Evening star., 1946-09-12
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1UeU.
MOUNT RAINIER, Nd.

Dear Sir:
This morning I saw bird in my gar
den that I cannot identify. It was flying
about in low hawthorne bush occa-
Slonally still, so that / was able to see
its coloration quite well, and once it
even flew straight past me in chase after
an insect. 1t made no sound, and |
think it may be some sort of warbler
1T had an olive-gray back a white
line through or over the eye, distinct
yellow bar on the wings and two yell
low stripes in the tail. It's breast was
yellowish with shadings of rosy yellows
just below the wings. When it few and
spread its tail. the yellow color became
very prominent. AS the bird few swiftly
see flash of bright yellow
Looking through the pocket bird
guioe Tor possible Identification, the
only bird that had some resemblance
in the yellow color in the wings and
tail was the female, or possibly the
immature redstart.
"As a child in New England. I re-
member seeing redstarts in the spring
of the year, flying about the apple
trees in bloom. but it seems l only
noticed the brilliant orange and black
males.
Yours truly, V. l. S."
RedStarts might be called motion
birds, for they are perpetually on the
wing. especially the male, who seemingly
never rests except in sleep.
The spread tail and half-opened wings
are almost a sign of the bird.
They are familiar in the shade trees
OF Washington, perhaps more so 20 years
ago than today.
1t is mostly the females which are
seen hereabouts.
One might think the name redstart
came from these flying antics, if so they
may be called, but it really comes from
an old name for tail, "stert," and is a
simple corruption of 'redstert.'
The fact that our correspondents bird
did not sing even slightly points to the
redstart. Even during the mating sea-
son the song is infrequent and not much
to hear.
Common names of our songbirds are
full of everyday interest.
The flicker is so named because he
"f1icks" or waves up and down as he flies.
The thrasher gets his name on account
of the way he fails his tail around
Woodpecker and sap-sucker are OBJ
vious.
The chat is so named because of his
chatter.
The catbird gets his everyday monicker
from his rather good imitation of a cat IS
meow, or NEW.
This is a good month to look for
warblers. About 80 different species come
through Washington during September
on their way back to the South
WarDlers band together for these
fights, often as many as 40 species
being in one group, but they seldom
will be seen together except in the air
On landing in suburban community
they spread out among the shrubbery
and trees.
A few, such as the redstart, like best
of all bushes near a house, and SO may
be seen low down. But most of the
warblers dart from bush to bush high
up, and especially high in trees, so
that seeing them is difficult.
1t is best to be satisfied with admira =
ton. in viewing member of the war
bier group. Their Identification is diff
cult, even for the expert, and by expert
we mean trained ornithologist, with
years of active field experience. For the
average bird lover it is impossible. But
that really makes no difference. A
warbler is just as beautiful, just as
interesting, no matter whether you
know its name or not. After all, know
ledge has its drawbacks, as witness the
atomic bomb. Let us make an effort not
to know too much! The honest and the
contrite heart after all may be the
salvation of the race.