Evening star., 1947-08-18
This and That
By Charles E. TrnceweH.
ARLINGTON, Va.


Dear Sir:
Being a newcomer to the East and not being
familiar with Eastern birds, should like to ask
some questions about some birds 7 have seen
in our yard.
a. There is bird which have never been
able to see close enough to give more than these
details. have seen him in the trees mostly
partially covered from view by leaves. He seems
very like an ordinary sparrow though trifie
larger and the head perhaps trif1e darker
He has wistful plaintive call which he gives
at intervals with sizeable pauses between. He
says what sounds to me like st-chur-ease or
seat-chur-ease with emphasis on the last syl-
table, which is very plaintive and drawn out.
20 We have suet at our window sill feeder
and we have regular customer 1t answers
every detail of the description of red-bellied
woodpecker except that it is extremely shy and
has never uttered a sound that we have been
able to tell. The book speaks of them being
such noisy BIRDS Also it says that even the
young birds have red heads and this bird
brought her family when they were Matched
and they had brown heads and brownish striped
zebra backs.
"3. Last week we had mother and young of
a variety cannot find in the bird book at all
They were about robin size, maybe trif1e
smaller The head, nape and side neck were
brownish-the back blush brown-the wings
and tail predomiranty blue with slight traces
of brown One OF the birds perched a moment
near nae with his back toward me. The rump
and upper tail were blue like blue jay with
upper tail coverts white tipped giving the i'm
preston of white polka dots. The young bird
perched on a limb in the open and Immediately
the mother flew down from another tree and
nudged the young one and he moved very
slightly-she kept this up until she had nudged
the young bird where it was protected from me
by leaves. They stayed there for 10 minutes or
more, making no sound but preening them
selves and moving enough for me to see that
the wing feathers when outspread were lovely
blue like the regular bluebird that we have.
During this time third bird, evidently the
male, hovered at too great a distance for me to
tell any thing except that he was the same
lovely blue as the regular bluebird, had the
same red-brown breast but was considerably
larger bird.
Very truly yours, H. r. T."
"CAPoN SPRINGS, w. Va.
Dear Sir:
"One noon In August an unidentified bird
with blue body feathers and black and white
wing and back feathers perched in locust tree
near 18th and Harvard streets for at least half
an hour His head and face could not be seen
easily but he did not appear to have pro-
nounced bill
His face seemed to be grayish- white. The
tail was extremely slender and very long, .ap-
proximately six or seven inches long. He sat
very upright without much animation and
walked like a parakeet or love bird when he
occasionally advanced farther up limb.
THE blue coloring of his body feathers was
unlike that of the jay or bluebird. seeming to
be chalky in tone and lighter. Occasionally he
uttered simple call of only few notes, rather
limpid in quality. His size was about that OF
a catbird but he was much more erect.
Since he was within half mile Of the Zoos
bird house, it seemed that he might have been
a nondomestic bird from that collection
"He did not resemble any bird illustrated in
any of the bird books.
VERY truly yours, L. ]. NJ"
Our first correspondents first bird was the
wood pewee.
The second may have been the flicker; but
red-bellied woodpeckers are not necessarily
noisy.
The third bird sounds as if this correspondent
were trying too hard to see new one. 1t
may simply have been female bluebird with
her young.
AS for the one and only bird of Our second
correspondent, if any reader has an Idea abouS
it, send it along, as 1t is anybodys guess.