Evening star., 1944-12-22
This and That
BIZ Charles E. .Truce,ueH.

Cne Sidewalk IN q nearby Maryland sub.
urb.
There was no sign of violence No
cat had got him, and no hawk torn.
AS far as we could determine, there
was no bullet wound.
The small, red splotch on the back
OF his head looked unreal, somehow; it
gave him the appearance of an Indian,
Death must come to birds, as to all
living things, but it Is seldom that one
sees bird die natural death.
Perhaps this was such an end as w. H.
Hudson described long ago in his Birds
In Town and Village:
'1he bird, however hard the frost may
be, flies briskly to his customary roost-
ing place, and, with beak tucked into
his wing, falls asleep. He has no appre-
tensions only the blood grows colder
sleeps, and at midnight, or in the early
morning, he drops from his perch-dead.
Yesterday he lived and moved, re-
sponsive to thousand external in
f1uences, rejecting earth and sky in his
small, brilliant brain as in looking
glass; also he had varied language,
the inherited knowledge of his race,
and the faculty Of flight, by means of
which he could shoot, meteorlike across
the sky, and pass swiftly from place to
place; and with it such perfect control
over all his organs, such marvellous certi-
tude in all his motions, as to be able to
drop himself down from the tallest tree
top, or out of the void air, onto slender
spray, and scarcely cause Its leaves to
tremble.
. Now. on this morning, he lies stiff and
motionless; II you were to take him up
and drop him from your hand, he would
fall to the ground like stone or lump
of clay-so easy and swift is the passing
from life to death in wild nature! But
he was never miserable"
= In bird-feeding area two squirrels
were worrying a large lump. We
thought it an unusually large acorn or
nut, but on coming close saw it was a
sparrow. The dead bird was so coated
with seed and grain, which had fallen
from the feeding station, that it was
difficult to determine its species.
The squirrels were picking off the
seeds Evidently they had not killed the
bird and were not harming It now. It
was just another of the tragedies in
nature.
Some songsters die natural death in
winter through lack of food, especially
when snow and ice are on the ground.
Then seeds on old stalks are hidden,
and grit and water are hard to find.
Then, too, many birds are not able to
ind places where food is being put out.
The marvellous certitude' of which
Hudson speaks fails them. The brilliant
brain" does not function. Or they at
tempt too long flights or make mis-
calculation and fly directly into the side
OF a house. There is always possibil-
ity, when bird is picked up without any
sign of wounds, that this has happened.
This is good time to think of put
ting out something for the birds which
winter here.
Very cold weather not only deprives
them Of food, to some extent, but also
increases their need Of 1t.
They are, mechanically speaking, heat
motors run on carbohydrates.
They also need small amount of
water daily, and some sand, earth or fine
grit Of some sort.
In winter all these are hard to find,
and sometimes impossible to secure, un-
less through the superior forethought of
human beings.
Kindness is sort of forethought.
Now that man is dealing out injury
and death with one hand, 1t is all the
more up to him to hand out kindness
with the other, as it were. For this
reason it is hoped that more people
than ever this winter will think of our
bird life in the cold and daily put out
something for them to eat, if no more
than . few crumbs morning and eve
yNfne 87r =