Evening star., 1948-07-17
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TraceWeH
MACARTHUR BLVD.

MdCAF1dOH 6LND.
"Our feeding station Is less than three feet
from the kitchen door and our birds have
learned to eat everything from leftover rice
pudding to high priced seeds.
I'VE feed them every day, winter and sum-
mer
"I think the wide variety of food put out
attracts so many different birds.
II see no difference in the number since
we acquired family cat, neither do they
seem to be afraid. There is always guard
overhead, and when the cat is outdoors he Is
constantly watched by robin, catbird or star
ling
"Of course the cat is overfed indoors, and
shows little inclination to bother them.
IT am very eager to identify one OF the
newcomers.
IT have bird book, and as near as can
tell, this bird Is female cowbird.
"She is medium broWnish gray, with
slightly darker TAIL The larger wing feathers
are slightly edged with lighter color, giving
lacy effect on top.
Short beak. fairly long legs, and definitely
walks-does not hop.
1.-The most outstanding characteristic of this
individual bird is it's absolute fearlessness OF
human beings. It will be at the feeding sta
ton and one can put out food within IL
inches of where it stands.
without much coaxing, it will come and
eat from ones hand and this morning it
hoped up on low wall where friend was
sitting and sat there beside him. at distance
of about inches.
when my son was digging in the yard a
few days ago, the bird was so close that he
was afraid of hitting it with the mattock. AS
fast as he turned over a clod, the bird was
there to investigate.
II have never seen a wild bird become so
tame aYcent chinnin0 T
many years ago. We have had several pairs
of coWbirds come to the feeding station this
year, and wonder if this might be young
one. 1t appears to be adult, as it is fully
feathered out.
"The bird mentioned has almost the soft
coloring of young startling, but has short
bill and seems to be fully feathered like an
adult bird No white wing or tail feathers.
No stripes no speckles. An indistinct wavy
pattern on head, back and breast feathers
I'VE are great bird lovers and read your
column In The Star every day.
Cordially yours, A. H. S."
The bird was young cowbird
He is nice one to have around, If one can
forget the reputation Of his parents, especially
the mother
She, of course, is the villain who lays her
egg in another birds nest
Which means that the other birds poor
mother matches 1t out, all unsuspectingly.
That Is not so amazing, although the egg is
larger than her own.
What is surprising, however, is that the
foster mother. often tiny warbler, does not
realize that the huge baby with the yawning
NAV is not her own
She goes right ahead feeding it with her
own children. AS a matter of fact since it Is
so large and vociferous, it gets the lions
share of the food, often to the death of the
rightful babies in the nest.
This fact usually strikes bird lovers as ter
rible and so it is, but there is a real question
of how much the parent coWbirds are to blame
Birds are automatons, in a sense. What they
do has been built up over centuries; their
deeds are not their faults" really
We must accept all deeds in nature as stem
ming from some other source than the animal
ITSELF
Cowbirds are beautiful, interesting and nice
to have in a garden Indeed, the black body
with brown head, Of the male, sets him apart
from all other species. The mother is q sort
Of gray-brown, almost sparrow-like bird.
There is no black in nature more beautiful
than that Of the male cowbird. He is a verf-
table flying lump Of anthracite coal.
1t may be that our correspondents bird was
brought up "by hand"aby some one in the
neighborhood. That would account for his
friendliness. Then, again, he may just be that
way. Nature Is large, "she contains multi.
tudes," - Walt Whitman said.