Evening star., 1947-02-19
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceUell.
ALEXANDRIA. Va,

AbGAfaI<Oft4Ay va.
Dear Sir:
For many years now I've enjoyed
your column in The Star, and you can
take them down peg, or hand them
laugh, when needed, all in the course
of days work.
When we came into this section 81
years ago it was a forelorn woebegone
place. Yes, it was close to my husbands
work near Potomac Yards, but the whole
development at that time was hardly
more than three or four years DID, built
on what they say was an old race track.
WELL it might have been! What
packed down, hard old red clay ground
we had here! Not tree for blocks, or
stone, either. We bought Norway
naples, fruit trees, shrubs, rose bushes,
etc. Planted willow trees, which have
since been cut down, because they were
growing, but found to be out of proper
ton to our yard.
Since then there have been all kinds
of birds gradually come to this section.
I used to be greatly amused at the
Knockers. They would come up and eat
the berries from the holly wreaths.
Then eat food on the porch. Finally
one nested in our holly tree. Just head
height. You could not see into the
nest, but there were three small ones,
and I nearly had my eyes put out while
hanging out my laundry.
u X
"A mischievious 6-year-o niece dis
covered the nest while visiting one day
from the District of Columbia, and
nearly killed the little ones poking
sticks up into the nest.
MY own 3-year-old boy had never
bothered them. I itched to put the
print of my hand where it would do
some good-or would it have?
"a pair of cardinals nested in our
wistaria on the south side of the porch
in March one year, but the eggs were
pulled from the nest accidentally and
broken. Several times we have had
wrens to start building and leave after
the wren houses were full of sticks.
Last year when cutting back the bar
berry hedge discovered perfect round
nest there. Many times I had seen
small slim bird. sparrow colored, hop
ping about the hedge, but was surprised
to find nest so low
= X x &@
GAS I write, am enjoying watching
the guppies feasting on spinach leaf,
as you said in one of your recent articles.
They certainly are having a picnic.
The bowl sets on little table in front
of my dining room windows, which are
three, and facing South.
"a good portion of the day the sun
shines on them. The guppies thrive, all
right, but the females never seem to
grow as large as some I've given to
others. Sincerely, A. N E."
X X
The bird in the hedge probably was
a song sparrow.
This beautiful creature loves bar
berry hedge for nesting.
If there were no other reasons for
planting barberries, the fondness of
song sparrows for them would be suff1-
cient.
Although the birds nest is low down, it
is usually so cleverly concealed that it
is almost impossible to see after the
observer knows one is there.
The parent birds manage to slide in
and out of the material without catch
ing themselves on the thorns.
Our correspondent also mentioned
finding jellylike substance on tropical
fishes after several of them had died.
This was plain fungus, or might pos
sibly have been form known as "ick,"
caused by too cold water or too much
variation in temperature.
Fishes suffering from these troubles
should be put In water with one level
tablespoonful of salt per gallon, and
kept at temperature of approximately
70 degrees day and night until the fun
gus disappears. The water in the hos
pital tank at first should be the same
temperature as the water from which
the sick fish are transferred, and should
then gradually be raised to the required
temperature and kept that way.