Evening star., 1945-09-04
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce,peH
SILVER SPRING, Md.

Dear Sir.
Tuesday afternoon about 4:30 o'clock
I saw a bird in tall oak in the yard
next door. $50. e.--
IT haven't been able to ind his pic
ture or description in any OF our bird
books.
He was very yellow with black wings
greenish head and neck and bright red
dots down the middle of his breast.
II couldn't see any white on him.
watched him through the field glasses
for about half an hour.
HE wasn't at all shy. He seemed to
be watching the children and me as
we tried to identify him.
When he few his tail was forked
'I surely would appreciate it If you
would identify this bird for me.
I'VE get a lot of pleasure out of the
birds. During the winter we have six
feeders in different places around the
yard, and in the trees one of the feed
ers is just piece of fireplace wood
with the bark on. We tie large piece
of suet to this log which is about 5
feet off the ground. A red-bellied
woodpecker is a daily visitor.
Can you give me the name of a good
bird book, please?
Sincerely, C. M. s."
Our correspondents bird probably
was male scarlet tanager in one of
the phases of molting.
The elaborate feather changes in
dulged in by this bird were described
here the other day.
He keeps his black wings, however,
after he once gets them, and this would
seem to prove his identity.
The only other bird which might pos
sibly come within our correspondents
description is the yellow warbler, a tiny
fellow, who shows a series of red dots,
making lines along his breast, running,
up and down.
The yellow warbler is a fairly COM
mon summer resident, being more seen
in the city and suburbs than in the
woods.
He is very small, being but Ats inches
long, never exceeding SIS inches.
BRADBURY PARK, Md.
Dear Sir:
I'm your column recently you pub
Gshed letter from H. v. r. in regard
to the treatment of eczema among cats
Your correspondent described his sue
cess with carbolated vaseline in treat
ing dog afflicted with eczema, and,
with the best intentions in the world,
no doubt, suggested similar treatment
might be equally eff1cacious with cats.
There could have been no worse ad-
vice! I write this letter in the hope
OF saving some cat from such minis
trations.
Amy phenol compound (carbolic acid,
lysol, creosote, etc. or anything con-
tanning phenol such as carbolated salves
or vaseline is extremely irritating to the
skin of all members of the feline tribe
from tigers to house cats and should
never be used on these animals.
THE best that could happen would be
intense irritation and pain for the I'M
fortunate animal so treated; applied
over the entire body surface as your
correspondent described the treatment
of his dog might well result in agonizing
death for a cat.
In the same issue of your column an
other correspondent who frankly adj
mltted he hated cats pontifcally pro-
nounced that eczema was caused by
eating too much meat and brashly ad-
vised that cats so afflicted should be
put on meatless diet. There are no
animals more carnivorous than cats.
which means that meat and very little
else is their natural diet. 1 have raised
>cats for Is years and my advice to cat
owners is to feed their pets raw meat;
the fresh frozen horse meat is excel
lent when thawed and warmed to room
temperature. For variety this staple
diet can be supplemented by eggs beaten
in milk, fish, liver and kidney. A half
teaspoon of irradiated yeast and two
drops Of viosterol can be mixed with the
food, especially in the winter months.
feed my cats once day.
Sincerely, r. O."