Evening star., 1945-12-15
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceUeU.
ARLINGTON, Va.

Dear Sir:
Il am new to the suburbs, and have
two small birds come to my windowsill
I do not know what they are, and would
like to know. AS a regular reader of
yours, I thought you might tell me.
"One is about inches long, as best
I can make out, slate color on head
and back, and with a sort of crest.
There is some orange color under the
wings, I guess on the stomach.
THE other bird is sort of black and
white, with a black kind of cap on the
head.
These birds fly in, take a seed. and
fly out with it.
Il get great pleasure out of helping
the birds, and more so than ever now
that it is cold. 1t is such an easy thing
to do, and yet means so much to them.
Yours sincerely, j. j."
The first bird is the titmouse, the
second the chickadee.
With the nuthatch, they make up an
invariable suburban trio.
The three alone would be worth put
ting out food for, even if no other
species came at all, but when one also
has the bluejay, the cardinal, the song
sparrow, and others, there is more in
centive than ever to help the birds.
The titmouse, with its perky crest,
and the chickadee, with its black cap,
seem to be fond of each other
Where one goes, the other is sure to
be. Darling in to find a seed, they
always fly away with it, to crack it
against the branch of shrub at some
distance. They seldom eat at the sta
ton, as the cardinals do.
These companions always find a new
feeding station first, but often refuse to
come, except for infrequent trips, after
the English sparrows take over.
There is really no reason why both
chickadee and titmouse could not eat
with these sparrows, except that there
are so many of the latter that the little
birds find it difficult to land.
English sparroWs seldom molest them
They are too busy getting something to
eat before their own mates find it!
Yet both chickadee and titmouse turn
up their noses at such rowdy compan-
ions, and prefer to stay away. The fact
that they do remain away, and yet are
seen now and then, shows that they are
perfectly able to find food in nature.
No one need worry, therefore, if food
is not put out for the wintering birds.
In all except the most inimical periods
they will be able to find food. This is
no argument against feeding, however.
Feeding the birds in winter is two
fold thing-it helps the heart of those
who do it, and it helps the birds They
will not Starve to death, in most cases,
if it is not done, but certainly they are
benefited, because easy food is as pleas
ant to them as to human beings. Hard
work, which has had so many exploiters,
also haS~bad effects, which are seldom
mentioned. Among human beings, high
blood pressure is one. Hard work may
be noble, as has so often been said, but
it is above all hard. Birds which find
food readily available, it may be be-
lieved, are better birds for the finding.
Certainly the yard which knows them
in numbers all winter will start off with
more Of them in the spring. TT is also
true that such birds as the nuthatch,
chickadee and titmouse clean up hun
dreds of inimical insects, their eggs and
larvae, on the milder winter days, thus
exerting an antiseptic effect on trees
and shrubs.
If sparrows drive the better birds
away, there is no need to grow red in
the face
1t simply means that the watcher
must do better job of looking. He
may rest assured that every now and
then, when there is a lull, the chickadee
and titmouse will dart in. They are so
beautiful and interesting that they are
well worth this extra effort The nut
hatch, which specializes on walking
head down on tree trunks, seldom comes
to feeding station. He likes suet
crammed in crevices Of bark. He de-
lights, too, In finding slnflower seeds In
the same hiding places. A little time
pleasing these birds u well worth while.