Evening star., 1946-10-18
This and That
By Charles E. Tracepel.
BETHESDA, Md.

BETHESDA, MD.
Dear Sir:
"Is autumn a good time to begin to
feed the birds?
IT am going to do this as sort Of
chore, because regard birds as pests
but I have been so intrigued by read
ing your praise of them I think it is
high time to give them a trial.
-I will look forward to a change Of
heart, but I don't want to pose before
you as one who likes birds, for I hate
the pesky little devils.
II don't give them leg to stand on,
but I guess I must be wrong, II can
believe all the people who seem to like
them.
II figure I must be missing some
thing, so I am going to give the thing
a trial, and want to know just what
to do and how and when to do it, and
I figure you are the one to tell me.
Yours truly-D. x. Mel"
So the guy doesn't like birds. ehs
Well, just wait until chickadee winds
itself into his heart!
We are figuring on the chickadee to
do it.
If there is any bird to win over bird
hater-or one who thinks he dislikes
birds-it is this little one.
Therefore, we advise this honest cor
respondent to set up a small feeding
station, the smaller the better, close to
q favorite window.
The station is best put on a stake, or
otherwise so fixed that it comes just
about eye level when he is seated COM
fortably at his window
Let the window be draped with tie
back curtains; we believe that is what
they are called.
The idea is to have something in the
curtain line which will pot block the
view, but which will give the birds a
feeling of not being too close to the
watcher.
There is no better time to start this
work than now, especially at the first
touch of frost.
Then the birds which stay here begin
to look around for easy-come food.
Do not be too impatient.
Perhaps our correspondents dislike
will aid him in this, since he will not
be too eager for the birds to arrive.
Then one morning, as he is Crouch
ing over starlings or sparrows, he may
see tiny fellow with black cap.
This will be the chickadee, commonly
called the cheerful chickadee, though
why we do not know. He is no more
cheerful, we feel, than happy English
sparrow, or song sparrow, or tit
mouse, or white breasted nuthatch, or
that magnificent drummer boy, the red
bellied woodpecker.
Well, there is our bird hater and
there is the chickadee, and if the for
mer will watch the latter for at least
one minute we feel sure that his dis
like for bird life will begin to change
right then and there.
In time, it will change into fascina-
tion.
There is no other end to this story
possible. Birds have been fascinating
human beings for centuries. 1t is only
question of giving them the chance.
Ordinarily, too many persons go along
through life without giving the birds
any chance at all. They are SO busy,
what with daily work, and standing in
line for food-remember when America
was called the land of plenty?'-that
such little creatures as birds do not
seem to amount to anything at all.
Give them chance, though, and
they will win your heart and mind,
especially in the cold, they are so cheer
full and brave, so uncomplaining in a
world of bitter complaint. They have
many good lessons for those who will
watch them. but utterly aside from
that, they are moving pictures at ones
very own window, moving pictures mo-
tiyated by carbohydrates, supreme ex-
ample Of metabolism In . world given
over to c1issedness,