Evening star., 1949-12-27
This and That
By Charles E. TracsweH
"BETHEsDA. MD.
MD.


Dear Sir:
There has been small bird at our
place recently, would like to know what
1t Is. I do not know one like 1t, hope you
can tell me.
''This is . green bird. with flirting
sort Of habit. It Is there, one moment, 1t
is gone the next. look for II. it Is not
seen, 7 look away, there 1t is.
This is puzzle bird. hope you can
tell me what It Is, would like to know.
''Yours truly. q. H. D."
This puzzle bird, as g. H. D. calls 1t,
iS the kinglet.
It's habit Of dropping out Of sight under
. leaf. then suddenly appearing, sets 1t
OF from most birds.
Not too often will one be seen. It likes
best heavy plantations Of Yhododendrons.
Surely this mite Is unequalled. It is both
beautiful and interesting. with fragile ap-
pearance that bellies its stamina. for there
are few BIRDS Of whatever size, better able
to Withstand the Bullets Of winter.
Bullets Of winter-how one grows to
despise them!
No wonder the old folks 70 to Florida
and California.
Down there, despite the big centipedes.
one can be warm most Of the time, and 1t
Il warmth one Graves.
$50
q Take the old days.
Y Then one did not shrink from the cold.
Could ones age-12 years-have anything
to do with 1t?
That time when q bevy Of girls went by
on the other side Of the street. just as
one happened to slide on an Icy place and
fall down?
"ree hee," went the young ladies. What
one said. in reply, was scarcely what one
should have said. mo gentleman" sneered
the most outspoken Of the young ladies.
Outspoken ladios are fine, In books. As
characters, in novels. they are most ap-
pealing. Henry James created gallery Of
womsn characters Of that type. Each one
Of them is individual, but oil have the
same free way Of thinking and talking.
They are all one GIRL in the final analysis, II
there ever Is any final analysis with James.
The revival Of interest In him and his
works. novels, short stories and plays, goes
on with no apparent stoppage. Now some
one is trying to revive Thomas Hardy. A
new book on Hardy Is hopefully hailed by
its publisher as perhaps starting revival"
Well, maybe.
Kinglets have no cold problems.
Though they weigh not more than q
third Of an ounce, and are clad only In
feathers, fragile as air, they are as warm
as toast even In the coolest weather.
Odd persons who have devoted their
whole lives to studying birds assert that
few species seem to love the cold more.
Flying and dipping down to feed. the
kinglets, both the red headed and the golden
headed, seem to enjoy life with the snow
flakes.
Though they weigh little. and wear only
feathers, they are kept warm by mysterious
inner motors.
These are food motors, as one might
say, fundamentally the same as our own.
All of us living creatures are essentially
food motors. That we live at all Is due
! to food.
Birds are very high tension food motors.
Their temperatures are higher than ours,
and food gets to work to make heat faster
and delivers It more quickly. The way birds
nun up their feathers ensures them warm
air over their bodies.
No watcher need pity them In the cold,
except when they are unfed. There Is not
much we can do for the beautiful small
kinglets Their diet Is almost exclusively
insectivorous. Larvae and plant lice are not
to be found In winter. They live mostly on
eggs and insect forms they ind adhering
to the undertakes Of leaves. A human being
might not zee them, but the sharp little
eyes Of the kinglets never fail.
DO not look for the ruby or golden crowns,
as you will seldom see them In the winter.
Ths bird u beautiful enough without them.