Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-05
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

dots, his general demeanor, all tend to
make bird Of unusual merit, one whose
appearance Is that of cleanliness to an
exceptional degree.
This is no small point, everything con-
sidered. Many persons regard birds
with somewhat prejudiced eyes. Per-
haps In their childhood they heard that
most of them carried lice. In keeping
canaries they found the same trouble,
perhaps.
Thus there grew up In their minds
the belief that birds, as q class, were
unclean.
Nothing In Nature, Of course. has the
cleanliness which man can give him
self.
The invention Of soap, the use Of hot
water, clean linen, towels, clothes. offer
man the means Of being clean IN way
Nature never contemplated.
The cleanliest of her creatures, in a
natural state, know nothing OF being
finicky, In the human way.
Grains of black dirt, such as fly
through the air and land In feather and
fur, remain there, and the creatures
know nothing about them.
GfS4y uOS OWAACA AAAo"o sA@s@s WAC 40
needs q good bath at least once a week.
Friends of cats, while declaring their
pets clean, will admit that II they lie Tor
q few hours on a clean bedspread they
will leave black marks behind.
Paws are not lily white, by any means.
And so 1t Is with the birds. Their
feathers, which at q distance seem as
clean as the proverbial lily OF the fields,
readily would give forth dust and dirt
II subjected to scientific cleaning. Per-
haps man goes out OF his way TO be
scientific, at times, and most of us would
think he would in this, If he sought to
clean the feathers of living birds.
Yet the cleanliness of the creatures
must remain an objective, and the bird
which strikes the observer as really
being clean, in our sense, is the bird
which wins the hearts Of all.
The thrush fills this bill.
A vacuum cleaner used on him could
not make him look any trimmer or
heater, he is so spick- and-span in his
suit of rust, gray and dots.
This is combined with an eye milder
than in most birds.
A birds eye is famous, as way of
looking, but as the real thing 1t Is not
so famous, perhaps. Most observers pro-
fess to find something "fshy" in it,
which it is at once disreSpectfu to fish
and birds
The fish eye is "fshy" In the human
sense simply because man has stuck too
closely to facts. How else could 1sh's
eye be but "fishy"?
Lookedat honestly the eye Of a fish is
simply a disk, without eyelid. Often it
is q very beautiful construction, fairly
looked at, with grasp of function, and
not with mere prejudice. Man often
prejudices himself with words, of which
"fishy" is a good example.
Not every bird eye Is really pleasant.
Many a one is much more "fishy" look
ing than that Of any fish.
The eyes of the wood thrush, however,
are really pretty, In their way, bright
and alert, Of the precise type to har-
monte with feathers and general de-
meanor.
The thrush is chesty, without being as
pulled out as the cocky robin.
All in all, the wood thrush which
comes to our gardens hereabouts on
April 26 to % every year, and stays for
several months, is the best bird of the
season, to say nothing at all this time
! of possessing the most melodious song.