Evening star., 1947-04-25
This and That
By Charles E. TracepeH
MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE,

Dear Sir:
Il am one Of your ardent readers.
Even the worst foreign news does not
distract me from your columns
I have had two new visitors to my
bird feeding place, and I wonder If you
will tell me what they are.
"One is small, about the size Of a
sparrow, but thinner. He has clear
pink top to his head and a triangular
pink spot where the tail begins.
For the rest, he Is brown, but over
all is kind of rosy glow. can't explain
it, for the feathers seem brown. I hope
you will not think I am writing nom
sense. have seen them quite often.
"The other bird is beautiful, bit
smaller than robin and of q lovely
shape. He is almost black on his back,
head and throat quite black, a snow
white breast and white edge to the
wings and white marks on the back.
THE distinctive feature is a strip
quite wide, of yellowish pink on either
side.
Il shall be very grateful If you can
tell me the names of these two
Sincerely yours, E. H."
and second, the towhee
Two fine visitors to any yard!
The finch is called purple because
somebody long time ago knew his
Latin, In which tongue purple" often
meant rosy
The purple finch is really rose
colored finch. He looks, as some one has
said, as If he were dipped in pokeberry
juice.
The towhee is sometimes called the
ground robin. He is magnificent, one
OF the loveliest of all our native birds.
y X X
SILVER SPRING. Md.
Dear Sir:
"As reader of your interesting COL
umn in The Evening Star, 7 note your
answer to recent inquiry regarding the
red-winged blackbird.
Il thought that you might like to
know that during our summer vacation
last year at Harporview, Conn, there
were great number of these red
winged blackbirds.
They would stop to bathe at fresh
water pool in the yard every morning
and evening.
! also read In your column that ac-
cording to an old saying the blue jays
disappeared on Fridays. We have had
several jays here all the winter, and
watched to see if they would come to
iced on Fridays, and found they came
as usual. And they had no objection to
eating meat-bologna, it happened to be.
We also have pair of cardinals.
They have built a nest in a fir tree
close to the front porch. do not think
they have started to nest as the female
is OH the nest great deal.
There has been a large black bird
in the yard lately, purplish black with
a, shall I say, greenish purple ruff. a
long fan-shaped tail similar to the
mocker but larger. The female is small
without the ruff. Can you tell me its
name?
And just good word for the star
Angs. They love to bathe, and such a
vigorous going over; even when the day
IS cold or rainy they seem to enjoy the
oird bath. Sincerely, c. G."
Cardinals, as other species, sometimes
fool you about being on the nest.
When they see human being peering
at them, they. are inclined to keep away
from the nest as much as possible.
Short turns off tie eggs do them no
harm
Cardinals have two or three broods a
season. Eggs have been discovered in
their nests as early as April Is and as
late as July 16. Young have been seen
May 5. from the April Matching.
The big black fellow is the grackle
He IS a glistening beauty, but has an
evil heart. He loves to tear the legs and
heads off cardinal babies just for the
fun Of the thing.
Legends about blue jays are subject
to change, according to the individual
specimens. In our own yard. one band
seldom came around on Friday, while
another group seemed to prefer that day
for Q visit.