Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-09-23
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceUeu.
BUNKER HILL ROAD NE

Dear Sir:
ITO say I've enjoyed the birds this
summer Is an understatement. My
whole family has been thrilled and in
trigued. We have had more species
than ever before. and it has been
fascinating course in nature study. Here
are few incidents we noted:
Never before had we seen baby Jaws
until few weeks ago. They reminded
me of ugly ducklings with their stumpy
tails. The two weren't long out of their
nest because they could hardly fly. One
was on the ground and made many flu
tile attempts to ascend to the lowest
branch of tree before he finally sue
ceeded. Another time one was on the
clothes line and scared to death at his
precarious position, holding on for dear
life as he swayed.
"A banded grackle was a frequent
visitor. Once We ministered to a catbird
with broken bill, but he finally sue
cumbed Another time we rescued
felled sparrow from mocker who was
picking at the little fellow while he was
down. 1t was amusing to see Mrs Car
dinal feed a baby song sparrow instead
of her own youngster, who squeaked to
Dt lcd "llCli IildlIllild was dIOuIlu Dub
who could feed herself we'll enough
when alone.
The dining room window sill is my
special cafeteria where we've watched
our feathered friends close up Here
10 different kinds of birds feed regu-
larly. I am not bothered by starlings
The male towhee fairly lives there while
the female never ventures up at ALL At
first he chose bread but later he cult
waited taste for sunf1ower seeds. / was
thrilled when I first saw young one of
that family, and now he or she is a
daily visitor.
1--WE also have shelf on tree stump
where I put nothing but canteloupe
seeds. The other day saw chipmunk
breakfasting there after the cardinals
had finished
Sometimes blackish bird with blue
wings comes to the feeder 1 take it to
be young grackle as it has the char
acteristics of that family.
do the tufted titmice go further
north for the summer?
"A pair visited the feeder in the
spring, then suddenly disappeared.
Sincerely, D. M. c."
* X X X
Titmice 60 to the woods for the sum-
mer.
They are regarded as nonmigratory,
are very active and will eat almost
everything.
What they do around here is put in an
occasional appearance at any point
where feeding is carried on.
One year a pair will come and re-
main few days or weeks.
The next year there may be none at
all
The third year one or two may stick
around all fall and winter.
Titnice are unusually interesting
songsters. In the first place, they are
called songsters because of their vocal
organs, not because they can really
sing much. The construction of their
chords gives them the title.
They have cone-shaped bills, and
horny bristles at the tip of their tongues.
They are regarded as arboreal birds,
and will come any place where there
are trees.
In our own yard there are frequent
invasions of titmice, as they bring In
their young to sample the food
They either nest in Rock Greek Park,
to the east, or in woody places, such as
large estates
Members Of the titmice family, which
includes the chickadees, seldom have
spotted or streaked feathers, but are
mainly in two tones of gray or browns,
or blackish with white or gray under
parts.
Titmice have crests, whereas the
chickadees wear black caps. The tit
mice have small patches of orange on
the sides.
There have been several reports to
this column of titnice flying down and
pulling out hair from fur coats. The
nest is usually in deserted woodpecker
hole or hollow stump. From five to
eight eggs are laid. They are white,
spotted with reddish brown.
The titmouse is an especially helpful
bird, since it eats small insects ordi-
narily overlooked by larger birds, and
must ind them in the cold, where they
are hidden in crevices Of bark.