Evening star., 1946-01-26
This and That
By Charles E. TraceDeu

"FORTY-FOURTH STREET,
Dear Sir:
When do the cardinals begin to sing
in earnest?
Its famous cheering song I have
waited Tor many months, but still have
TO hear it. To me it is the best and
most beautiful of all bird songs.
know the robins lay, and the sweet
song OF the true bluebird; l am fami-
liar with the nasal call of the nut
hatch, and thrill to the wood thrush's
song in summer.
But down in my heart the cardinal
makes the best music of them all,
hsten to the rest, yes, even to the
celebrated mockingbird, with interest,
but not until I hear that wild call of
our redbird am I satisfied.
when will he really sing?
The other day my heart went pit
a-pat, when I thought I heard him.
but it was a false alarm,
When will he sing?"
Yours, M. M"
BY this time, the cardinal may be
singing.
And then again he may not!
Redblrds often sing late in January.
and usually all of them start I'D in
February.
There is no telling just when any in
dividual bird may sing, except that
spring has a way of making them all
tune up.
And spring, as most persons know,
often begins to arrive long before the
calendar announces it.
1t heaves into sight little by little,
here bit and there bit, now with
CLINT Of real green in the lawn, now with
certain 'feep' in the air.
Many persons, those who take a real
interest in nature, claim that they can
actually smell spring long days before
it arrives.
This is not as preposterous as it may
sound to some persons whose lives
have not been particularly concerned
with knowing and understanding the
winds and the tides, the clouds and
the waves, the four footed children of
earth and the two-legged offspring of
the air.
The nature lover really has ways of
his own to detect the coming of an
early spring. He has watched and been
interested so long that it is easy for
him to apprehend the first changes be-
fore those changes are apparent to the
casual eye.
The casual eye, by the way, is not
especially trustworthy. The experienced
eye, in all fields, is what is necessary.
Even when the experienced person
points out something, the inexperienced
often cannot see it at first
There is small aquarium fish called
x-,s lit y, L.,
nest composed of bubbles. The eggs
hatch, and the fry swim out, only a
few inches from the bubble nest
The person unacquainted with such
small creatures mostly fails to see them
in the water, they are so small and so
silvery. Often he will claim to see
them, but it is plain that he thinks it
the thing to do. Actually, from his
tone, and the movement of his eyes,
he does not see them at ALL
Sometimes such person will stand
for 10 minutes, looking hopefully at
the bubble nest, which he can see very
plainly, trying his best to catch a
sight of the fry.
Then, all of a sudden, he will gasp,
and cry, Il see them-I see them" 1t
is plain, now, from the excitement in
MS voice, tnat ne really sees them at
last.
Perhaps, it is not too much to expect
certain persons to recognize the approach
of spring long before many others.
The cardinals real song, when 1t
comes is a sure-fire song which no one
can miss.
Even now it is possible, now and then,
to see two male cardinals fighting.
That, too, is sort of sign Of spring.
Another token, sooner or later, will be
what many folks call kissing" by pair
Of cardinals. They see the male approach
his bill to that of the female, and they
call 1t kissing, as it seems, but actually it
is feeding. The male has choice seed,
and he gives it to his mate. This is
really tremendous act for him, because
ordinarily he runs her away from feed
ing tray until he, her lord and master,
has eaten.