Evening star., 1945-08-01
This and That
Charles E. TrdceWeH
BETHESDA, Md.

DEL ldESDA, Mo.
Dear Sir:
"One day recently several titmice and
nuthatches came into our garden, the
first Of these birds we had seen for
several weeks.
Where have they been, and why
didn't they stay with us? Was there
anything we should have done that we
didn't to keep them?
"All the members of our family are
interested in birds, and we 60 out of
our way to cater to them, but the ones
at the feeding stations change, and
many go away for no good reason that
we can see.
ANY suggestion from you as to how
to keep our birds guests more permanent
will be greatly welcomed.
Sincerely yours, j. Med. S."
x
There is nothing any one can do to
make bird feeding automatic.
Its changes are it's charm.
Birds portray the seasonal changes,
and changes within the season, as if the
very hand Of God were writing through
them.
Just as we would not wish to read a.
book which said the same on page 100
as it said on page l, so we must not
expect to find all things the same in a
garden the year around
Our songbirds, especially those which
visit us for food, register the Divine
Will, and show how things were in the
beginning as well as today.
Birds come and go, and there is moth
ing much we can do about it, except
watch and wait.
T1tmlce, chickadees and nuthatches
all Of which remain with us the year
around, more or less, often seek more
secluded places for nesting. Since
washington has many large parks, and
various wooded areas, these offer the
songbird fine nesting sites, where they
find conditions more to their liking.
No one can blame them for going
away, but We can all thank them for
coming back.
Usually they return to the site where
they have been well treated. That is
one reason for keeping up feeding dur
ing the summer.
nuthatches come back along about this
time, bringing their babies with them,
they like to find food at the old stand.
Perhaps 1t is bit imaginative, to
think that they have told their young
sters about our place, but imagination
is good, in such world as this, and no
one san say that the old birds have not
In some way suggested to the babies
that they are in for treat.
Certainly it is fine for them when
they fly down, to find other birds at
work on seeds and grains, and to see
the picture of contentment which they
offer.
1t is fine for us humans, too, to be the
hosts of these creatures of the wild, and
to feel sure that in some way we have
managed to bring them closer to us.
Food is the means, of course. 1t is
the one great bond between all
creatures. 1t is not too much, one may
feel, to believe that wild birds are grate-
ful, If some humans are not.
Some official may sit at desk and
solemnly announce that unless we send
100000 tons of coal and so many mil
lions Of pounds of food to certain other
nations certain inimical governmental
conditions may arise there.
That is just appeasement, and he is
just guessing.
But there is no guessing about what
food put out for the birds will do for
us and them.
1t will insure plenty of birds the year
around, and be the means of destroying
inimical insects in vast numbers. No
matter how much seed and grain you
give the birds in summer, they must
have high protein foods, such as worms
and insects, for themselves and young
during nesting time. All the food we
offer, including raisins, cannot deter
them from their ancestral wisdom and
ways. But we must not expect the birds
to be automatic in their habits, espe-
cially in regard to us. Within their
scope, they are thinking creatures with
wills of their own. 1t is not right to
expect them to live just to please us.