Evening star., 1949-07-19
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceDeH

BIZ Charles E.

SZnd S1HEEl.
Dear Sir:
THE other day in cleaning out the gut
ters of my home. dead squirrel was noted
alongside the small standptpe.
"On attempting to remove 1t. 1t was dis
covered that the long tail was imbedded in
the asbestos filler around the pipe.
Apparently in the heat of the day when
the filler had softened. in some manner the
bushy tail had dragged over the soft mate
rial emeshing the hairs and booming the
squirrel to death.
In April friend brought badly In
jured mockingbird. with head bent nearly ut
right angles, looking as II 1t might expire at
any moment.
ut was given the freedom Of a screened
porch with raisins and q dish Of water.
"At the end Of a. hours there were
scarcely any signs Of recovery. Placed in q
cardboard box alongside the radiator where
1t would be warm and literally supplied with
rafsins and water 1t began to show improve
ment and at the end Of 10 days 1t was
difficult to keep it within its temporary
home, at every opportunity flying across the
room without too much difficulty.
1T was then released in q yard with con-
siderable shrubbery where no other rnocking-
bird had been observed.
1T was no sooner released than mock.ng-
birds from several directions made their ap-
pearance and began attacking 1t. Its fate is
unknown. Very truly yours. l.. r."
In nature death comes in many unusual
ways.
Sometimes birds get entangled in shrub
berry and hang head down until they die Of
exhaustion and starvation. Any one who
carefully examines his own shrubs on q set
plan every day is likely to find some such en-
trapped creature. If found in time. they can
be saved.
The case instanced of the squirrel en-
trapped in softened asbestos is unusual. One
may wonder II the facts were as they seemed.
The squirrel is 50 active so 1.-the and muscu-
lar. that 1t would seem impossible that he
could not have pulled himself loose. even
after the material hardened. These rodents
often spread themselves cut on roofs and
concrete walks to cool of. In this instance
the animal may have been i'll. or about dead,
and so died peacefully not knowing that its
tail was stuck.
We have watched hundreds Of squirrels
spread themselves out nat on walks on hot
days.
Sometimes they do 50 in the grass. If one
is not acquainted with this trick. he may
think the animal i'll or dead, only to-be
astonished as it darts away at last.
Sometimes baby birds drown in shallow
puddles. We have seen baby sparrows saved
by the intelligent interference of starlings.
In one case. the big bird picked up the spar
row and removed 1t from the water, after
which it recovered. 1t was difficult to think
theA action not the result Of reasoning
mind.
Birds released into the open after an in
jury must take their chances.
Birds, like humans. resent any difference,
and undoubtedly different smell Is part Of
what they dislike.
After a bird has been indoors, and asso-
ciated with humans. it must pick up enough
odor to make it strange to its kind.
The typical bird smell is liked best by
birds.
But their beady little eyes can see, too. the
slightest difference, and without doubt they
resent these differences just as humans pre-
fer all to be alike.
1t is said that the all-white baby penguin
is Stunned by its parents. is not fed either
by them or other penguins. and finally is
pecked 10 death by the tribe. This is the
penalty the poor baby must pay for being
different.
The safety valve of flight in an adult
the mocker probably had to suffer until the
indoor smell wore of it. and it resumed its
natural outdoor bird odor after which the
others let it alone, in all probability.
This is the usual procedure. but we have
seen adult robins chase an adult robin until
it expired.
The female cardinal can be one of the
worst fiends in chasing other birds away
from her nest, but in no case does she pur-
sue them longer than is necessary to get
them away from her young.