Evening star., 1946-05-27
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUeH.
ARLINGTON. Va

Dear Sir:
Some time ago You published letter
commenting on the number of birds rea-
sonably expected to nest in given area,
ETC., and in view of the opinions ex-
pressed in your column from time to
time on the subject, I had begun to Won
der whether too many of the feathered
tribe had taken up residence at my place.
Il have never attempted any census
Of the number of pairs nesting on our
grounds, but usually there are four or
five robin nests, one to three pairs of
wrens, two or more Of catbirds, one pair
of cardinals (built two nests last YEAR,
several pairs of song sparrows, two pairs
of doves casually raise two broods in the
same nesU, several pairs of grackles and
about two dozen pairs Of English SPAR
rows on plot somewhat less than an
acre.
II ana a consistent reader of your COL
umn and I want to commend you not
only for the excellence of the feature as
a source of entertaining and informative
material, but also for evidence that your
daily articles have done more to stimu-
late interest in bird life conservation In
this section than all the other mediums
combined.
VERY truly yours, S. A. G."
Mr.. G. incloses information showing
that some 80 pairs of birds nested in "150
feet of space
We do not doubt this.
But since we write mainly for city
and suburban dwellers, we always try
to tell of conditions applicable to such
locations.
A few birds per yard will come nearer
the truth for such places. in most cases.
There are, of course, exceptions, such
as our correspondents own yard.
The more the merrier, but let no read
er feel disappointed, if his own take
of bird nests to be counted falls far less
than 80 or 40 or even 10.
So much depends upon the precise
conditions, whether there is much noise,
or many cats and dogs. much playing
going on and other factors which are
difficult to estimate.
BY adopting a state of mind in which
killing seems natural, one may lure more
birds.
This was exemplified in our own ex-
perience by fine old gentleman, who
called on us some time ago to tell us that
every day he had his secretary cut out
and paste this column into a scrapbook
"All, that is," he went on, except the
ones on cats. do not agree with you
on cats"
We knew what was coming, but let
him run on. 1t seemed that he killed all
cats, by paying a man so much money
per head to 90 it for him.
The fact that these cats were beloved
pets and friends of his neighbors made
no difference to him or his hired killer.
In the very next breath he spoke of
who had passed on.
Did she hate cats, too?" we asked.
We thought he flushed.
Then he said, mo, she did not agree
with me on that"
We could picture the gentle woman,
forced to live lifetime with a killer
of her neighpors' pets animals which
she may have loved dearly, but was
afraid to say so.
Yes, many factors enter into a con-
sideration of this question, as all others,
and often the factors are unknown.
In writing Of the children of nature
one must write of them as one sees them
We would rather have cats and dogs
and birds. than just birds alone. We
would rather have fewer birds, if neces-
sary.
Nature is large, she contains multi
tudes, as Walt Whitman put it.
When we try to bind other peoples
ideas by our own, we often attempt the
impossible.