Evening star., 1947-10-23
This and That
By Charles z. TrdceUell
ARLINGTON, Va.

Dear Sir:
1--WE are feeling sad at our house. We had
missed the wood thrush that used to sing in
the spring and which had been present all
summer but hadn't been seen or heard for a
long time But one day recently I found a
thrush dead on the ground beside the house.
"It showed no external signs of injury except
slight streak of red at the edge of the lower
mandibe. I surmised that it had flown against
a large window the second floor:
This was confirmed few days later, ap-
parently, when I discovered another thrush,
after hearing thump on the copper roof of
the bay window. 1t had fallen to the ground
there. The poor thing was dead and showed
the same slight streak of red at the edge of the
bill
80 it is evident that the thrushes can be
around without being observed, as have been
consistently observant for months and had not
noticed any thrush before.
Sincerely yours, H. L. W."
These birds were migrating from the North.
In passing through they became fatigued
from lack of food, and were unable to miss
driving squarely into windows.
When birds are well fed, and not tired from
long flights, they seldom fly directly into win
dows, being warned off by the glitter.
But when fatigaed, as by flights in migra-
ton, they tend to lose the sure control of
their flight mechanism
here have been gone for good time, now
Usually the last of them disappears by Octo-
Der IS, but sometimes it is easy to mistake a
bird which has flown in from farther North
for one that has been around
The incidence Of birds hurt in this way is
not large, but now and then 1t happens in
every garden.
Cardinals sometimes try to turn. the corner
Of the house too quickly.
Or partridge, flying at dusk, slams squarely
into the side of a home.
Usually death Is the result and often no
mark at all shows.
Unless the observer happens to see the acci-
dent, he will wonder what happened to the
bird.
Sometimes the failure is due entirely to lack
of food:
Long flights not only tire the bird but pre-
vent it from getting anything to eat. Then
there is the double result of fatigue added to
the lack of food
Mankind may play with the idea of food
less days" but the wild creatures know that
the sensible thing to do is to eat all one can
whenever one can get 1t, because they know
not what the morrow will brng-if anything.
Wildbirds are birds, not politicians. The
political mind likes to think it knows it ALL y
but the bird mind has no such illusions. All
| it knows is that food is to eat, and it eats 1t
when it has it.
The person who loves the birds will do what
he can to help them by putting out food and
especially water, for the migrating ones. Too
| often small shallow pools are lacking on long
| flights. Rivers there are. and lakes, but often
| these are much too deep for the birds, even
| along the edges.
| A small pan of water, in the center of the
| yard, will catch the eye of any flyer. The
| bird will see the reflection, and will come down
| at once, and often this rest will do 1t more
| good than the water 1t may be supposed that
birds, in the mad fantasy we call flight get
immersed in what they are doing, as some hu-
man beings do, and cannot call halt. They
i. will not suffer from heart disease, perhaps
but simply will drop dead through using up
totally the supply of energy that was theirs
| Or they may drive squarely into pane Of
| glass. We do not believe that they ever mis-
| take the glass for clearway, despite the re-
| Election of trees and shrubs in it. The shint
is not natural, and they know it, and avoid it
| normally, else they would be humping into
windows Ill day long