Evening star., 1947-11-29
This and That
Bu Charles E, Truceuell

ny Sftuf tCo z. L uCCLUCL
How much food it takes to run a bird winter
ing here was shown the other day by the going
over our mockingbird gave the pokeberries in
front of the house.
This gigantic bush, at its fullest, covered a
space at least eight feet square, and held per-
haps 10000 pokeberries.
At its lushest, it was a beautiful thing but
winds broke the canes, and rains following
crushed the leaves and made the whole thing
rather untidy looking.
Birds found nothing untidy about it.; they
loved the berries from the first, and ate many
of them, but there were so many that the
supply seemed untouched.
Then came the cold weather, and rain, and
our lone mockingbird was a bit hungrier than
usual
He dived into the pokeberries and almost
before the other birds knew 1t, he had eaten
them all
The mocker few in, and flew out, making
his sharp cry hundreds of times day.
Between cries, evidently he ate pokeberries.
BY evening, practically all of them were gone.
Now the bush stands ugly and unkempt,
the canes broken, the leaves yellow.
The mockingbird still comes to 1t regularly,
finding a berry here and there in the ruins.
Soon he will have to eat raisins, which he
gave up for the pokeberries, or bits OF bread,
or doughnuts, and now and then the half OF
a cut apple.
These are standard wintering mocker foods,
but many other species also eat them, and
they are readily secured in the average house
hold. It is amazing, one scarcely dares whis-
per it, but the prices on these foods have
not gone up much, everything considered,
which is fortunate for the birds.
Cardinals and others also liked the berries
of the poke bush, but not as well as the old
mocker.
Usually just one mockingbird Of a pair
remains here during the winter, and not OF
every pair, by any means.
Sometimes the bird left Is dog -in-the man.
ger. not eating anything in feeding sta
ton. but refusing to let any other bird feed.
Sometimes this action severely tries the
temper Of the human being putting out the
food.
But the action is merely relic OF the sum-
ner care Of the young.
There is belief, very widespread, that all
the mockingbirds that stay here in the cold
are males, and, as far as we have been able
to determine, this is right.
Without the pair Of them, it is difficult to
tell the two apart, since both have the same
markings. Often the male Is somewhat
darker than his mate and when the two are
together, it is comparatively easy to tell one
from the other, but apart the slightly lighter
tone Of the female is unnoticed.
If mocker in winter assumes the attitude
of bully, the best way Of settling the matter
is to put out food OF the type he likes on the
other side of the house.
Sometimes this stratagem works, sometimes
it does not, but in all cases the bad actor will
give up his actions after few days.
Maybe he comes to his senses, perhaps he
merely grows hungry, himself, after such un-
remitting police action. 1t may be that the
hope of the police state lies in much the
same mitigating passage of time when all
concerned, those who rule with the iron fist,
and those who are ruled, come at last to their
senses and see that the human spirit is
beyond chains.
Food is a basic thing, both for men and
mockingbirds When nations are involved,
nations need to help, but when it comes to the
birds, almost any individual can do a great
deal by establishing feeding station, or mere
ly throwing q bit Of seed and grain on the
ground Bread crumbs will help, but they will
draw starlin9s.