Evening star., 1945-11-06
This and That
By Charles E. Truce1Dell.
"GAMBRILLS, Md

Lear Sir.
Last Saturday after a two weeks
stop-over for the third consecutive year,
flock Of robins left our farm, pre-
sumably headed for the South.
This annual fall visit is not a COM
plete joy, for the robins strip our num-
erous dogwood and holly trees of every
red berry.
Since this spot became their official
autumn stop-over, the bluebirds which
winter in this section visit us only oc-
casionally, whereas before we saw them
almost every day.
The bluebirds numbered less than
so. But there are always 200 to 800
robins. An advance guard of three or
four appears about two weeks ahead of
the main flock. We don't have many
robins around here in summer, so when
the first fall specimens show themselves,
we know the gang will be along later.
And then one morning there they
are, chirping and darting in and out of
the trees, stripping the berries in most
debonair fashion.
Although only IS minutes drive from
the heart of Washington, we have a
great abundance of bird life down here.
During the winter a great many cardi-
mails enliven the grounds. AS I wrote
above, before the robins came, the blue
birds, too, spent the winter around our
hill.
Usually the bluebirds. cardinals and
towhees fed together, and they were
delightful sight.
Sincerely, M. L."
II II
This letter brings out very well the
plight of the bluebird.
Gentle, easily pushed around, it evi-
IDENTIFY has no place in the modern world
of hustle and hustle. Probably the beasts
and the birds get some overflow from
the sad human spirit which, craving
happiness and light, can only find for
itself misery and death.
The best human mind knows what it
wants, but there is something else spur
ring 1t on to argument and battle.
In the midst of life we are In death
and in the center Of our finest aims
there seem to crop up the evil spirits
of hate and misery.
Men plan suburban communities
where they can get away from the
smoke of the city, and then they pollute
the air of their home acres with stinking
bonfires.
They ferveptly seek ways to end wars
and then invent atomic bombs which
make more wars certain.
Perhaps 1t is no wonder that the
birds and beasts feel, in some strange
way, the wash from all this contradic-
tion.
And gentle things, such as bluebirds
feel it most Of all, and suffer the most
1t will not do to say that the decline
of these beautiful songsters is due
entirely to natural conditions Storms
have killed many of them. English spar
rows and starlings drive them away
from nesting sites.
Hard winters tend to prevent them
from getting food Building operations
by doing away with saplings and the
like, and overgrown bushy places, make
conditions inimical for them.
Everything seems to conspire with the
gentle quality of this bird to drive then
away from the haunts of men, Probably
they will be better for 1t. During thl
past decade there is little that man ha.
been able to give the birds and tn,
beasts. II there Is any overflow o.
spirit, one from the other, the farther
the furred and feathered creatures e,
from us, the better.
Despite our plain evils, most Of tn,
birds are hardy enough to stick to us
| Some of them, including the woos
thrush, come nearer every year. Ma,
there not be hope In this, for US, If no
for them? It may be that some da,
mankind win learn the lesson which al
beauty, whether on wings or feet, /
trying SO hard to teach. When that da,
arrives, the gentle bluebird, long tn
symbol Of happiness, will come into 1t
own again: and the robins no ionge
| viii eat all the dogwood berries onl
| some Of them.