Call of the Coathanger
Mr. Hopkins wrote:
Send a van, please - we have coat-hangers like some people have mice. The interesting thing is that many of them bear legends like: 'The Munsdale Hotel, Liverpool' and 'Birdham's Emporium, Bath' - neither of which anyone anywhere has ever frequented... whence?Whence indeed? As you all know, I cannot resist this kind of question (latent Cecil Adams tendencies, no doubt). So I will refer Mr. Hopkins to this excellent website devoted to the Migratory Habits of Coathangers. Here you will find detailed descriptions of both the common Munsdale coathanger as well as the lesser Emporium hanger, both of which are frequently sighted in your area.
In my explorations into the fascinating world of coathangers, I was drawn, of course, to the sex life of these busy little creatures. Their mating calls are inaudible to the human ear, but dogs, with their keen senses can perceive them. Even now as I write there is a faint 'curr-ee, curr-ee' and an answering 'frrr-tupp! frr-tupp!' from a pair of Clipped Trouserholders in the closet. The mating dance of the common Papered Drycleaner is quite strenuous, and leaves many of these fragile creatures tattered and misshapen.
Here is a passage from the above site that may be of interest to Bensonites:
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "Whilst birdwatchers flock to the Norfolk marshes to observe the swans from Siberia who winter there, a smaller, but no less dedicated group treks to East Sussex to observe the flocks of coathangers resting in marshes outside Rye. It's an unforgettable sight. Nearly 120 species have been identified in the census taken by the Royal Coathangerwatcher Society each year on July 24th."
"Each spring about 250,000 coathangers (approximately 45% of the English breeding population) fly to Rye and feed along the shoreline, and bathe and drink at the fresh water inlets. Runcible flies and pobble's toes form their main food supply. The coathangers that one sees at Rye early in the summer are the adults in the familiar black, white, and gray metal. They will mate, select a closet, and lay their paperclips by mid-May. The paperclips will hatch by mid-June and by late July the gray-brown fledglings will begin crossing the Atlantic to feed on their own. By early Fall, most will have migrated to Australia. The young will not return to Rye until they reach maturity in four years."
"Mid-summer is heralded by the arrival of the Tufted Satins from their nesting grounds near the Canadian border. The first Satins to arrive are the females, sporting colorful breeding plumage. Once they have mated and laid their paperclips, they begin their long migration to South America and leave their mates who incubate the paperclips, raise the young, and then begin the migration. Rye is one of the main stopovers for the Tufted Satins; as many as 90,000 have been counted at one time."
"The Satins are soon joined by Wooden Suithangers that breed further north, near the Arctic Circle. Their arrival, in late July, raises the number of coathangers at Rye to about 450,000. The Suithangers feed along the shoreline where runcible flies accumulate. Careful observation will reveal Suithangers plucking flies out of the air. Wooden Suithangers almost always feed in the open water and sometimes swim in tight circles, stirring up fly larvae to eat. In preparation for their non-stop, 3,000 mile flight to wintering grounds in South Africa, they will molt, or shed old varnish and grow a glistening new coat. The Suithangers will fatten up, sometimes more than doubling their body weight. Rye is one of the few places that provides the amount of food necessary for the Suithanger's distant and arduous flight south."
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> I could go on and on about the fascinating habits of coathangers. It never ceases to amaze me what a wealth of information, on even the most arcane subject, is available with the click of a button on the Internet. So get out your binoculars, Bensonites, to observe the fascinating habits of these common but underappreciated creatures.
-June 16, 1998-
© 1997 gwshark@erols.com
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