Evening star., 1948-05-21
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUell
"BROOKMONT, Md.

Dear Sir: .-....
"a word in defense Of the blue jay. I've seen
and heard him give other birds warning Of a
big black cats approach. And it seems to me
he calls loudly to others when he comes to
our station and finds food To be sure, he
takes plenty for himself, but I don't think
him greedy-he's big bird, and needs more
food than smaller one.
Last week I saw bird about the size and
color Of a brown thrasher, with bright red
head, complete red head like woodpecker.
I haven't found anything like it in my bird
books.
Il saw my first catbird. He sat on the end
of limb not far from where I was digging,
singing quite softly, until noticed and spoke
to him, then he moved back little, but still
sang.
Hes around all the time now. For several
days there have been pair of wood thrushes
around, quite friendly and unafraid.
Can you tell me where the chickadees and
nuthatches go this time of year? All the others
that fed here during the winter are still here,
many of them building nests
THE man who wrote saying he thought it
silly to try to identify birds should try it. It's
wonderful relaxation, good for frayed nerves,
and most interesting. In the past three
months have identified rs species, and am
getting kick out of watching them.
Sincerely, E. D."
X r
There are GA kinds of woodpeckers in the
United States and Canada.
Maybe the specimen seen was red-bellied
woodpecker with more red on the head than
usual
The red-headed woodpecker has a nice red
head but doesn't resemble thrasher.
Chickadees and nuthatches often leave a
feeding station in spring to go to wooded areas
to nest Maybe they just want a change of
scene.
identifying birds sometimes irks nervous
people, and for that reason they often do best
to give over the attempt.
After all, what people are trying to do in
tion Is simply to tell some people not to worry.
There are SO many ways to worry today
that perhaps dispensing with one way will
be big help, who knows9
What interested us most about this letter,
however. was something we can't show, since
1t was on the envelope.
1t was the manner of address, all written
across the lower left-hand corner, leaving
most of the envelope bare.
The writer almost failed to get that ad-
dress on, said some one who saw it.
Addressing an envelope is always an inter-
esting procedure. Many and various ways
have been thought up over the years.
Some people write very small, others in
large, bold hands.
Some slant the writing one way, others in
just the opposite direction.
Some letter writer's prefer to use up all
the space, others want to cram the entire ad-
dress down in one little corner.
People who are in the habit of getting q
great many letters come to build up system
of their own in judging the letters before they
open them
Often they are wrong.
1t is always source Of amazement for some
to discover that a large, sprawly handwriting
Is likely to be from a small woman, and that
a very fine, meticulous handwriting is often
from large man.
While perhaps nothing is better than the
formal way of addressing envelopes, undoubt-
edly there is room for experimentation here
as elsewhere. Probably the desire to achieve
that new look" in envelope addressing will
continue Just as it does in the clothing field.
Sometimes one may wonder what the new
look" is for, and what Is the matter with the
"old look" but by and large change has its
place. In fact. some adventurous souls in
sist that one cannot stand still, but must go
backward or forward, and. no doubt, they are
right.