Evening star., 1936-03-17

getting food. Then when they do break
up the family the young will be able to
take care Of themselves in case they do
not find another place such as yours.
1.-The cardinals scrap among them
selves pretty much, but one or two pair
will stick it out and stay with you. You
cannot tell the male from the female, at
first. In about two weeks the male will
start getting color In his breast. The
female will get maroon in her wings and
the coral will come in her bill.
You'll be able to tell the pair or two
that stick all Summer by watching the
size of the black patch on the face of
the male. Il mean the next Winter,
when there is gang)
II have counted 80 cardinals at my
station at one time when the snow was
on the ground, but mine were mostly
females. Sincerely, B. j. S."
Perhaps some bird lovers will not be
able to draw such q fine line as our
correspondent, who seems to know the
difference between Just the amount of
food to put out from now on to keep
the cardinals, and larger amount which
will tend to keep them too well!
1t Is probable that the birds them
selves will attend to this, and make such
selection from the foods provided by
man and those provided by Nature as
will be the best for themselves and their
offspring.
There are some difficulties attending
the prolongation of feeding. For one,
it is questionable whether the birds need
1t, and then there is the matter of the
free use of the garden to be considered.
The gardener has right to his gar
den, as well as the birds. There will be
some persons who will rather shrink
from entering their own gardens, as long
as the birds are tempted to the ground
by food placed out for them.
If a place has trees, the birds prefer
to be in them, from now on, and this
leaves the earth for the home gardener
We feel certain there are many bird
friends who, while they are feeding the
birds, feel it incumbent upon them to
stay out of the garden as much as pos
sible, to give the birds every opportunity
to feed.
They have, in effect, turned their
gardens over to their feathered friends
for four months, or longer; now that
Spring comes down this way, they feel
that the birds ought to turn it back to
them.
This will not mean, of course, that
some food may not be placed out for
the birds, probably In as secluded a
place as possible.
Much depends upon the temperament
of the individual gardener. and just how
he has looked upon his task, and how
long he wants to continue it.
He may have the idea, and we are
not sure it is not correct, that the birds
need very little food provided by human
hands after Spring really comes.
Our correspondent evidently tries to
draw fine line between just enough,
to keep them, and not too much, in
order not to do an unconscious Ill service
to the young birds, which needs must
be taught to wrest their living from
Nature.
Perhaps reasonable solution for this,
for those who want to have no sense Of
restraint in their own gardens, will be
to end bird feeding until next Fall They
will have had the satisfaction of having
fed the birds when it did them the most
good, and the memory of many pleasant
hours
Now let them enjoy their gardens to
the full, with the wild bird chorus wax
ing them at dawn, and the members of
that happy orchestra fluttering around
in the trees for the remainder of the
day. TOO much of anything is bad"
Perhaps this applies to bird feeding as