Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-28
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1yeu.
BUNKER HILL ROAD,

BUNKER HILL ROAD.
Dear Sir:
For days we had been hearing sweet
bird songs so loud and clear you would
have thought there was canary in the
living room. ...-.
The notes seemed to emanate from
the fireplace. Surely chimney swifts
wouldn't have such fine voices We
went outdoors to investigate, and there,
atop the chimney, singing Justify, sat
the ventriloquist known as the mocking-
birdie
I'VE watched until he finished his
song. Then he disappeared from view,
inside the chimney
"On the branch of a nearby tree was
his mate.
Il see where we shall have to refrain
from using the fireplace for the rest of
the season, for the pair are evidently
nesting in the chimney, of all places.
MY year-round window sill cafeteria
has paid dividends hundredfold. The
first robin to visit it this spring was
February %, and about week later
came the song sparrow.
Il was delighted to have a pair of
cardinals last year; this year I have
two pairs. so am doubly delighted. And
today the first purple grackle made his
appearance. Yours truly, D M. c."
Neither the first nor last appearance
of the grackle is to be welcomed.
This is bad bird, as far as treatment
Of other species is concerned.
1t is murderer, just for the fun of it.
Often it tears off the legs and heads
of baby birds as they emerge from the
nest.
AS far as can be determined, these i'll
deeds are not done for any purpose ex-
cept that of a pure desire to do injury.
Lest we think too harshly of the
grackle for this, let us remember that
certain peoples in the world seem to
operate on the same plan.
The grackle has a mean, ugly yellow
eye, which must be seen close at hand
for full realization of its badness.
Perhaps no other bird, even the ugly
vulture, has such an eye, carrying in
1t a perfect signature of the bad heart
and mind of the creature.
The people of the Middle Ages made
much of the doctrine OF signatures, as
they called it. Thus a flower which
carried what appealed to them as an
eye was supposed to be good" for eye
hurts.
Everything was held to carry its sig
nature in its outward aspect, so that 1t
was merely matter of reading Alright
the signature to know just what was
inside.
Something of this idea fingers in our
modern belief that we can read char
acter by looking at the lines of a face,
the conformation of the jaw, position
of the eyes, etc.
Surely, if there is anything to this
theory at all, the purple grackle was
marked by its creator SO that all birds
and men could know his evil heart
simply by looking at him.
The wood thrush Is another species
which possesses ventriloquistic prop
critics.
Usually this best of birds does not
arrive here before April 20, but per-
haps this spring, if the good weather
continues, he may arrive ahead of time.
1t is rather unusual for mockingbird
to put its nest in chimney. But they
build any place from 10 to so feet III
the air.
The preference is for hedge of thick
shrub. The nest is of good size, made of
grasses and bits of weeds and twigs,
lined with moss and cotton, if 1t can
be found. Today's Knockers will use the
fluff from vacuum sweeper bags.
Usually from four to six eggs are laid,
OF blue-green color. dappled with brown.
TWO broods are Matched out, as a rule.
In the South it is common saying
that the mockingbird sings down the
chimney"