Evening star., 1945-10-13
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce,1eH.
CHEVY CHASE, Nd.

Dear Sir:
Your account of the possum that
came into the yard prompts me to write
you about an equally unusual visitor to
my own back yard recently. It's small
yard almost completely screened from
outside view by building and shrubbery.
Last Sunday evening, while eating
lunch on the screened back porch that
overlooks it, a movement in the approx
imately l0-by-20 plot caught my eye,
and, looking up, saw to my astonish-
ment the first woodcock had seen In 80
or 40 years diligently prodding the
ground in search of food.
He did not seem the least bit nerv-
Gus or watchful. called my wife from
inside the house, and she came and
stood in the kitchen door to watch.
passed in and out Of the kitchen several
times, and If he had looked up he could
have seen us.
THE center of the grass plot seemed
to be good hunting and he explored
every inch of territory probably
three or four feet square.
After that he Systematically tried
out every spot in the whole back yard
that looked promising to him. In all
watched him fully 30 minutes at dis
tance no time more than 10 to IS feet
away.
His action mentally compared with
that of a soldier using a mine detector
to clear the road through a minefield.
AT every step he would push his long
bill down through the grass to contact
the ground, and every few such move
ments were followed by thrusts into the
ground for the food he had discovered
How did he do it? BY hearing or by
smell? Had he probably just come from
the nearby Rock Creek Park, or was he
migrating?
Yours sincerely. j. A. E."
y " X
ARLINGTON, Va.
Dear Sir:
Il read your article about the possum
that died. 1t seems that he did not play
dead this time. 1t brought to mind that
I caught two, or the same one twice, in
catch-em-alive rat trap about three
years ago. As an introduction to the
subject, let me tell you about the trap.
From time to time in the past few
years rats would appear around the
premises. found they were wary of the
ordinary snap trap at times, and even if
one was caught the smear of blood
would have to be scrubbed of and the
trap hung in the sun to dry, otherwise
the rodents would stay away from it
when set again.
Another I tried was with the trip
or depressing pedal or tread, but they
refused to enter. So I designed and
made a trap that would catch them
alive. 1t worked, and 1 caught from
three to five, and even seven, one after
the other. drowned them ia a galvan-
lied wash tub. There would be intervals
OF months when none was about the
place.
We'll, I set this trap under the back
porch. One afternoon, very cold and
damp, I saw bunch of curled-up fur
in the trap and knew at once that it
was something other than a rat. The
trap had been bated with a piece of
ham rind, which attracted a young pos
sum. showed him to the children of
the neighborhood, and elders, too, and
finally let him go at the foot of the
yard near pitch of woods.
About 10 days later caught another.
little larger than the first, possibly
the first who had grown larger in the
meantime, or another of the same fam
lily. This Second one nearly filled the
cagelike trap. I also let him 70 In =
large patch Of woods not far from Fort
Myer
II inquired of a friend If he knew
there were opossums in the woods near
where he lived, remarking that in all
the years had lived and tramped
through the woods had never seen one.
He replied yes, that he knew they were
there, but the reason / had not seen
them was that they rarely ventured out
in the daytime. 1t seems they hide in
brush piles, hollow logs or under cul-
verts and like places.
Very truly yours, C H. S."
X X
Woodcocks usually begin to feed in the
evening. Their eyes are placed far back
in the head, so they cannot look forward
and behind at the same time. Angle
worms and insects form large part of
this birds diet, with the accent on the
former. He uses both hearing and sight
in catching his dinner, mostly the
former. Woodcocks migrate IN October.