Evening star., 1938-03-04

ducive to the best frame of mind, II
one values good grass as one should.
1t isn't worthwhile for just few weeks.
It is amazing how quickly those small
feet. or claws, can trample down the
grass.
The same spot is there, even if feeding
Is begun in the fall?
A great deal worse, indeed! But the
watcher has had the pleasure of all the
psychological approaches, and feeling
that he has done a great deal of good
In his small fashion over long period
OF time. There is real pleasure, too. in
realizing that the good has been done
when 1t has been needed. Feeding the
birds Is not an attempt to distort some
thing out OF its true focus; rather it is
an honest endeavor to be of assistance
to some OF the most interesting Of all
the natural creatures, and to creatures
which undoubtedly pay back many
thousand times the cost of their feeding.
If you ever have seen starlings feed
ing on your lawn, and have watched
those powerful bills go after grubs of
inimical insects, lurking just beneath
the sod, you will know better than any
back. and more, for the little we do for
them.
Many persons are inclined, at first, to
question the value Of bird feeding and
attraction. Country people, in particu-
lar, who have not been brought up to
pay attention to such matters, often be-
lieve 1t is worse than money wasted.
The much despised startling, however,
is good refutation. He pays little at
tention to bird feeding stations stocked
with grains and seeds, but comes where
he sees other birds. Bread will attract
him. or meat or suet. If you want
starlings, use bread. But the grains
and good seeds used for the generality
OF birds which stay with us the year
around do not lure the starting
The starting may seem to be eating
seeds and grains beneath feeder, but
really he is after grubs and other stages
in the insect life cycle.
Half a dozen of these birds within
half an hour will plow up the ground
beneath feeder as completely as if
the work had been done with a small
spade.
This is an interesting and fascinating
process for the bird feeder to watch.
The starlings drive in their bills time
after time, until the area turns to a
moist dark brown, from the light hard
bare gray look it had before
What the big birds are after are the
grubs living beneath. battening on the
husks and seeds which have been
trampled into the earth. This material
makes perfect breeding bed evidently,
for these forms of life
Some of the starlings will be seen to
go over the entire yard in the same
fashion, but not as thoroughly, of course,
since the area is so much larger
They are still after forms of insect
life, and getting them. too, judging from
the way they keep at it.
Starlings really are not clumsy. in
any sense-just different No doubt
that Wag of tail this bird possesses
tends to make the casual observer think
him clumsy.
Carefully watched. however, the STAR
ling is seen to be bird as we'll as any,
and mine of power when it comes to
Kidding a garden of insects and their
grubs and other forms in their curious
cycles
This column is willing to bet that
garden with plenty of starlings in it all
winter will have far fewer insect enemies
next summer than the yard of the per-
son who dislikes Starlings and chases
them away.