Evening star., 1944-05-05
This and That
By Charles Z. Trace,DeH.
CHEVY CHASE, Nd.

CHEVY CHASE, Mo.
Dear Sir:
AT last We have q mockinsbird. We
have always wanted one, and had fire.
quently seen one, With his rnats, nesting
and singing not far from our house.
But they never came to our place to stay.
Perhaps It was the presence Of the
cat. The mockingbirds did not know
that this dear old nuisance was too well
fed and, too lazy to care what new In
the air above him. But once every sea-
son (probably when the young birds
were out) one Of the birds would come
to our house, and while the cat slept
heavily under the beech tree, he would
perch above Nem6s head, and sass him
Wciously. This would keep up the en-
tire day, until my ears were tired Of the
incessant, raucous screeching. The
fussing was punctuated by occasional
diving right over the cats head.
"Rut now our old kitty is no more.
And this winter the mocker began COM
ing regularly. I fed him raisins every
day, until he came to know me, and
would dive right out Of the tree over my
head and plainly ask for food. Then his
mate appeared and she. too. asked for
food, even though he ungallantly
bawled her out ~ hotly as he did the
cat.
NOW they are nesting In the high
hedge. Every time 60 out to dig they
are after me In moment. carry box
Of raisins in my coat pocket, ready for
my little beggars. They are really
quite q pest. but I love them. This
morning went out to plant some chrys-
anthemums. 'Whirr' came out of the
tree and my dive bomber was upon me.
wait a minute said, I'll get your
raisinS.' went into the house, stick
ing my spade In the ground till came
back again. came out with the food.
looked for my mocker. No one was in
the tree; no one in the lilac bush.
He Is gone said. Then looked at
my spade, preparing to dig again. There
on the handle sat my little bird, waiting
for me to throw him his breakfast. So
we feel the Knockers are really ours. And
often In the night when the moon is
full they wake us with their touching
melodies.
MY little granddaughter, who has
just been visiting us, was delighted with
these BIRDS and my daughter writes that
since returning home, Lanny sings about
the knocking bird
Sincerely, v. T. D."
Maybe we can give this correspondent
a tip, with the help Of K. 8. 8. Of East
avenue, Chevy Chase, Md, who writes,
in part:
I'VE have a pair of mocking birds
which are now 80 tame that they fly in
our sun porch window and eat raisins
which we place on the table for them
They never seem to venture far from
the house. and the male, who is much
bolder than his mate Cor maybe greed
ier) Will fly against or peck at the
screen until we open the window and
place some raisins on the table
Needless to say, this affords endless
entertainment especially for any Wis
itors we may have-no matter how
many people are in the room, the mock
ers never hesitate to fly in and make
themselves at home"
Demanding raisins is a mockingbird
speciality. Other species which like
them are robins catbirds, thrushes,
sparroWs, starlings-and squirrels! We
have come to think of the squirrel as a
bird species almost, it is with them SO
much.
Raisins put out for the birds are best
thrown in the grass. One may feel sure
that their sharp eyes will find them
We believe, from reports to this COL
umn over the years, that the mocking
bird is more likely to come into the
house than any other species
This is because it is fearless, as may
be easily seen at the nesting season.
Then the male spends all of his time
assailing any moving object in the vi
cinity of the nest, accompanying his
assaults with harsh noise which finally
wearies even the greatest of bird lovers.
We believe that Knockers get an OBJ
session on making this noise, just as
small boys sometimes do in initiating
trucks, and make it Just for the fun OF
making It,