Evening star., 1949-06-29
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceDeH
ALEXANDRIA, Va.

Dear Sir:
THE American egrets have returned. Last
night I saw five wading in the marshes at
Four-Mile Run, just south of the National
Airport. Last year. I did not see any until
August. Perhaps we're going to have even
more of these spectacular birds with us this
year. I hope you'll devote column to this
very interesting visitor
Yours very truly, B. W., jr."
They are truly beautiful birds, these egrets.
now making comeback in the South
The National Capital Is glad to have them
come here.
They are. however, no prettier than our
other birds They are larger than some Of
the other water birds. but not particularly
more beautiful Nor are their habits any
more interesting.
A nice gull for instance! There is good
one.
It IS always interesting. more so to some
than others. to see something rare.
And the egret is a rare one, at least has
been for many years.
Since the comeback started. dozens of
them have been seen along the East Coast
as far as New York and even in lower
Massachusetts,.
As far as we are concerned, we will take
a blue jay or cardinal or a chickadee
These are fine BIRDS too, and appeal to
thousands because they come to their very
doors.
There is something especially appealing,
these people think, to the dooryard bird.
Dooryard is a word once used more than it
is today. During the Civil War and there
after. people often spoke Of dooryards. To-
day we say garden. In the old days. people
planted little gardens at doors. They did
not have the idea of foundation planting.
as We say. Some of the old-fashioned door
yard gardens were filled with annual bios
SONS. They used we'll known flowers. the
simple things one could start" from cut
ting, or from plants given by a neighbor
The idea of foundation planting came in
with modern real estate developments. Folks
did not want to wait and do their own plant
ing when they bought house. They wanted
the builder to do it for them. 1t was the
beginning. perhaps. Of that essentially mod
ern idea. to permit some one else to do what
one ought to do for ones self. In the old
days every one had shotgun and a pistol
and was ready to defend his own home. but
now he wants to call the police. Clean
people walk along and see trash on the street
but they seldom. If ever stop to pick it up
That Is some one else's job. too. We are very
departmentalized.
The old days. often sneered at, had many
good points. An egret was no rarity. then
There were plenty Of them. People hadn't
killed them of for their feathers Farther
back, the passenger pigeons gathered by their
millions. They, too, were no rarity. They
were all killed of. Conservation work has
not been thought OF, then. Every man was
his own killer, in the old days There was
some individuality about it. Nowadays we
kill in packs called regiments.
Watch the egrets. when you get chance.
but do not despise the little plain birds, some
of them. that come to our dooryards.
The egret is big, 40 inches of him, with no
crest but with plume springing from the
back and extending beyond the tail.
Plumage is entirely white. The bill is
yellow. the feet black.
The egret is more picturesque. certainly.
and larger
But a brown creeper is a beauty. too.
though he is but few inches long.
Over the years. the creeper is more valu-
able to man. because he creeps over our
trees and cleans them Of harmful insects.
He Is a pleasant little fellow to have
around, one of the sturdy band Of home
birds that steadfastly refuse TO lurk near
rivers but are willing to make their homes at
our little places in the suburbs
Let us value them and realize that
creeper on his tree is quite as spectacular, In
his way. as an egret on the river. 1t Is the
beauty Of bird watching that we can have