Evening star., 1948-02-17
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trdce1UeU

Dear Sir:
Having been a daily reader of your column
for many years. gaining much information as
we'll as many hours Of pleasure, would Ike
from our window.
I'VE have free-for-all feeding station,
where every guest is welcome from the squirrel
to the blue jay, about which a recent corre-
spondent from Bethesda showed much irrits-
zion.
I'VE find entertainment watching each bird
True, the station sometimes Is crowded to over
flowing with undesirables, but after all t is
only life. Life among humans is the same
THE picture from our second STORY sun
room this bitter weather is fascinating Just
outside the window is q cedar tree. A pair of
jays arrive every afternoon and perch in the
top of this cedar tree
'One near the top, the other few branches
below but quite near It's mate always the
same They perch. making a vivid flash OF
blue as the wind sways the slender branches
They remain in this position until the
next morning.
I'VE have frequently turned the nashlight
on them at night. showing two fluffy rounds
of blue feathers sound asleep with heads under
their wings, while the wind rocked them to
and fro.
When the recent snow fell they did not
return, as there was so much snow all through
the tree; thinking we had lost our guests, we
were quite disappointed, but after the snow
fell from the tree they came back. We were
delighted. As we stood by the window they
peeped at us with their bright eyes, which
seemed to say, We are back again with our
friends
I'VE have had many other interesting expert
ences, rs the mocker bringing his lady friend
to the station as soon MS she arrives from the
South, very hungry and very shy. We. too,
have had the kinglet, q charming little fellow.
I'VE enjoy your column immensely.
Sincerely, M L. c."
This is most sympathetic picture of the jay.
1t will please all admirers of this real Amer
lean.
To many the blue jay has an Indian look
He not only resembles, in miniature, q brave
in war dress but the war whoop he sends forth
recalls primitive days when our land was
young.
Here is a magnificent specimen OF wildbird,
and surely the observer who sdmires him is
better of than the one who does not.
The way birds sleep has always interested
people.
1t may not be generally known just how
they manage to cling to the branch in the ice
and snow and wind.
The wind will blow
THE cradle will rock"
Each bird is fitted by nature to its life in
the open. Not only Is it clothed In feathers
and warmed by blood, but its blood stream
temperature Is higher than that of humans
In sleeping it puts its head beneath the wing
and thus protects the vital eyes
The claws and their attached muscles are
so arranged that when the bird goes to sleep
the "knees" slump slightly, drawing the claws
tighter and tighter around the branch
The more deeply the bird sleeps the more
tight the hold is, 50 that there is no danger
at ALL while asleep, that 1t will fall of.
1t cannot as a matter of fact, fall as long
as it is asleep.
Only when it awakes will the claws relax,
allowing the bird to fly
We have always wanted to sneak up on q
sleeping bird and see if it could be detached
from the branch, but it looked SO peaceful
there that we never had the temerity to
touch it.
There is, in life, something more than intel
ligence, something more than desire to know.
The great deficiency Of modern man is that
he puts too much stress on intelligence. That
gives rise to the atom bomb the compulsive
state, the belief that a man at a desk can
tell others just what they ought to do. That
turns an individual human being into "case, "
his history into report" And it may turn
his world, unless we are very careful, into
bang.