POLKA BIRD?: We may have an explanation for those disappearing
grosbeaks.[neWLine]

L.J. Gorske of Johnsonburg writes, “”Your comments on the
evening grosbeak and their disappearance was of interest to me. In
years past, it was nothing to look out at my feeders and see
grosbeaks by the dozens. Today, nothing.””[neWLine]

“”Here is a story of one such:[neWLine]

“”Returning home from work one day my wife said there was a
grosbeak at the feeders which couldn’t fly. I picked up same and
brought it into the house. Examining same discovered an injured
wing.[neWLine]

“”My sister-in-law had canaries at the time so I called her to
see if she had a bird cage I could borrow which she did. In the
meantime, my wife had named the injured grosbeak
Rosie.[neWLine]

“”Every Sunday we tuned in to a local radio station that played
polka music.[neWLine]

“”Lo and behold, as soon as Rosie heard the music, she started
to chirp. I told the wife she must be Polish. We had Rosie for two
years before she passed away. During the summer months I used to
hang her cage in a tree outside.””[neWLine]

So, maybe all the grosbeaks are hanging out in St. Marys
listening to the Sunday morning polka party on the radio?! Just a
theory.[neWLine][neWLine]

WORD POWER: Remember those big books we used to consult
occasionally when stumped by the spelling of a particularly
difficult word? (Hint: dictionary).[neWLine]

With the Internet increasingly becoming a source for spellings,
we thought we’d refresh some memories about those old-fashioned
books.[neWLine]

Our information is from the Bradford Landmark Society’s recent
newsletter:[neWLine]

“”Did you know that there are basically four types of
dictionaries, and they are all categorized based on number of words
contained within?[neWLine]

– An unabridged dictionary is one that gives ‘full coverage to
the lexicon in general use at a particular time in the history of
the language, and substantial coverage to specialized lexicons.’ An
example is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, with
450,000 entries.[neWLine]

– A semi-unabridged or collegiate dictionary is one that
contains 150,000 to 175,000 entries and is about 1,500 pages
long.[neWLine]

– A desk dictionary contains 60,000 to 100,000 words,
abbreviated definitions and fewer senses of individual
words.[neWLine]

– A pocket dictionary contains 40,000 to 60,000 words and very
abbreviated definitions.””