Evening star., 1945-06-25
This and That
Bu Charles E. TruceDeH

Birds no less than human beings are
judged by the way they do things.
Take the startling, for instance.
1t Will fly down to point where
raisins have been sprinkled in the
grass, and then set up great squawk
as another startling flies down.
The two of them will snatch at raisins,
so that the observer thinks they are
devouring great many. i.
Close count, however shows that each
bird got no more than two.
Now down flies a robin
He eats four raisinS, twice as MANY
as the starlings got apiece, but does it
SO calmly that an observer does not
accuse him of greediness
Yet the fact is that he gets twice as
much!
Such differences of action may be
seen further in the following incident.
Two wood thrushes alighted on an
arch at the same time, one at one
end and one at the other
They made a pretty picture, which
suddenly was given accent by a robin
flying down between them, to stand on
the exact center of the arch.
This made the picture dramatic
AL eiiiCC I'LL Co lOOheQ QOWH at a
small white and black cat, which, by
the way, was paying no attention to
any of them.
The birds wanted him to 60 away,
however, and so began to scold.
The cries of the robin were harsh
but the two wood thrushes contented
themselves with mild soft cries, as
might have been expected from such
fine birds
A robin is good bird, but not
exactly in the same way that wood
thrush is. We expect heartier actions
from a robin than from thrush, and
usually are not disappointed The
thrush somehow reminds an observer
of the old-fashioned ideas of LADY,
and gentleman"
Such diverse traits as these, we are
reminded, may be seen in human beings
any day by the simple expedient of
visiting grocery store!
That is true.
Birds and humans are basically much
the same in such differences.
One is mild, another aggressive. A
third is noisy and fourth quiet.
One of the happinesses in life for
some persons is to observe these diff
| ferences in humans, with attention to
the comic aspects.
Thus such an observer never grows
angry at what he sees or hears, but
regards it all as a part of show.
1t is much the same with the birds
in the yard. If one puts out food
| for them, and grows angry because an
English sparrow or startling is hungry,
| too, then he is missing part of the show
which he is watching.
He is like visitor to the circus,
who becomes so enamored with the
clowns that he does not want to see
the elephants in the next ring.
X X
Diversity is one of the appeals of
the circus, and likewise of the bird
circus in the garden, especially if the
spectator has paid his price of ad-
mission by putting out food
To ask that all the actors take the
same roles, and act in the same way,
is to ask the impossible.
Such a request is inadmissible,
really.
The squirrel has as much right to
come for sunflower seed as thrush,
as much as one may prefer the bird.
These very differences are part of
the show, and the spectator has no
right to censor one because he likes
another more. The listener at a sym
phony concert would have as little right
to reject the notes Of the bass VOL
because he preferred the violin. All
the notes together make the symnhony.
not 5uge . part e them.