Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-22
This and That
Bu Charles E. Trace,peU

By Charles E. Trdceuel
Strange animals, strange birds in your
YARD?
They may be creatures brought home
by men who served in the Pacific.
Unusual birds, OF course, might be
Gagged ones which got out overnight.
The four legged ones are in a differ
ent category. These il nothing like
you ever have seen or heard of before,
mostly are strange pets of ex-service-
men.
II living near hospitals or health
stations OF various sorts. where expert
mental animals are used in work Oil
various diseases, you should be extra
cautious in welcoming an unusual ami
NAL.
Some of these experimental animals
are odd to degree. Hamsters, Asiatic
pouched rodents, are used in work on
various types of maladies.
These somewhat resemble guinea pigs,
but are different, too, so much that
any one would note their oddly.
NO one should fool with an expert
mental animal on the loose, but should
contact the institution, and try to find
out If any OF the animals are missing.
There is no telling what strains of
disease may have been planted in the
poor beasts.
All such animals are known to their
keepers in an extra sense, that is, the
exact number in each experiment, so
that not even one could be missing
without their keepers knowing it.
We should state, perhaps, that there
Is very little chance of such animals
getting lose, so no one need worry, but
it does happen occasionally.
Any unusual creature, animal or bird,
may be some CTS pet, brought back
from strange Land.
Especially this may hold true of birds
Pigeon fanciers are likely to lose speci-
mems, and these, when noticed in
small garden, will cause wonder.
What bird is that?" asks some men,
Der of the bird-conscious family.
1t may resemble turtle dove-but
with difference.
Pigeons and doves belong to the
same family. and much resemble each
other, except that in the main the
pigeons are somewhat larger.
Some of the fancier sorts, however,
are no larger than a good fat dove.
The only dove native to this area
is the turtle or mourning dove. This
is maryelously like the extinct pas
senger pigeon, except it is much smaller
than were the members OF that mis-
treated species.
Under the term of unusual ami
mails" must come certain dogs and
cats, too
Certainly nothing could be more odd
than a long-legged cat with stripes
which make him resemble python
When he opens his mouth to meow
he achieves a masterpiece of ugliness,
yet few Of his breed are more kindly
disposed. Like some humans, his ugli-
ness is all on the surface. Under
meath he has a kindly spirit which seeks
>peither birds nor other prey.
Dogs, too, offer the unusual. Every
garden has its canine visitors, some
times in groups, sometimes one by one
The careful eye will see, appraise and
marvel at the differences in them There
are breeds for all purposes as every one
knows, but beyond that nature some
times achieves the difference by no more
than the cock of an ear.
Ears in dogs are even more expressive
than tails, though the wagging of the
latter is as distinctive as the more sedate
tail waving of cats.
All these little differences escape care
less and Indifferent observers. 1t is easy
not to see them Sometimes even the
friend of animals fails to grasp them
because OF mind occupied at the time
Of looking. Let us learn to look care
fully ii we want to see some OF the
wonders in 4 world where, rs Mark
Twain said, man is the only animal that
knows how to blush-or needs to.