Evening star., 1946-05-28
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce,Dell.
"EVARTS STREET NE.

Dear sir:
Your column first attracted me when
1t was down in the lower corner devoted
to the doings of a certain gray cat.
Quite some time ago, eh? Editors
note: % years.
Il have been a bird fan since a boy
OF on the farm when I had to walk
in the grass ahead of the moving
machine to help save the quail from
injury.
Look out for and pick up all old kite
strings. These are the ones that en-
tangle the birds. Editors note: Any
length of twine or yarn more than
4 inches long may entangle birds.)
Two 'don'ts' on wren houses Use
no sticky or smelly resinous pine, and
don't expect them to use house in
dark shady north exposure.
For safe, fence-post-high bluebird
houses, plant a circle of dewberries
around the post. They are good bird
and man food, and keep cats, squirrels
and possums of the post
"A band of tin around the post is
a further safety aid
Plant your own sunflowers. Almost
any one has room for few. They grow
almost anywhere. They must be cov-
cred with cheesecloth from the milk
stage until picked, to keep the starlines
from destroying them.
Birds found with stab wounds are
those which have been attacked by
hawks.
These victims will be hysterical with
fright sometimes. They will carry the
head bent back, with the beak pointing
straight up, also will f1utter into water
and drown themselves.
They can be saved if placed in a
cool quiet place with food and shallow
water and left alone
There are the fellows who have been
rescued by other birds rushing the
hawk while he is encountered with the
bird in his talons and releases the
victim to protect his eyes.
This happens regularly with many
combinations of birds, not merely laws
and starlings. If the sick bird will not
bend his head down, water him with
a dropper. He will eat when he needs
food if he gets over the hysteria.
Il can tell why people do such things
as pull OIL the heads of several hun
dred starlings. The English sparrow.
barnyard pigeon and startling are in
many places severe hazards to food pro-
ductlon, by carrying disease and vermin
to dairy and from farm to farm. The
pigeon has caused millions of damage
by spreading hog cholera. The other
two. no great deal less with spreading
chicken diseases. In poultry -growine
districts the English sparrow is wiped
out in localities where chicken disease
or lice become epidemic.
This is from the finding of State
experts, and should offend city bird
fans no more than the curbing of
human criminals and wasters.
1T is economics and not hate which
compels the doing away with such
birds.
Sincerely, A. c. w."
X
one sometimes may wonder as to the
validity of the findings of men of
science.
Recently we read an item in which
some doctor" had discovered" that
vitamin B-1, or thiamin, will keep faeas
and mosquitoes from biting peopl.
The writer here had taken thousands
OF units of thiamin daily for years, and
still had been bitten severely every wear
by both forms of insects
In other words, we believe the find
ing of the scientist to be the purest
hokum.
We wonder how many of the find
mgs OF science are similarly unre-
liable, especially when they have to do
with what birds and animals are SUD-
posed to do to man. Some wild-eyed
fanatic claims something against them,
and Immediately thousands of sadistic-
ally inclined persons seize upon it, but
IN q few years they are all shown to
be wrong.