Evening star., 1946-08-16
This and That
By Charles E. Tr1ceWell
BETHESDA, Md.

BETHESDA, Md.
Dear Sir:
Recently I have been entertained by
two young cardinals. These birds are
olive colored, with faint hints of red
here and there.
They fly into our yard every evening,
at about the same time, and look for
food
II try to supply this, aiming to have
out by the time they come some raisins,
sunflower seed or doughnuts.
Il find that many species like dough-
nuts. 1t Is not necessary to remove the
sugar, although If 1t is too thick-and it
seldom Is any more-I brush most of 1t
off,
"As far as I can determine, these
young cardinals have better sense than
to eat sugar, but how they love the
doughnuts!
These birds are rather on the slen-
der side, and there is something mex
pressibIy callow in their appearance, as
one might expect, for they are only
few weeks old, but are well able to take
care of themselves.
They do not give the impression of
being babies, however but rather high
and going places.
II wonder if you can tell me any other
food they would like.
Sincerely yours, j. H. r."
= n
Ground meat is always acceptable.
Watermelon and canteloupe seed make
hit with most birds.
Moldy bread, with the mold scraped
off and sprinkled with water, makes a
good bird food.
The present season has been excep-
tionauy hard for modern bread.
Whether the new loaf is less resistant
to mold than the old we do not know,
but rather suspect it is. Certainly it is
not as tasty as American bread used
to be.
One of the best ways to preserve bread
from unwelcome growths is to keep 1t in
the refrigerator. 1t should be allowed to
remain in it's wrapper and preferably
all inclosed in paper bag.
In this way no mold will collect in
the usual eating time.
1t Is interesting to note that there are
chemicals which may be added to bread
to make it mold-resistant.
One of these Is a fatty acid used In
modern development of ointment and
powder for the relief of athletes FOOT
1t has been established by experiment
that certain amount Of the pure chem
ical might be eaten every day without
harm, and that therefore the small por-
ton used in loaf of bread would be
entirely harmless to man, yet would cut
down on the tendency of the loaf to
pick up mold.
The malady known as athletes foot"
is caused by molds.
The bird lover will find 1t most in
teresting to watch the development of
young cardinals.
These birds much resemble their
mothers for the first year, but gradually
during the winter begin to take on the
brilliant red dress of the fathers.
For many weeks, however, the birds
are parti-colored, mixture of olive,
soft gray and red tones Often these
tints lack most of the deep coloration
Of the males.
In fact, even after the end of the first
year, many young cardinals vary in their
red coloration. Some of them will be
salmon colored.
1t is possible, in such cases, to be sure
of the different specimens by their
colors It is only during their third sum-
mer that they become solidly and all
over male cardinals, with the beautiful
coat Of feathers red with black at the
head. The crest also becomes larger and
bolder.
Our correspondents list of foods for
these birds Is excellent. Sunf1ower seed
remains the great favorite, winter and
summer. and this fact should lead all
persons with gardens to grow on few
sunfiowers each year. There is little
doubt that birds particularly love to find
them on the stalk, even though they
take them readily enough from paper
bag.