Evening star., 1946-07-04
This and That
By Charles z. TraceUeH.
ALEXANDRIA, Va

Dear Sir:
May We add. our thanks to those of
your many other bird lovers who con-
sistently say, Sometime I must write
The Star and thank them for giving
their readers such wholesome, enjoy
able column as This and That and
then never do?
However, We don't always agree as
to an obvious remedy for a certain situa-
ton, and wild birds and animals can
certainly cause EN-.
"One such case was your answer to a
correspondents query, Why feed birds
in summer?' In this case, it seems to
me, you overlooked the primary reason.
And that is. because it is one of the
soundest investments possible to make
For every raisin the catbirds eat we are
sure that they pay by eating 100 Jap
beetles. For every handful of chickfeed
the cardinals and sparrows eat, they
surely must consume 500 to 1000 beetles.
''It seems as though the sparrows and
StarlingS first ate beetles and the other
birds have learned how to shuck the
hard outer wings and join 'em.
ALSO, for the first time in my life,
have seen the young Of song sparrows,
catbirds, cardinals and flickers, trained
on my home grounds instead of being
taken into deep woods for their formal
debut. And are we delighted? Because
we expect the wood thrush, mocker and
others to follow suit
I'VE have many trees surrounding us
and we. were swamped with the cater
pillars this spring and to our surprise
almost all the birds joined in and
cleaned them up inside of three weeks.
Last year we had the most beautiful
roses all through the summer because
the birds policed the plants And all
for one pound of raisins and one quart
of chick feed a month.
This year we even expect to do better,
as they have taken to policing the althea
and wild grape.
And now, inasmuch as you are the
Mr.. Anthony of bird lovers, we have a
problem of our own.
Seems as if one of our Knockers has
been running around with the whip
poorwills and running his beautiful song
with their interludes
What shall I do about this?
Sincerely, G. B. S.
"P. S.-A filled. clean bird bath is an
absolute necessity right now. Is there
any way you can imprint that on readers
memories?"
This correspondent has summed up
very nicely some of the reasons for
summer feeding.
The more birds you have around, the
more. insects they will consume, even if
you feed them in the bargain
They will not, however rid a yard
of all Japanese beetles, or eat all the
inimical insects.
The owners must still do something.
Our enthusiastic correspondent is per-
haps trifle too enthusiastic
Birds are birds, not supermen They
do the best they can, and eat millions of
insects and other inimical creatures, but
they cannot be expected to end them
all.
In using sprays, therefore, great care
must be taken to use only those which
are known to be harmless to bird life
Too many terrible sprays poison insects
seized by birds.
The insects are still moving when
taken. The poisoned insect in turn
poisons the bird.
True bird lovers will be very careful
therefore, of all garden sprays, espe-
cially those containing DDT.
The need for cleaned and filled bird
baths in hot weather is evident, but
unless some one member of the family
is given this duty, it is likely to be
overlooked.
Another good way of supplying water
for the birds is to put on the hose with
fine spray and direct it at the top OF
large shrub.
Water dripping down through the
leaves makes a favorite shower for
cardinals and others.
As for Knockers initiating whippoor-
wills, 1t cannot be helped. Let this
garden lover be glad his favorite mocker
has not yet heard . buzz-saw!