Evening star., 1948-06-14
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUeH
CHEVY CHASE.

Dear Sir:
HE is practicing bird lover.
Heretofore, he had regarded the inroads OF
SQUIRRELS rs enc Of those disagreeable natural
phenomena from which the human race has
long sufiered-like foul weather, or wild onions
in the lawn, or the vagaries of the paper boy
who always leaves the paper outside on rne
walk on rainy days. But now squirrels are
very major factor in his life.
1T all began last Thursday with scratching
noises within the walls of the house. Wednes-
day. the problem was definitely 1dentlned rs .
squirrel in the heating furnace.
"Activated by dire predictions from neigh
borhood volunteer experts as to the oamase
which an unmatched squirrel could cause IN
five minutes, the owner on lnursoay opened
I'D the furnace doors, and the cellar door, and
put out attractive squirrel food to lure the
furry varmint from his refuge.
"On Friday the owner gave up the day to
organizne q major offensive against his visitor.
Early IN the day, he took OIL the upper
doors to the furnace. The squirrel retreated
deeper inside. Then he successfully removed
the lower furnace doors the oil burner unit,
the smoke pipes and every demountaois eie-
ment of the heating system.
Notwithstanding brisk pokinSs about With
the handle of q golf club. the squirrel re-
mained cool and undismayed. coyly safe IN
the lower recesses.
"At noon, 4 SCOT stained, frustrated owner
annoyed to the point Of nervous 1nd1gestion
which made lunch impoSsible-retired In de-
feat to an upper chamber for . bath and
recuperating sesta. His family, dismAyed Dy
the violence of the reaction to the problem IN
hand. fed the house
Shortly after the owner had disposed him
self to restore his tattered nerves, there came
q curious cloppety-clop sound on the stars
jcod m
looked to the open doorway, and moaned.
'Hallucinations,' he said, and sank back on
his pillow
He turned his head to the wall
"A few seconds later, however, he raised
himself again, and took another look ut the
doorway.
1T was still there scot stained, bright
eyed squirrel, with arms akimbo, standing in
the doorway, twitching his tall, ready for
fight or = frolic.
"Wearily and warily, the owner arose from his
bed while the squirrel retreated lightly into
the hall. Then he essayed . step forward.
1.-The boosy squirrel preceded him into the
best front bedroom; there to take reiuse Ne
meath 4 prised antique chest
'"The battle Of the furnace was beginning
all over again. BUT now man finally trtumphed
over animal.
FOLLOWING the squirrel into the front bed
room, the owner closed the door, opened the
windows and retired from the scene
"A hopeful survey m hour later allowed
that the squirrel, at his own convenience. had
departed.
"The owner had won, but in this Chevy
Chase house, squirrels are DO longer regarded
as natural phenomena. They are . national
calamity. Sincerely, D. I. l."
Efforts to get squirrel out Of some place
where he 10 not wanted are almost always
futile. A true Wild animal, 1t becomes super
wild at such . time.
The best way, unless the creature IL caught
and held FAST b to open an exit Tor 1t, ana
then retire from the scene.
In this way the squirrel gets . chance to
get over its fright, and in time will leave, since
that is all 1t asks.
B. r. H., an upper Fourteenth street cor
respondent, aays that the male cardinal eats
sunfiower seeds very neatly, and leaves = pre-
else pile of shells, whereas the female cuts
the shells roughly and scatters the bits oil
about She believes that the shelling Of seeds
Is both q sex and an individual Characteristic.
There is much work to be done on the OBJ
servation OF bird habits traits and character
istics. No homeowner who IL interested In bird
life need feel that there Is no place for him
in this interesting work. Field work ID all
right, but d small yard also is field" one
large enough for the average person, and hold
ing hundreds Of natural treasures. One man
discovered more than 1000 kinds Of insects In
q mall 0aty lot.