Evening star., 1946-10-12
This and That
Bu ChnrIes T. Trnce,peu

oY CNuTIGS e. ITuCELDEu.
II ever a bird swears. 1t is a titmouse
when he sees cat.
Friend and confidant of the chick
adee. the titmouse Che with the crest)
Is small but confident.
Along with the blue jay. he Is not
above scolding a wandering cat for
daring to enter his yard, especially If
there is bird feeder in operation.
The other morning we heard this
scolding noise, quite distinctive, espe-
cially from such small bird, and went
to look out.
There was Mr.. T. Mouse, parked in a
rhododendron, while a few feet below
him stood Leggy, the tiger cat.
= Now Leggy is good cat, when it
comes to birds.
Ordinarily he pays no attention to
them whatever. He has other fish to
fry. He prefers squirrels as prey, thank
you.
Squirrels long ago learned to look out
for Legs, so named on account of his
inordinately long members
But birds do not need to fear him.
That was why the cursing titmouse
was bit out of order.
He had nothing to fear from the cat.
In fact, Leggy had not even noticed
him until he began to make such
noise.
Then the cat looked UP with his big
green eyes filled with questioning.
Now what is the matter with himq"
You could practically hear him ask it.
X M
The titmouse is one OF the best birds
we have.
His name means little mouse, a sort
of affectionate labelling to which the
folks of yesteryear were much given.
Actually, the titmouse looks no more
particularly like mouse than any other
bird.
He is always on the 60. usually with
his pal, the chickadee, who wears neat
cap of black.
Both birds tend to fly away to the
woods in the fall, but one may feel sure
that they will come back to we'll
stocked feeding station.
Each bird takes seed and flies away
with 1t to tree, where he places his
seed on branch and cracks it with his
bill.
The titmouse is often seen with the
nuthatch, another beauty which fortu-
nately remains here all winter.
Sometimes there Is red-breasted
nuthatch to be seen, but only as
migrant from farther north.
The white breasted form is the COM
mon one. A specially of this bird is
to walk upside down on tree trunk.
If small feeding station is placed
on trunk, about feet high, the nut
hatch will approach it in devious
manner.
He seldom will fly directly in, but
will alight on the far side of the trunk,
above the station, and then circle around
and down to the seed.
A tree feeding station, best on the
sunny side, but, of course, on the side
nearest to ones favorite window, is
good thing to have in yard, to supple
ment such other feeding places as one
may have established.
Usually small feeder is best, as the
idea is not to attract all the birds, but
only such favorites as the titmouse,
chickadee and nuthatch.
Such a station should be just big
enough for one small bird to stand on
at time. 1t is best, therefore, for our
smallest winter guests. Squirrels,
pigeons, starlings. and even sparrows,
respectfully are asked to stay out.
Whether they will or not is another
question, but at least one may make it
as difiicult as possible for them.
The titmouse Is one OF the most useful
birds we have. He not only attends to
insects and their eggs, but does good
Job ct helping to keep our trees free
from enemies.