Evening star., 1945-07-28
This and That
By Charles E. Trace,oeH.

People who dislike squirrels at their
bird-feeding stations will not be both
cred by them these days.
They are at the walnut trees.
Evidently the meats have matured
enough to attract the active rodents,
who thus show their preference for nuts
to all the seeds and grains ever grown.
Across the street are two walnut trees,
and in these trees full 20 squirrels eat
all day long, throwing down bushels of
cracked shells, together with many whole
nuts, because squirrels are wasteful
creatures.
If they drop nut, they do not go
down after it, as active and agile as
they are.
All they have to do is raise paw and
drag down another nut.
~
The gnawing and cracking can be
heard for hundreds of feet
There is a mixture of sounds, re-
sembling cross between buzz saw,
riveting machine and a typewriter
This steady background of noise is
broken every now and then by sharp
sound, as walnut hits the ground
The steady gnawing is almost comical
in effect, especially if the listener has
soft spot in his heart for squirrels.
What teeth they have!
AS sharp as files, as pointed as
needles, these teeth saw through any
hard-shelled nut.
The pieces are cracked of, and fall
in a steady shower.
The careful housewife will have to
sweep up the sidewalk ard front steps
at least six times day, If she wants
to keep things tidy.
The litter will stain the walk, too,
that is another bad point.
Yet squirrels must eat, and they will
eat walnuts the first chance they get.
The past three weeks have presented
this first chance. Evidently the senses
of the animals realized that now the
walnuts are mature enough to monkey
with
There is nothing, unless it is an acorn,
which they like better.
r X
Green apples, green tomatoes corn
these are some of their favorites, as
gardeners know.
often people resent the squirrels their
ready appetites and ready paws in TAX
ing what they want
The squirrel is a high-powered animal,
warm-blooded and on the go all the time
He must have food, and plenty of it.
Perhaps he is not to be blamed for
taking it where he can find it. He does
not know about owning things, as human
beings are supposed to know. And the
world has had many examples, during
10 Af &ak hot
they desired, as long as they could get
away with it.
While they are on the walnut trees,
the squirrels will give your bird-feeding
stations rest, which is rather desirable.
No matter how much of an admirer
Of this acrobatic beast one may be, he
will appreciate the restful character of
bird feeding at this time while the squir-
rels are busy elsewhere.
Now one and all can come down and
feed, without the sudden thrush of
bushy tailed fellows intent on eating
and having a good time.
Fortunately, squirrels seldom harm
birds at feeding stations, but they scat
ter them as they run in. Some house,
holders resent the squirrels needlessly
and often to such an extent that they
spend hours trying to devise Squirrel
proof" feeding stations 1t is time
wasted. The gray squirrel is not pest,
except in some peoples minds, and is
not nuisance unless you have an exag-
gerated impression of the weakness of
birdlife. Birds and squirrels have got
ten along together for thousands of
years; 1t would be odd If suddenly, in
1945, the birds needed protection from
the squirrels.