Evening star., 1945-05-23
This and That
By Charles z. TrdceUell
ARLINGTON, Va.

Dear Sir:
L read your column in The Star and
enjoy 1t very much, and have learned
lots about the birds and others.
Two things I would like to know il
you have time to answer.
First, I have feed station (eight
years.. Lots of birds come, especially
the cardinals.
Il would like to know where they
build their nests and how manv times
during the summer do they hatch their
eggs?
Il have been told the male cardinal Is
year old before he has a comb or
topknot
Second, I have squirrel box in
tree near the kitchen window. They
have lived in it all winter three of
them. 1 feed them well and they became
very tame, but now I think they have
some young in the box as they are very
nervous and never get very far away,
and at the slightest noise run in the box.
How many young do they have at
time, and how old will they be before
they come out of the box?
Il see Jenny Wren has arrived. and
her house is up waiting for her.
All summer I save my cantaloupe
seeds for the birds and some of my city
friends do, too, so I have lots for the
winter to mix with the sunfower seed.
In the winter fry the beef suet and
make cake of it with seeds and raisins
and peanuts. We have lots of pretty
birds out here.
Yours truly, M. w. P"
X X
Cardinals build their nests in thckets
or grapevines or low saplings.
The nest is rather carelessly con-
structed of small twigs, pieces of bark,
grass and weed stems, lined with root
lets and horse hairs when the latter can
be found. Modern birds also use the
fluff from vacuum sweeper bags
From two to four eggs are laid. These
are white, green or blush, spotted with
brown, chestnut and purple, mostly
scattered over the entire surface
They have at least two broods
summer, and sometimes three.
1t Is not always realized that this
beauty is really sparrow That is why
1t gets along so nicely at bird feeding
stations with the song sparrows, the
white-throated sparrows, and even the
English sparrows.
The cardinal is not what YOU would
call small bird. and when it comes to
strength, few species of its size have
anything on it.
Recently we rescued full grown
cardinal from cat. The animal had
been sleeping in a flower border, when
the bird flew down right between its
paws. You really could not blame the
cat for reaching out for it. The animal
woke in jump
No sooner had we got the bird out
of the cats paws than the cardinal
turned on us his thick bill, and gave
such mighty pecks that the skin was
bruised. It's struggles were so severe
that it was almost impossible to hold It,
Young male cardinals get their colors
by winter. and have very nice crests by
that time.
Their full color, however, does not
come until their first spring on their
own. They are not as bright in their
first year as in their second and third
summers.
AS for the squirrels, they have from
three to five babies. Usually about
three.
After they are born. the young remain
in the nest for about month, after
which they scamper around in the tree
for another month, usually, before they
come to the ground.
This first trip to earth is an event in
the young squirrels life, and with his
brothers and sisters he makes the most
of it.
Their first venture on the good earth
is rather tentative, but it does not take
them long to get used to it, after which
they are as frisky as their parents. All
the books call our local gray squirrel a
much quieter animal than the red
squirrel. If that is so, the red ones
must BE monkeys. indeed.