Evening star., 1946-03-25
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trdce1DeU.

FAIRFAX, Va.
Dear Sir:
THE robins are on the lawn other
birds are singing, and frogs are croak-
ing. A pair of doves are on a tree bough.
II, like your correspondent, love doves.
1t is pity they are still gamebirds.
They are so gentle. AS a rule, there
are so many on the lawn, they remind
me of my old home in Southern Mary
land.
"As a child, remember the stories I
was told from the Bible-tl1e dove
from the Ark and our Lord casting
out of the temple those who were selling
them.
They should be protected, as the
robin is
You are absolutely right about the
bird grapevine. Some weeks ago,
startling came questing. and later there
was an invasion, scattering the birds,
even my fighter mocker.
They finally congregated in tree.
about 100 of them, and held a choral
service.
II do not agree with you that they
are clever. For three seasons a pair
has nested in the gutter over the down
pipes. The nest is destroyed by heav'
rains, and again and again they rebuild
in the same place.
This early, they are investigating the
gutter, and trying to knock off the cage
protecting the down pipe.
by the way, what kind of bird is the
grosbeak, which you say Is visitor
from the West?
".The other morning, about 8 o'clock,
after drinking my coffee tthe strongest
drink take, so wasn't seeing things
I was looking out the window, and a
silver fish, seemingly was skimming
over the lawn, about feet off the
ground.
'I could not detect wings, but it was
about foot long-not hawk or any
thing have ever seen before.
II could imagine myself ON the road
to Mandalay, where the flying fishes
play Can you tell me if any such
strange bird is visiting us from the
East?
Sincerely, S. T."
Starlings are clever birds, despite such
nesting habits as instanced. All birds
do this sort of thing. Some Of them
go right ahead making nest which
once was placed in position where it
was not conspicuous, but which is now
on material where it shows up too clear
ly They make the nest, just the same.
Other species continue to nest in
bushes too low, so that marauding ami
mails are able to get at the nestlings
when they leave for food.
Some species, notably some of the
warblers, accept cowbird's egg, and
bring up the larger babies, without
remonstrance. There are other warblers
who resist. and who build a second, even
third or fourth nest over the original
one
1t may be seen that cleverness, in the
human sense. is something else again.
The birds are creatures of great an
tiquity, and some of the things they
hang onto are not good, from the strict
modern standpoint, and especially from
the human standpoint.
The starting shows his innate in
telligence in many of his daily acts.
One of these is the perfectly co-ordi-
mated flying with his fellows. Another is
the way in which he notifies the band
where there is food. Another is the
manner in which he has built up wholly
new migration routes in new country.
In most of the practical considerations
of life, he is extremely clever, despite
deviations, now and then.
Certainly he shows great intelligence
in his selection of roosting sites on the
ledges of heated Government buildings.
We wonder if our correspondents
strange bird" could have been model
airplane, set going by some small boy
possessed of the investigative% Spirit.
AS for the evening grosbeak, it is a
black and gold bird which ordinarily does
not come to this section of the country.
It appeared here in some numbers in
1911, and in 1916. 1t is a member Of
the finch family. Other birds in the
group are called buntings, sparrows and
fnchea