Evening star., 1948-10-02
This and That
Bv Charles E. Trace1Oell

A special delivery postcard-of all things
from a mamma hurry:
why don't they tear down the Empire State
Building in New York, into which the warblers
plunged that foggy night, and let the birds
pursue their traditional fight unimpeded?
The glaciers again coming down from the
North will soon knock the place into smithers
anyway.
Besides the birds we're there first"
And here is gentleman who tells us. from
flrst-hand experience, how warblers alight on
the riggirgS of ships at sea. This from q. G.
of Wissioming road:
Your articles on the migrating birds espe-
cially warblers, have been read with interest.
"A slightly different phase came to my at
tention this year. On August 26. clear day,
was aboard an inward bound ship about 200
miles of the coast of Delaware.
Stormy petrels had been skimmng along
the waves like swallows for several days. At
the approximate point previously indicated.
small. tired songbirds started landing in the
superstructure Of the ship.
The most conspicuous was an American
redstart which became tanner the journey
continued This little black bird with red
orange patches would take dried insects from
ventilator screens and fly to the main deck to
pick them to pieces and eat them.
Some yelow-g green warblers did not become
tame enough to permit close approach and
better description. The birds never ventured
far from the ship. They deserted us in Del
aware Bay within sight of land.
while August seems too early for migration
it would appear to be the most logical eXpla-
nation unless you have some other thoughts
on the matter.
THE birds may have been lost in fight while
winging their way southwark on their migra-
tory journey and hitchhked ride, possibly
aSsociating the ship with an island
From Falls Church Va. o. E. G. writes:
The departure of many of the songbirds
from my garden leaves only the songs of the
bugs.
I'm recent article about insect sounds, no
mention was made of the most intriguing in
sect, the cricket
"One made its appearance in my bedroom
quarters about three weeks ago. do not know
how it got in. He seems to be a permanent nix
ture now, and his cheerful chirping lasts far
into the night. I don't need my hearing aid
to locate him.
Il feed him cake crumbs and water In q
seashell.
"He is a companionable little fellow, and
seems to appear close to me at all times, and
I never feel lonesome when he is around"
Our correspondent is right In speaking Of her
cricket as he
Female crickets are silent.
Only the European cricket comes indoors.
American crickets like the outdoors better.
The cricket song is made by raising the upper
or forewing and rubbing OH the hindwings,
which have a sort of soundbox formation.
The rubbing is done with small claw, so
the creature has veritable musical instrument
at his command.
We would advise our Falls Church reader to
vary the cricket diet by giving it bits of lettuce,
tops OF beets, etc, also some bread
European crickets ancestrally spent much OF
their time around the ovens of the Old Coun-
try, and evidently worked up quite liking for
a fresh loaf.
A Chevy Chase, Md, resident writes in
regard to a recent statement that black
snakes do not devour either rattlesnakes or
copperheads, as is sometimes said:
''They may not eat them, but I removed a
26-inch copperhead from the stomach of a big
blacksnake after I had been foolish enough to
kill the black
This throws E. H. in opposition to the en-
cyclopedias, but often enough works of refer
ence are in error in their generalizations.