Evening star., 1946-04-30
This and That
By Charles E. Traceuell.
ARLINGTON. Va.

DARLINGTON, Va.
Il am sometimes inclined to lose faith
in the birds.
After feeding and caring all winter,
one would think they would repay with
little service in spring
But no.
There are those ugly voracious tent
caterpillars spreading over our fine big
apple tree and not one of these worm
eaters is making any effort to stop them.
However, am in hopes that our good
friends the catbirds will soon be here.
There is one pert little hustler.
Always tailored up to the minute and
on the job.
Il am quite sure this bird DESTROYS
these tree pests. Meanwhile, l don't see
why these worms couldn't be used for
feeding these nestlings that are coming
On.
What do you think? Always inter-
ested in your useful column, I am
Sincerely, E. L. W."
We saw our first catbird of the season
on April %.
He was just as fine sight as our cor
respondent says.
This, truly, is one of the princes of the
bird world.
He is, too good caterpillar eater.
Investigation has proved that about A
per cent of this birds food is insect and
56 per cent vegetable food.
In the first division come ants, cater
pillars, beetles, gfasshoppers and spiders
Cultivated and wild fruit are a part of
the vegetable matter taken. While there
has been some complaint against this
bird, it is probable that most of the
strawberries, raspberries and blackber-
ries eaten are from wild vines. If a
farmer complains, he should plant some
wild vines, which all birds prefer This
will keep them off his fruits. They also
like the Russian mulberry.
1t was queer thing, in our neighbor-
hood, that although we have as many as
half dozen mockingbirds, there was no
night singing until the catbirds first
+ night, and then we heard some beautiful
music.
Could it have been the catbird?
Not all bird lovers realize that the
catbird is fine musician. There are
even some who prefer his singing to that
OF the more famous mocker.
The catbird, as one might judge from
his appearance, has a sense of humor
He uses many animal and bird sounds,
including that of the bullfrog and the
cat-from which he gets his common
name-and such songs as that of the
wood thrush and the whip-poor-
With these he twines in measures of
his own invention, so that many listen
ers have no doubt in the world that they
are listening to the mockingbird.
The mocker and thrasher are usually
given first rank, as singers, because they
use only minimum of harsher tones.
We believe that the catbird, possessed
OF true sense of humor, uses discordant
effects much as a master musician might,
to make the sweetsr portions even more
sweet, by comparison.
Tent caterpillars will be eaten by many
BIRDS once the ugly things are crawling
around Few species tear into the
tents
The best way to handle these cater
pillars is to hire somebody who is not
afraid of climbing and to let him collect
and throw down all the nests, then
gather them together and burn them.
This is much better and safer way than
trying to burn them in the trees
We must not expect our birds to do too
much, before our very eyes, in the way of
insect destruction. The legions of the
insects are many and the birds of the
air are getting fewer each year. They
may not be able to repay us perfectly,
but they do make tremendous inroads.
If it were not for the overall destruction
by the birds, the hosts of the insects long
ago would have taken over the world.
Which, when you stop to think of it,
might not have been bad thing, after
all.