Evening star., 1945-06-08
This and That
By Charles Z. TracepeH.
@ STREET S.E.

Dear Sir.
Il feel I must tell you of special
treat We enjoyed two weeks ago A male
rose-breasted grosbeak came to our bird
bath and stayed some time.
We've been in this house four springs,
and each spring we have seen special
bird once. The first year 1t was the
male indigo bunting. Then came the
Baltimore oriole. The third year the
scarlet tanager, and this year the gros-
beak
I've seen for the first time the ruby
crowned kinglet. They have gone now
The black-capped chickadee built
again this spring in the birdhouse, as
they did last year. They don't teach
their young to fly, do they?
Neither year have I seen the babies
One can hear them and then one morn
ing they are gone.
THE robins built in a cherry tree but
the tent caterpillars took over and the
leaves have just recently come out. The
mother robin sat so faithfully on her
nest without any leaves to protect her
from the rain.
Finally, one day I saw her feeding
two babies. But after three DAYS the
mother robin failed to return. The
father came back and looked in the
nest, but did not feed the young. He
looked very bewildered.
Some days later found what looked
like the remains of a bird in the yard
Perhaps it was the mother robin. Cats
sometimes come to our yard. One can
usually tell when there is cat about
as the thrashers make such a racket.
Last fall five bob-whites came and
paraded around one behind the other.
They came two successive days. We've
now seen 80 birds we can Identify around
our house. Now and then see one I
can't tell what 1t is.
May I say how interesting and en-
joyable we find your column?
Sincerely, r. G. W."
Il ~
Male robins, unlike the male song
sparrows, never sit on the eggs.
The mother does 1t all, 80 that when
she fails to return, the eggs are never
hatched
Many things can happen to mother
robins, and then the father bird is left
helpless, and often returns to the nest,
to look ip helplessly.
1t simply is not his nature to do any
thing more
Even after the Matching, he does not
pay much attention to the babies during
the first few days. 1t is almost as If
he were ashamed of them in their semi
naked state. But as soon as the feathers
come out, and the birds begin to re-
semble real robins, the father begins
to take an interest and to start to feed
them.
Even the mother robin Is slow at
brooding, at first, and the father has to
scold her to her duty. Probably he has
observed that female wrens sometimes
peck holes in the eggs Of other birds
left unattended. The wren does this
to lessen the competition for food in
the vicinity. Every egg she can put
out Of business means just another
mouth less in the neighborhood for
which food will have to be gathered.
The less to feed, no matter the species.
the more worms and insects there will
be for her and her young. Thus, al
though from the human standpoint her
actions are not nice, they at least make
sense.
Robin eggs hatch out in 13 days, and
there doesn't seem to be anything un-
lucky about it, for robin babies are Wig
orous and happy, and wear spots on
their breasts, showing that they belong
to the thrush family.
The male robin is one of the most
persistent window fighters. It is be-
heved by most observers, including sci
entists as well as just plain people, that
he sees his reflection and wants to get
at the competitor. Usually he flies at
his image In basement window, and
often makes great nuisance Of himself,
owing to his persistence and early morn
ing hour selected for this sport. In
the old days Of chromium hub caps, blue
jays often pecked at their images in
them. Usually birds, including the
cardinals, will desist after few days
or weeks. There is little danger that
they will harm themselves or the win
dow but If the nuisance becomes too
great. it usually may be stopped by
soaping the outside Of the window, or
hanging few strips Of paper outside.
Occasionally 1t may be necessary to do
this at several windows in succession.
The bird has other things to do. how
ever. and soon will give over the sport
If he Is left alone.