Evening star., 1948-11-03
This and That
By Charles Z. Trdce,OelI

The great question Of whether squirrels bury
milk chocolate-with or without almonds
still RACES.
A. M F. of New Hampshire avenue writes:
Regarding squirrels, 1t has been my expert
ence that more of them shell the nuts before
burying them
Sometimes they are careless about this, as
The earth until the nut came into sight and
then eat 1t. had always thought pigeons to
be stupid until saw this happen.
II thought that you might be interested in
knowing that there are two friendly cardinals
in Lafayette Park
squirrels, selecting bench near some bushes
Just right Of the statue of jackson, as this
one faced the sun.
II was busy feeding o squirrel when was
astoniShed to find o large male cardinal had
alighted beside me.
~"I quickly shelled nut, which I broke into
two pieces and held in the palm Of my hand.
He few up to my hand and took one half
Of the nut and few into q bush. In q few
seconds another one appeared at the side Of
the bench
IT leaned down with the other half of the
nut in my hand and he few up, though not
touching my hand, somewhatein the manner
Of a hummingbird and took the nut.
"One of the interested onlookers asked if
had hand-trained the bird. replied that I
had never had the experience before and was
rather surprised myself.
II returned to the same place today at noon,
and there were five cardinals instead of two.
However only the two larger males would
come near my hand I took some sunf1ower
seed with me today, but they seemed to prefer
the nuts
Our family Of three has enjoyed your COL
umn immensely"
This Is an interesting letter because it shows
that even in the city one of the best of all
birds is not only plentiful but positively
familiar.
Not every resident of the suburban areas has
such friendly redbirds, but here they are on tap
in the downtown parks, and already trained!
The downtown birds, in some respects, are
more friendly than those In the outlying
sections.
The explanation is simple.
Food is one Of the great urges.
Downtown, the squirrels and birds, If they
want to be fed, must put up with many human
beings.
People are all around, especially on the side
walks and in the parks, circles and squares
The birds soon come to disregard all those
who do not offer them food.
To get to those who proffer food, the birds
those who do not.
Mostly, they put up q good bluff
English sparrows and pigeons literally have
to be pushed out of the way on the sidewalks
We have watched q sparrow picking at a
discarded piece of bread not more than half a
foot from human feet
1t Is amazing, at times, to watch the pigeons
rise into the air just few inches ahead of the
wheels Of a bus.
Practically all Of the birds resident in this
area In winter will be seen by patient watchers
In our downtown parks.
Nearby wooded sections of Virginia and the
Potomac River shores lend the parks many of
their birds. These discover that food is to be
secured for the asking in the parks. And they
ask of course-sone of them rather prettily.
All birds can stand still in the air, not as
perfectly as the hummers do, Of course, but
well enough for all practical purposes.
L. A. G. Of the Iowa apartments sends the
following verse: