Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-02-06
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdceWeH

ROCKVILLE, MD.
IT enjoy your articles very much. have
two bird feeders one on post in the yard,
and the other attached to the kitchen window
SILL
There is a mockingbird that has been
here two winters, and he has taken the VIM
dow feeder for his own. He drives away the
starlings and is the only bird that resists
them.
"Blue jays and woodpeckers feed at the other
one, and they scatter when the starlings come.
The woodpecker tried to put up a fight the
other day with startling, but the latter got
the best of him.
IT do not mind too much if the starlings
come, but they are gluttons, they don't stop
eating until the last morsel Is gone.
"All the birds love the feed fix for them,
which is very dry bread, grated, and then
mixed with waste fat to form a dough. The
mocker eats his apple before touching raisins
or anything else.
IT give them broken pieces of pancake dipped
in grease also mixed with chicken feed.
Il have had many species Of birds, but have
never had the purple finch. I witnessed an
amusing incident yesterday. jay took a
piece of pancake from the feeder and dropped
it, then flew down to retrieve it, but startling
spotted 1t and flew down, too. The jay put up
q scrap but the startling sat on the food until
the jay left and then promptly ate it.
Sincerely, E. B. j."
This snecdote shows the intelligence Of
the startling.
Few species seem to really think in the
human sense, but the old starting often seems
to do just that very thing.
Thinking in the human sense, is difficult to
prove in the animals
Our dogs and cats often, we would swear,
seem to think, but If we are honest with our
selves we mostly realize that it is only because
we love them that we try to attribute our type
brains to them.
While the things they do often seem to be
the results of thinking, actually they come
about simply because the creature is hungry,
or else just plain "happenstance" comes into
the picture.
with the old ugly startling, things are differ
ent This fellow must think, because he does
what intelligence dictates.
On a wet, cold day, he flies to feeding sta
ton, looks around for a time, then hops into
the feed box-and stays there.
He does not want food. he desires shelter,
and has enough sense to know that the little
roof over the seed gives him it.
We once saw a startling, on snowy day,
look around for some landing place where he
could keep his feet dry and warm.
The feet of these birds are more delicate
than the feet Of most species. Sometimes 8
starting that unwittingly roosts on metal
IOUl Ill tIlc COlu Illo C4dWo 1AONCA "ilCN
he wakes up
This old startling, looking for a dry place,
deity few to the back of another startling,
and leaning over, pecked at bread on the
ground
This showed an intelligent grasp of the situ-
alton!
Sometimes starlings size things up and act
as quickly and to the point as any human be-
ing could.
We saw baby sparrow drowning in small
puddle.
The parent birds stood helpless, but not Q
waddling startling close by.
Without a seconds hesitation he walked
over to the drowning sparrow, seized it by
wing, and pulled it out of the water.
His better than average bird brain made
him act before it was too late, and to do the
exact thing necessary to save the baby.
If mankind values intelligence, and 1t says
it does, 1t must give the startling credit for be-
ing among the most intelligent of birds.
Clumsy on the ground. perhaps but marvel
GUS flyer, the old starting goes his way in the
world, determined to make the best Of things,
including those odd persons who want to kill
him on sight. If such persons were let alone,
they would murder. one after another, our
dogs, cats, raccoons, opossums, birds, fish,
bears deer, and finally each other. Then the
insects would inherit the world, as some people
have predicted all along.