Evening star., 1948-10-26
This and That
BIZ charles Z. Trace,peu

One Of the natural phenomena of the autumn
is the afternoon descent upon the garden Of
q flock of grackles
Fifty to hundred of these sleek fellows not
only make a sight to see, but also give forth
with music peculiarly their own.
1t has been described, and accurately, as
resembling the noise of squeaky wheelbarrows.
There are many persons today who never
have heard wheelbarrows, but those who have
will recognize the justice of the description the
moment they hear the grackles.
1t is pleasant afternoon noise made as the
birds fly down from the trees and shrubs into
which they first flew to look the situation over.
Big, black, glistening, the grackle is a black
bird with q long tail and cold yellow eyes,
The eyes speak volumes, but the group
somehow makes the watcher forget what he
reads there.
It is not nice picture he sees in those eyes
Scores Of baby cardinals and others have had
their lives snuffed out, as grackles pulled Of
their heads or legs.
Individually, the grackle is not what one
would call mice" bird; he is mean, strong,
intelligent; somehow these qualities often go
together.
It would have been better, the observer may
think, If in the beginning intelligence had
meant kindness.
AoO O1tCll, AL Ldtuc-d ucpdTJLltQL 10 WHICH
man belongs-the intelligent creature is likely
to be the cold, calculating creature.
1t is that way with the cichlids, small aquar-
ium fishes including the now famous angel
fish.
An angel fish, for all his odd shape and in
teresting ways, thinks nothing at all Of gulping
down three or four guppies for a meal, If the
gether.
Intelligence, as such, is likely to be indiffer-
ent, without thought Of doing good, or care for
the results Of what may be done.
That is why, often enough. the older person
loses some Of his respect for intelligence in the
pure form, and is willing to compromise for q
little more goodness Of heart.
Grackles are popular despite their bad habits.
They are SO full Of life, so plump in the sun
shine, so filled with the very spirit of autumn,
that even those who have seen them unneces-
sarily kill baby birds win forget their evil deeds
in the picture they present
All the time, that odd, squeaky noise is going
on, first from one bird, then from another, so
that an unsuspecting listener might think a real
wheelbarrow procession was in progress.
It is nothing but the odd sound made by an
odd bird.
He pulls in his head, puffs up his feathers
and does the best he can which is not very
good, in comparison with real Songbrd.
The grackle, Of course. is classed as q song
bird. So are the crow and the starting. They
are songbirds, scientifically speaking, because
they possess a certain set Of throat muscles.
4 Il
The grackle is big one, more than foot
long.
When flying, this large bird seems to have a
tail much longer on one side than the other.
This is due to the fact that he can fold his
tail, and does so, causing one side to seem
shorter than the other.
In the yard he struts around as II owner of
all he sees and, from a bird standpoint this is
about true, since few care to dispute any matter
with him.
He and his companions, these fall days, look
over each ne;ghborhood yard, sample food put
out for smaller birds, fail to register satisfac-
ton, and soon creak their way, with dash of
glistening wings, to another yard In the block
In this way, over the afternoons, they give
every suburban resident show all their own
Metallic green's, purples, violets vie with one
another in the grackle's feathers, as he seeks
for stray insects. His food is about half vege-
table and half animal matter; all In all, espe-
cially at nesting time, when he seeks insects for
his young, he does man much good.