Evening star., 1948-06-10
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUell
"TAKONfA PARK, Md.

'TAKONfA PARK, Md.
Dear Sir:
Just another bird tale, but true Our lawn
is spacious, both front and rear, with trees
and shrubbery, and, as usual this spring it was
| selected by several pairs of robins and blue
| jays as their home. But neighborS cat
has almost externinated them; and not for
food, as he just kills and has no further use
for them.
Nov widowed robin has three babies in a
nest in rosebusf climbing over the front
porch. They are five days old. During the in
cubation period we several times found q
cardinal falso a widow on the nest, apparently
relief sitter for the natural parent. And now
since the little ones are here, this redbird is
b industriously doing her part in supplying food
for the three hungry mouths.
If memory serves me. your column has re-
lated something like this on the part of blue
jays.
II have been reading This and That from
the beginning OF it,
Respectfully, H. A. NJ"
Birds help each other as much as they can.
These assists, as they may be called, come
about, not through conscious effort but simply
by instinct
Deprived of her own young, the mother
cardinal helps out on a nest not her own.
The fact that the mother robin shows no
displeasure does not argue for a mental ac-
ceptance of the help but rather is a simple
physical acceptance of the aid so happily
offered.
No doubt mother robin, with three mouths
to feed by herself, would accept aid from a
snake If it came bearing gifts.
1t has been proved that most mother birds
will try to incubate a china egg, or the eggs
of other species put in their nests. OF the
species whose nests are used as repositories
bV the cOWhird q few alone IN
the intrusion; the remainder, and by far the
most of them, never know the difference Even
the great baby cowbird. much larger than their
own young, and far different in color, habits
and sound, Attracts no attention The mother
bird works hard to feed them ALL particularly
the usurper of the nest. And since he is so
much larger and lustier, he gets the lions
share of food so grows faster, and finally is
king OF all he surveys, since the rightful heirs
of the nest have starved to death at what may
De said to be their own mothers hands!
Evidently nature does not make all her
instincts good ones Some birds which nest
in trees utilize fresh grass. which, when drying,
shows up startlingly yellow amidst the fresh
green leaves, easily seen by natural enemies
Some birds once made mud nests on the sides
Of old bridges, where the color made no par
ticular contrast with the wood, but today
when they place the same nests on white
painted structures they call loudly to all
enemies
In the main each species feeds It's own. The
exceptions point up the rule. In the other
walks of life, birds often help each other, but
here again 1t may be believed that it is natural
reaction, rather than any philanthropic turn
of mind.
Jays hide food which later is gathered in
by smaller species, but even the greatest
admirer Of the blue ones would find it hard
to believe that they do it out of altruism.
Jays also scream at natural enemies, includ-
ing hawks, and SO warn smaller birds, but this
comes about mostly because the jay is bold
bird, one used to looking the world-and the
sky-in the face, thereby often seeing natural
enemies before the others do.
OLD starlings sometimes pull drowning spar
row babies out of puddles, saving their lives,
but even the mother sparrows could not be-
leve that they should hang medals of honor
around those glistening necks.
The evils that men do may live after them,
but among the feathered hosts Of the air
sorrow is forgotten by the next day, and no
doubt they are all the better of for their
short memories. We of the human kind tend
to remember too much and to resent too freely
and to hug our griefs to our hearts and souls
and minds when we would do better to
emulate the birds In this respect, Is In many
others.