Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

might he interested to catch glimpse
of the wild life we observe from our
front porch.
Being at the end of the street,
everything is quiet, and from our
hammock we watch interesting rab-
bits. young and Old gravely MUNICH
ing poke salad and other weeds.
always on the alert and scampering
away at the least noise. For the
past few days they have been getting
holder, being seen right by the kitchen
door. Notwithstanding the fact that
our collie dog Teddy was lying
nearby. Covies of cartridges are also
spied. quite often being at first mis-
taken for chickens by the children
But, strange 10 say, they won't be
seen when the hunting season comes
near, for which | am glad, for
think it cruel to kill such harmless
little creatures.
Water moccasins young ones)
have on some occasions been killed
by the head of the house (when clean.
ing up dead leaves and debris), but
only early in the Spring. All we now
see are Il few black snakes a harm
less species. Turtles and tortoises Of
all kinds and sizes are brought to
the house by the children. but after
examining them they are turned
loose, after much discussion as to
whether they are snappers or not.
We did not know there were so
many different kinds--some with the
bottom shell ID beautiful orange color.
o hers are red and black and some
all yellow. We have just been called
outside once more to help settle the
argument. Was the turtle just caught
snapper? AS we came near the
old fellow he started opening his
mouth and made a sort of Kissing
sound; also. instead of hiding inside
his shell. he started running fast, and
when q stick was presented to him
he bit it viciously. So we decided he
was a snapper. His head was black
with yellow spots; so was his neck;
but, strange to say, his legs were
black, with red spots. and so was the
skin and shell-ike membrane between
the two main shells upper and lowerl
The top shell was black and rather
smooth, while the bottom shell was
yelloWish orange and with a design
of squares. His eyes were yellow
BY the time | have written this about
him he is gone back to his family.
from almost liliputian size to proper
lions greatly appealing to those who
think frog legs delicacy. Insects
attract us also and we wish we knew
more about them. This morning we
were admiring Il locust and wondering
at the ways of nature: for we have
found many shells discarded by this
fellow as he grows. We marvel at
the way he can soar up in the air.
LAS to birds, we have all kinds,
from the tiny wren to the large
crane. A party of nine of these big
fellows passed over our heads the
other day, way up and in single file,
keeping their positions like airplanes
would. Catbirds, bluejays, redhead-
ed woodpeckers - mourning doves
fish hawks. robins, beautiful red birds
and many others which we do not see
but hear-the whippoorwill, boot owl,
etc. We do not mention the buzzards.
What we like to watch is the fish
hawk when he is fishing. Our cottage
is about two blocks from the bay,
but from our front porch we can see
him circling over the bay, then
swooping down and coming up with
the fish weighing between his claws.
And what is prettier than sail
boats on the blue waters of the bay.
Do you wonder that we think our
little estate of 105 by 100 feet a small
Garden of Eden? OF course, the
swamp makes it much bigger. The
children are taught to respect all
those wild and interesting creatures
even the dog leaves them alone.
Please overlook the mistakes. As
you may have guessed, am a French
girl and have been in America eight
years. Sincere regards from Mrs.
NJ f"