Evening star., 1948-04-28
This and That
Bu Charles E. Trace,Uell
VIENNA, Va.

sA1oA>A'n, No'
My bird feeding station is the window sill
OF my living room, and among my customers
are some blue jays
II love them, and they get along well with
all the other BIRDS
are much maligned birds and I am always
glad when you give them some favorable pub
licity.
Several times lately have seen jay put
seed into the bill Of another Jay as the
cardinals do at this time Of year.
Il always am fortunate at this time of year
in having a towhee as a regular visitor on the
sill. Usually-and this year have only one
a male.
1T is such pleasure to be able to see this
beautiful bird at close range. have low
plants on the window sill inside, and this is
enough to conceal quite lot of movement
from all the other birds, but the towhee is
of at the slightest movement.
Like many others, have you to thank
for first arousing my interest in birds, an
Interest that has brought me more quiet
pleasure than I can telr you.
With sincere thanks, M. C. g."
Appreciation Of the jay has grown steadily
in recent years.
people are willing now to look with their own
eyes, rather than to receive "directives' from
other people, as they once did
Preconceived notions-how often they ruin
life, or some phase Of it!
And when we think that many of these
notions are not true, but merely propaganda
of the worst Sort based upon some one 3
prejudices, We realize how often we have been
sold down the river" of misconception.
Every one must tear OH the bandage from
his own eyes. There is scarcely phase of
life and living in which hokum does not mas
querade as truth.
The determined person will find the hokum
and replace 1t with nearer approximation Of
the truth, but in doing so he runs the danger
Of overriding it. That is the trouble, as many
see it, with the present age. In trying to
divide the sham from the real, the esworld has
run into worse dangers
Watching the birds, one fortunately does
not run any real danger; all an observer tries
to do is actually see what he sees, and to
understand 1t as SUCH
1t is not always easy.
We have been told so many times that the
blue jay Is q nest robber, and that it is a
nuisance, etc. that often 1t is hard for even
the fairest person to say to himself, at last,
why, those old timers made big mistake
there is nothing bad about this bird. As a
matter OF fact, he is beautiful, interesting
fellow, real American, and good to have
around"
If the jay ever does the things it has been
said he does, the average suburban dweller will
seldom see him do it.
The bird may eat the eggs of other species,
may even Kill the young, but II so he goes to
the forests to do it, for thousands Of suburban
residents in nearby Maryland and Virginia
have been watching jays for years, and most
OF them will be willing to say that they have
never seen him do anything wrong in all that
time
On the other hand, they will say that they
have found the bird . persistent fun maker, 4
real help to the smaller song birds in several
ways.
One OF these is in hiding food in crevices Of
bark for smaller species to fnd 1t would be
impossible to say, of course that the iay is a
phtlanthropist but it works out to the same
thing, in the end
Another good deed of the jay is his screaming
at intruding hawks or cats No bird is braver
then. and few ever do as much good in this
way.
When it comes to sheer beauty and interest,
1t is amazing that so many people in the past
should have allowed their eyes to be blinded as
to the bluejay's good points
His good points are many. When you see a
jay in your yard, you see something special in
the bird line, a real American, whose war
vhoop and even facial expressions remind one
Of the Indians, first rightfM owners Of these
United States.