Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-09-26

It Is for this reason that the tropical
fish lobbyist, for instance, has a great
advantage over many other lobbyists,
whose interests are based solidly on
an-invented and man-made things.
About all these latter there is q GER
tain business, a splotchiness which
Is invaryingly connected with the ef-
forts Of man. The trail Of the SER
pent is over him and his.
Nature, as something in itself, knows
nothing of this. but goes ahead calmly
in the old ways, ways which have
stood still for SO long that even the
most ephemeral creature with q mind
has the chance to see what others
have seen long before him.
The heavens are the same today
they were in the times of Calico.
The butterflies which fit through
the garden all Summer might have
graced the banquet Of the Emperor
Titus, who, when he realized at din
ner that he had done no good deed,
declared, Friends, I have lost a day."
Titus, who took and sacked Jerusa-
lem, after o seige Of more than two
years, was a fairly good man in q
very bad world.
AL fairly good men in another very
bad world, the human world of 1894,
may feel that they have lost a day
If they have not spent some part Of
it doing a good deed to their own
souls by observing the simple crea-
lures of Nature.
This is most excellently done, per-
haps, by the keeping of small tropi-
cal fishes in the home aquarium, and
by hospitality to the bird neighbors
Of the outdoors.
There is a satisfaction to these
studies, strictly amateur though they
may be, which adds immense zest to
| life for those whose minds and hearts
happen to be Of such a texture that
they find happiness therein. Not for
anything would we advocate them for
others, although many others who do
| not in the least suspect it would md
themselves interested If they would
give themselves the chance.
Birds offer the best everyday field
for the layman's approaches to scien-
tific observation. II the word "scien-
tific" frishtens or oppresses him, let
him drop 1t.
Let him just look, for that will be
enough. There are few places where
birds do not come, and in any Of them,
whether city or country, the observer
can see much OF interest.
Even in the downtown streets the
English sparrows come to pick up
bits Of food dropped by careless
| pedestrians. Human beings, like other
animals, are forever eating something,
! and their crumbs are the birds feast.
1t Is out IN the suburbs, however,
that the amateur ornithologist has his
greatest opportunity. There the song
sters come because it is home to them
They live amid the trees, and get their
food from lawns and shrubbery.
There Is constant seasonal change,
with the bird population greatest in
] Summer, but at all times of the year
there will De plenty Of material for
observation and no lack Of beauty
and pleasure in the work. No record
need be kept, but it will be found
helpful in the future if a few notes
on observations are written down from
time to time. If one is going to play
at being q scientist, even in a very
| small way, one might as well adopt
that corner stone Of scientific observa-
ton, recorded notes. Memory is no.
toriously elusive. in nothing more than
in Nature study.