Evening star., 1947-01-08
This and That
Ru Charles E. Trnce1peLI.
ARLINGTON. Va.

Dear Sir:
"a couple of columns ago you were
moralizing about people and birds, and
for that matter, other animals. What
you said about likenesses between us
folks and the animal kingdom was
sharply exemplified at my feeding sta
tionS Just outside my dining room
window as sat nursing cold.
There were fiickers, downy wood
peckers, doves, cardinals, sparrows,
chickadees, nuthatches, juncos and, be-
lieve it or not, one wren-at this time
of year! -
1.-The wren, by the way, wasn't house
wren its tail wasn't uptilted enough,
and it had a thin gray-white band
from eye to beak. ....
"Well, the carvings on were interest
ing. The sparrow was nasty to the
sparrow, the cardinals pecked naggingly
at each other, and so it went right down
the line
Excepting the chickadees. They were
as decent to each other as if they weren't
relations
And the peculiar thing was that,
time after time, several different breeds
were in all three feeders at once and
there were no signs of i'll feeling or
bad breeding by any breed; they let
each other eat their fill in peace.
And once, when the neighbor'S cat
prowled past, they were all in one flock
on the instant; if it had been mating
season they would have acted as one,
in swooping down on the cat.
Now, isn't that much like folks?
Nothing can be nastier than bunch
of old hens to each other, excepting
perhaps folks of one breed, and the
closer the breed, the nastier we are to
each other What do you think? Would
you say familiarity breeds that disorder?
Sincerely, P. Y"
This correspondents wren was the
Carolina wren, largest of his breed, and
a familiar winter viSitant to the Wash
ington area.
We have had one for month now.
He comes daily to the feeding station
for small seeds, in the intervals between
the Sparrows
He is a fine bird, and occasionally
utters his loud, whirling sort of song,
although we must confess not having
heard it for some time.
He is a beauty, not only the largest
OF the wrens, but one of the most in
teresting. He is very fond of worms,
and if meal worms can be supplied to
him he asks nothing better
Birds are very much like human
beings, except that in certain essentials
of living they put us to shame. They
believe in Ben Franklin's motto about
early to bed, etc.
They run their lives by sun time, the
most sensible system, after all Light
is to them the great control. They get
up with the chickens" and 60 to bed
long before it is dark to human senses.
In this way they keep close to mother
mature, who is able, with their complete
cooperation, to keep them healthy,
wealthy Tin bird sense) and wise.
Familiarity does, indeed, breed con-
tempt. or something resembling it, both
among birds and people. The bird of
given species is so close to the other
birds of that species that he is not held
back by any code of courtesy. Birds,
too, have their codes. One of the tenets
of the bird code is to peck at will at
ones own people. With strangers, the
species is bit formal, perhaps, but
with zones own folk" anything goes.
These and many other similarities to
human nature should make us all feel
quite at home with the birds
There are human traits in birds, bird
traits in humans. The golden chain OF
life always seems to have the same links.
That is why the discerning observer is
able to sympathize with fish, fowl and
animals. The rat and the flea he
understands. although he may not be
exactly like them. The birds. his friends
and garden helpers. are so close to him
although so far away in some respects,
that he never ceases to admire them
and wonder about them.