Evening star., 1948-10-15
This and That
BIZ Charles Il. TrdcstDell
ARLINGTON, Va.

Dear Sir:
Possibly an observation of mine may add q
trifle to your recent article of albinsm among
birds and animals.
In the near vicinity Of Lafayette and McPher-
son squares, and, as any one would over such
q period of time, have had my attention drawn
to the half-tame Inhabitants.
During perhaps the past four years there
have been at least two entirely black squirrels
which apparently travel back and forth be-
tween these parks Il saw them together in
Lafayette park once) and number of albinos
I should estimate not less than three.
1T is noticeable that these off-color indi-
yiduals are less approachable than the normal
ones, and seem to avoid close proximity to
humans. However, I have not been able to
observe any hostility or aloofness between the
white or black squirrels and the normally col
ored ones.
This year, for the first time there appeared
in Mcpherson square squirrel that obviously
Is the offspring Of an albino and q normal
gray squirrel. Its coat is either a mixture of
gray and white hairs or hairs indeterminate
in color between the two II have never been
able to approach closer than about 30 feetO
Perhaps the most unusual predicament in
which I ever saw an animal occurred In the
spring of 1947 in Lafayette square.
Quite few Government employees eat lunch
there; the particular squirrel involved had
chewed hole into an empty waxed paper
milk container, evidently to lick out the small
quantity remaining therein, and had its head
stuck in the hole, thraShing and Hopping
blindly about in its frantic efforts to free It
self At another time an elderly practical
joker (no longer working for the GovernmenO
fed squirrel some laxative chewing gum tab
lets and chortled for weeks afterward about
the eagerness with which this small victim de-
voured the treacherous stuff.
Yours truly etc.
Park squirrels are more friendly to each
other than squirrels in the suburbs.
The latter shy away from albino specimens,
and almost as much so from the black ones.
In the downtown parks, the squirrels. as the
pigeons, are bound closer together by the bond
of hunger.
Even sparrows In the busy downtown streets
refuse to fight each other, or move more than
two or three feet from the feet Of passersby.
Food is what they are after, and 1t does
not come as easily downtown as 1t does in the
outskirts, where thousands Of residents are
vying with one another to cater to the birds
What the birds get, in most cases. the squir-
rels can eat, too
Pigeons also. One Of the recent popular
songs contained the classic line, "Oh, see the
pigeons, flying like birdsl" Some people refuse
to admit that pigeons are birds. They even
WduI W Spcll III pluScOLl, Ak1OcT tIic lIllucICc,
no doubt, of the redoubtable Walter.
Pigeons and squirrels and sparrows do their
best in the downtown in the parks, where at
lunch time there are scores of persons land
at other times usually severaD eager to feed
them.
Not many, fortunately, have any desire to
fool them, or to injure them.
Sometimes someone will give O squirrel
piece Of milk chocolate, which the animal will
not eat but always buries in the ground. This
means, though the animal does not know 1t,
that the food will become mouldy, and unfit
to eat, or even melt away in a rain.
Squirrels, after ALL know nothing OF mans
devious ways in manufacture.
There is keen competition In the parks for
the food handouts, SO that each bird and
squirrel must not be too f1nicky about his
neighbors, friends and relations, even foes.
For this reason, the normally colored ones
do not resent the all-black and the all-white
specimens so much. They cannot afford to do So
The pearl gray specimen spoken Of by our
correspondent has not been mentioned here
for long time. He is q beauty, and a great
favorite, and seldom leaves the Mcpherson
square area.
Robins in season always drop down to these
city squares. circles and just plain parks.
So all spring and summer the parks present
a true picture of nature. The city is fortunate
to have such places, where busy people may
contemplate the ceaseless activities OF pic
turesque birds and animals.