Evening star., 1944-08-04
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdceDeH.
-<"RHODE ISLAND AVENUE.

Dear Sir.
Il read your column daily and get
much pleasure and information from It,
Il have read that If young bird is
defective the parent birds throw it out
Of the nest and let it die. Is that true?
Some years ago had strange ex-
perience that shows the friendliness
that exists among our feathered neigh
bors. Under q tree I found q young
robin with an injured wing. Thinking
that might help 1t. or at least keep it
from becoming the victim Of some stray
cat. took 1t into the house.
When I went out again there were
great numbers Of birds perched In the
trees and on the telephone wire. The
moment they saw me they began circline
about my head uttering angry cries.
There were robins, catbirds, orioles,
sparrows, even little wrens. Evidently
they had been waiting for me and they
kept up this attack for several days.
They paid no attention to other
members Of the family, but as soon as
appeared they few about me. telling me
what they thought of me in decidedly
uncomplimentary bird language.
I'm spite Of care, the young robin died.
Had the parent birds thown it out of the
nest, knowing 1t could never earn its
own living in this hard working world?
About the third day the numbers of
my enemies became less. and in a few
days more they gave up the attack,
probably thinking they had taught me
Aesson. Sincerely, c. K. NJ"
The belief that songbirds throw de-
fective offsprings out of the nest Is
mostly superstition.
1t does not often occur and even then
there is always q question If the young
one did not flutter out on its own
Care OF the young in most species is
exemplary, except that the parents have
no way Of getting nedglings back into
the nest when they tumble out.
Most species try to care for them on
the ground. but some songsters do not
60 to this trouble. Everything is rudely
upset when such a catastrope occurs,
and the little minds are not attuned to
the new decisions and actions necessary.
1t is impossible to blame the birds for
this
Bird minds seem sufficient for the
average needs, provided everything runs
smoothly, but the moment something
untoward happens they are not able to
function properly.
Thus, If cowbird lays its eggs in
another's nest, the foster mother neither
recognizes the fraud or suspects that the
large baby is not her own.
Many experiments have been tried
with the birds in tricking them, and
they are, invariably successful Their
minds, such as they are, are part of a
smoothly working mechanism, il such
the whole bird may be called, and are
not able to tell right from wrong in our
way.
Birds often attack both humans and
cats In groups, and sometimes keep
after them for several days, as our
correspondent reports.
One must be sure that 1t is not the
family cat they are pursuing. Often
when they see some one member of the
family whom they have seen with the
animal they take out their spite on him
or her.
Penguins, the odd Antarctic birds. are
said to repudiate any all-white offspring
they have and to refuse to feed them.
Herman Melville, author of "Moby-
Dick" found penguins on the Encanta-
das, or Enchanted Isles, in the South
Pacific, and had the following to say
about them:
And truly neither hsh, flesh nor fowl
is the penguin; as an edible, pertaining
neither to Carnival nor Lent, without
exception the most ambiguous and least
lovely creature yet discovered by man.
Though dabbling in all three elements.
and indeed possessing some rudimentary
claims to all, the penguin is at home ii
none. On land it stumps, afoat It
sculls, In the air 1t hops. As II ashamed
OF her failure, nature keeps this un-
calmly child hidden Away at the ends Of
the earthn
Tastes evidently change in this as ia
other matters. Today We regard the
penguin . . very handsome and su.
premely interesting bird, and knov that
II y one q the most Intelligent
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