
be dangerous IL DIR. Bartsch's instruc-
tons are followed. These are never
to take one foot of the ground until
the other has been placed securely
either on a clump Of vegetation or on
sound bottom" Otherwise there al
ways is the possibility of sinking up
to the waist
Marsh Would Make Haven. s..
DIR. Bartsch believes the marsh
should be included In the park system
of the National Capital as q haven for
wild life and for the benefit Of the
considerable number of Washington
residents who have learned to appre-
ciate the beauty of such a place more
than they would any well handicapped
area with auto roads, golf links and
flower beds. 1t is in the swamp that
mature is most prolific and can best
be observed in her changing aspects.
This particular marsh is entirely free
from the frequent curse of such areas
by the fish which, in turn, may serve
as food for some of the birds.
Each member of the class has been
given one bird whose life habits she
is to study this Summer. This work
involves not only long wading trips
but intensive observation ands ability
to make friends OF the feathered crea.
lures. The best time for the study
is early morning. from sunrise to $50
or 8 o'clock. The mornings Of low tide
are chosen. At high tide there are
spots in the marsh which cannot be
reached without running considerable
risk.
DIR. Bartsch himself has picked out
most of the swamp paths and'can 60
clear across to the Southern Railway
tracks without often venturing into
water above the hips. A valuable aid
70 o. iG hn nf pA
calls. The professor is familiar with,
and can initiate to perfection so that
the birds themselves will answer him.
the calls of all the commoner feath-
cred creatures. The school teachers
in the class have been taught many
of these and have become SO skillful
that the birds themselves often are
deceived.
One girl has been given the red
birds are the most numerous @f all
those which frequent the marsh and
can be seen at any hour. either flying
solitary or in flocks. Their nests are
peculiar. They are woven skillfully
of leaves and grasses and are almost
completely inciosed. rock and all.
They are built low on the sides of cat.
tails. A score or more have been 10.
Gated. Each nest has a very small
entrance. or doorway. barely large
enough to admit a finger. This en-.
trance usually is concealed by AN
overhanging shred of leaf and careful
searching is required to find it. Most
of the eggs already have Matched. but
Friday morning one nest was found
with four eggs-about the size of
robin eggs. colored light lavender and
with peculiar black markings, like the
letters on Chinese laundry receipt. on
snem. There also are patches of
brown dots. The mother does not
stay on the nest. even when the eggs
are incubating. The heat of the at
'r1osphere is sufficient to hatch them.
The nests always are left undistuVb-
ed until the young have flown away
when they may be taken Tor coliec'