Evening star., 1945-01-17
This and That
By Charles Z. TracetoeH.
RIGGS ROAD, NE.

III
Dear Sir:
It'd like to tell you of q bird who has
q thousand feeding stations-at least he
thinks they are all his.
There Is certain Government build.
ing which rears its facade in solemn
dignity on q wide avenue
Before dawn each day thousands of
workers pour into its wide portals and
make their way to desks in wings and
annexes lighted by windows opening on
4 courtyard in the rear.
One day little bird lit on the sill
and gave a whistle of surprise. He
looked at the clerk working at the desk
by the window, lifting one foot up as
though it hurt.
Deciding that the clerk had q kind
face, he burst into song, a sweet song
that caused the feathers on his throat
to stand on end, and the rest OF his
feathers to simmer with green and
purple iridescence and little golden
speckles.
"The next time the office was aired,
the clerk produced q piece of bun from
his daily luncheon hamburger, and the
bird came back and ate greedily on the
window sill, dropping from his song
into sort of grumbling, conversational
chirping between bites.
The clerk went away for q vacation,
and the bird, who answered to the name
OF Addie, and a more timid one named
johnnie, came daily to the window look
ing for buns
Once he lit on the sill Of large room
where many clerks were working and
gave his whistle and went into his song
and dance.
"One by one the clerks stopped to look
and listen. Even the chief came out of
his inner sanctum to investigate the
work stoppage.
Said one clerk, That is Addie. He
belongs to Mr.. Soandso in the next room,
and eats on his desk every day
The chief must have heard, for when
the clerk returned from his vacation he
was soon promoted and given . desk in
another room-four desks and an aisle
from any window at all
Zone day while Addie was grumbling
over the sandwich he was eating on q
desk, q stenographer in the other end
of the long room received word that her
friend had been killed in action.
Some one in the room whispered that
it was bad luck for bird to come inside
q room.
Ever since that incident the windows
in that room are slammed quickly when
Addie approaches any of them.
Yours very truly, A. s. c."
- **
This bird, which we take to have been
starting, won its way by sheer right Of
interest.
Starlings are intelligent creatures and
rs interesting as any birds II the gossip
about them is overlooked.
Few species use their brains to better
effect, few are such fine flyers, and few
so reSourceful in the everyday life.
They have many hundreds of friends
among Government workers, and thou
sands of admirers as they swoop into the
downtown canyons at dusk.
Mostly they get their winter food in
the outlying districts, flying a. far as
Rockville to the north and Alexandria
to the south, but they always come back
each evening to roost on the wide-and
warm-window sills of Government and
other downtown ofice buildings,
Despite Its faults, the bird Is here to
stay. 1t already has proved its ability
to eat japanese beetles. Anything which
destroys anything like that sent VI by
Nippon ought to have our thanks.
The soft whistles made by the starting
from now on are among the most musical
bird notes. They are 80 pretty, In fact,
that many persons cannot believe that
starlnss make them, and attribute them
to native birds.