Evening star., 1948-02-19
This and That
By Charles E. TraceDeIl

SILVER SPRING, Md.
Dear Sir:
"A wren came to my feeding station on the
window ledge about two weeks ago.
Gould you help me identify it, please?
IT think it Is either winter wren or a Caro-
lima wren, though doubt that the latter Is
here at this time of the year.
"The wren was smaller than a sparrow
looked smaller than Carolina wren, though
it appeared that perhaps some of its tail
feathers were missing.
1.-The tail appeared to consist OF single,
fairly short, feather that stood straight up in
the air. The bill was typically wrenlike, long
and curved down at the point
There was fairly long white stripe over the
eye. The bird was a darker reddish brown than
remember the Carolina wren being.
'"This Is the first time, summer or winter, that
wren has come to my feeding station.
sincerely yours J. B.
Here is the Carolina wren again.
One of the best of the species that winters
hereabout, the Carolina wren is 51a inches long,
as compared with the 5 inches of the house
wren, and the inches of the winter wren.
The latter is more reddish, but estimation OF
color depends so much on the individual
observer, and the background against which
bird Is seen.
The white stripe is indicative of the Carolina
wren.
While winter wrens sometime appear here,
they are not as common by any means as
the Carolina species.
One may feel pretty sure that any wren at
this time Of year, is the Carolina specimen
He is the largest of his tribe, and one OF our
happiest selections.
His song Is loud, different, with sort OF
circular effect to it,; description fails to get It,
y II **
The birds in our garden, and suddenly,
despite all the snow, on February II, began to
sing as If spring were just around the corner.
They have been doing it ever since.
1t began with song sparrow, who all at
once, and loudly, turned his usual winter song
into spring song
This Is a mystery, in small measure, just
how the birds do it, why they do it-with all
the ice and snow-and how one knows 1t, these
all must remain unsolved.
Nothing is surer, however, than that the
song sparrow saw spring.
It is an advantage he has!
ALI we could see was snow and more snow.
The street was icy, from side to side
The sky was gray.
The weather man predicted more snow.
But that song sparrow saw spring, sure
enough, and sang and sang, with that new note
of hope in his voice.
And there was titmouSe, too, which sud-
denly began to whistle up the dog.
That sound had been absent many days, and
there all at once it was again.
And how loudly, how clearly, how unex-
pectedly the titmouse whistled for Ffdo, or
Rover or Duke, or some good dog of past days,
gone these many years.
Or maybe it was not Fido, or Rover, or Duke
he was calling, but Boots, who has almost run
his legs off following the sleds down the hill.
Funny little Boots! He is supposed to be a
cross between a police dog and a dachshund.
This leaves him with big ears and short little
legs.
He may not go as fast as a sled on ice, but
he makes up for it by his willingness and
happy spirit in the cold.
Some one has called birds stupid.
Well, they may be, in a sense, especially from
human sense. Certainly, they have not in
vented any atom bombs.
But from the bird standpoint, they have done
very well, being the Oldest living creatures and
still pretty much on the 60.