Evening star., 1946-06-10
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce1Uell.
ARLINGTON, VA.

ARLINGTON, VA.
Dear Sir:
What can I do to prevent our birds
from dropping suet on the roof?
ours is a composition roof and the
blobs of suet, melted in the hot sun,
will not come off
I'VE have SO many birds, and every
one in the family likes them. that I
hate to give up feeding, even in sum-
mer, because it brings so many more
species, and we have had trouble getting
so many other foods
IF you know any solution of this prob
lem. let me know, as am sure it will
interest others, too.
very truly yours, Mr.. McC."
The best solution. in regard to birds,
| is the simplest solution.
| Much the same can be said of gram
mar and good manners. After all,
grammar is simply the common sense
way of using words, and mostly this is
|. the simplest.
. Etiquette, as some call it, is the
common sense way of acting, and usu-
ally it is the simplest, too
The solution of the problem of birds
dropping pieces of suet on a roof is
simple:
Stop putting out suet! Nothing could
be- easier. 1t is too hot for suet, any,
way. Birds do not need such heating
food at this time of year, even though
they eat it,
Our correspondent does not say, but
we imagine that suet cakes are meant,
manufactured cakes in which have been
lmbedded various grain, seeds, etc.
TI,a irIc toll
these seeds and adhering bits of suet
to roof where they hammer open the
shell, and the suet is spread around
and speedily melts. These blobs refuse
to go away, even after the heaviest
rains. 1t may be some consolation to
the roof owner that such fat is water
prooflng, although they do not look,
very nice, giving the appearance of
ably in time they will disappear, espe-
cially if a summer shower comes up
after hot afternoon
People worry about their roofs Peo-
pie worry about everything. Why should
| they? Because they cannot help it!
Well-meaning persons often say, why
worry? If it doesn't happen, the worry
will all have been in vain; and if it
does, the worry won't have prevented
it; so why worry?" All this is true, but
it still doesn't get at the base of worry,
which is, basically, inheritance. This
aspect has been overlooked by the
optimism boys
People worry over so many things,
they ought to look to the birds, which
worry over nothing. Or do they? Worry
| is a part of life. To listen to some,
| you might think it had nothing to
do with living, but it is in every CELL
Probably cells have their worries. Worry
is simply thought in another form
There is no harm to worrying if it is
"in the blood" that is comes naturally
1t is only bad when one is poor
worrier!
Watching the birds will tend to take
| the mind off worry, and then it is
| easy to see that maybe the birds do
not worry, in the strict human sense,
but that they often make mistakes and
| commit blunders, just as we do.
Fhey fly into the sides of houses and
| stun themselves, or even kill them
selves. They fly into great lights, and
| die
They get tangled in honeysuckle vines
! and sometimes starve to death while
hanging upside down. They entwine
themselves in long lengths of wool
which well-meaning persons put out
for them. No nesting material should
be more than four inches long,
| Birds have plenty of brains, there is
no reason why they cannot worry. One
may suspect that super-happy persons
who do not worry DO not have enough
intelligence to do SO. 1t takes brains
to worry!
Birds use their little heads very we'll.
The other day catbird flew to the
rhododendrons by the dining room win
doWs, and there set up an awful squawl-
ing. He wanted raisins. When the
figure by the window arose the catbird
flew across the yard to the hlacs, where
he waited patiently until raisins were
thrown out onto the lawn. Then he
flew down to eat We recommend raisins
as far better for summer food than
Suet. Ask the catbirds.