Evening star., 1948-01-01
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1vell

It Is not alone in having two legs that
birds resemble people. They also are stubborn
and contrary. Two mockingbirds came to the
porch rail the other day in the snow. Some
raisins had been placed near one end, but
for some reason this placement did not please
them.
They sat on the trellis above another Sec
tion of the railing, and looked down steadily.
This, 1t seemed, was the particular spot
where they wanted to eat.
fresh supply of raisins promptly was car
ried out to them. While this was going on,
Of course, the Knockers flew to nearby bush.
AS the door closed, the. donor thought the
mockingbirds would return He might have
known better. Neither birds nor humans
always do the expected thing.
The mockingbirds flew completely away
without touching a raisin at either end of
the railing
A band of hungry starlings got them all.
1t is feature OF the starlings that they are
easy to please.
This should be remembered, when these
malgned birds are considered.
Some of the more desirable species at times
seem extremely difficult to satisfy. They want
bread when you offer raisins, and raisins when
you offer bread.
Starlings can always be counted on to eat
what they like. Two of their favorites are
raisins and bread. So If one does not want
them it is easy to deter them from coming.
Simply do not put out bread in any form.
English sparrows, another maligned species,
also like bread in the cold, as well as seeds
and grains.
Common sparrows resemble these children
who have been brought up to eat whatever
is placed before them. They do not demand
just cola drinks and cookies. Sparrows drink
ing cola drinks and consuming cookies, it
must be admitted, would be sight to see.
They eat their spinach and their orange
juice, fguratively speaking. Probably no other
birds eat so large a variety of foods from
japanese beetles through seeds and grains to
fresh peas
There is no trouble at all I'M catering to these
small fellows, and this must be held In their
favor.
1t seems SO easy nowadays to despise some
thing. This evil spirit has spread around the
world with lightning steps. Despite the spread
of UNIVERSAL education, people are more touchy
than ever before. Perhaps little education
is, after all, dangerous thing, as Pope said.
People who feed the birds in the cold should
remember that this pleasant occupation offers
distinctly more than filling the stomachs Of
hungry birds.
Feeding the birds may also be proving
ground for human sentiments 1t seems old
fashioned to say that there are good sentiments
and bad sentiments But there are! It is
much easier to glover at sparrows than to
accept them.
Acceptance, the modern world seems to be
finding out, grows increasingly difficult with
every new thing we learn. It would seem 1t
should be just the other way around, but the
sad fact of the human species IS that the more
we know the more hoity -toity we are inclined
to become. And if some one puts gun into
our hands, that is when the shooting begins.
Acceptance of others will have to begin
sometime and somewhere, If this welter of
human beings We call the world is ever to
roll into the valley of peace.
This good work may just as well begin at
bird feeding station as any place else. II we
can bring ourselves to accept, in the face Of
snow and ice, the birds we may not alto
gether like, we may in time become big
enough and strong enough not to be afraid
of those human beings whose skin does not
match ours.
In this way what began as a game and
pleasant hobby may turn out to be a sort of
education, except that Its classroom Is more
pleasant and its scholars more interesting.
There are no ounces In this school, In
fact. let IT be whispered, they are just little
lower than the angels. They can fly.