Evening star., 1945-01-11
This and That
By Charles E. TraceDeu.


A correspondent wants to know how
iong a squirrel can go without food.
We haven't the slightest idea.
Certainly as long as it must stick to
tne trees IN any average snowy spell.
Gray squirrels do not like deep
poWoery SHOWS, and tend to keep aloft
during them
Ice is not to their liking, either. Hard
packed snowfalls they do not mind In
the least.
Rainy days deter them somewhat
but not much, if they really are hungry.
* y
Since these squirrels do not store I'D
food in nests, as the red forms do, they
must depend upon looking for their
food daily.
When snow and ice are on the ground,
1t is impossible for them to find what
they have buried.
Many persons doubt whether they
md more than Is per cent of all they
hide.
During cold weather they are de-
pendent on buried food and such nuts
as remain on the trees. Old dried out
SEEDS and berries on shrubs form an
important part of their winter fare.
BIRD feeding is also squirrel feeding,
as most enthusiasts have found out.
Ordinarily squirrels eat along with the
birds, and do not keep the latter from
any important source of food.
After the recent ice and snow. the
squirrels made merry over the sure
footing.
They had remained aloft when the
sleet hit, but took immediate advantage
of the snow, which was a sort to their
liking, and gave them good traction
They were to be seen all day running
across the street, scurrying along lawns,
up trees and toward feeding stations on
the ground
During several hours no birds at all
were present, for some obscure reason,
but there always were plenty of SQUIRRELS,
1t is an odd fact that birds are
seldom as plentiful at established feed
ing stations during the Christmas holi-
days as at other times of the year.
just why this is so is something of a
mystery. Ordinarily an increased
number of persons has little effect on
the bird population.
Birds are used to mankind, and have
worked up a sort of tolerance.
Hawks sometimes make incursions
into the yard during the holidays.
1t always may be suspected that one
OF these large birds of pray is in the
vicinity when all the smaller species at
a thriving feeding place suddenly de-
part.
Usually it will be between four and
1--WE hours before they begin to return.
Such absence usually spells "hawk"
Some years ago Christmas air rifles
had the same result, but the lack of
these instruments in recent years has
removed, at least to some extent, this
reason for sudden disappearance of
feeders at place where food has been
put out regularly.
There is some chance, too, that classic
bread crumbs, put out by many persons
who ordinarily forget the birds, have
lmed away the regular feeders.
Birds, as humans, seem to like a
change of diet, and will leave the best
stocked station to partake of bread in
the next yard.
We would suggest that squirrels be
left in peace at all bird feeding stations.
They are as hungry as any living things,
and get along very well with the two
legged guests. They also tend to give
the alarm, and by their scurrying often
save their small pals from a hawk.
Blue jays, too, act as alarms, among
the very best, for the smaller birds.
There can be little question that jays
save the lives of hundreds of native
birds every year by sounding the alarm
of a hawk long before the little ones
| see him.