Junior Naturalist Work. ioq 



like the crows. They do so much harm robbing song-birds' nests and eating 

 the young birds. 



" I am disgusted with them. I think they ought to be shot. This is not 

 the only case I know of. They have often killed old birds on their nest 

 while defending their little birds. 



" I have no sympathy for them at all. They are thieves and robbers. 



■■ Hoping my letter is not too long, I will close. 



"From EDITH L. WRIGHT, 

 Age 12 years. " Ogdensburg, N. Y." 



2. Prhc for best letter on country roadsides. 



" Dear Uncle John : 



" I have been studying the country roadside this summer and I thought 

 I would tell you about it. 



" The dandelions come about the first here. The flowers are of a yellow 

 color. They grow very thick all over the hillsides and pastures and the 

 roadsides. The next flowers that bloom, I think, were the buttercups and 

 daisies. The buttercups grow quite tall and the flowers are yellow. The 

 daisies grow quite tall also. They are yellow in the centre with a white 

 frill around the edge. 



" Then violets, strawberry, bloodroot and mandrake blossom. The violet 

 is dark blue. These flowers are cousins to the pansy and look very much 

 like it. The flowers of the strawberry plant are quite small and white. The 

 plant is a sort of a vine that runs on the ground a short distance and roots 

 start out along the vine. The berry is red and the seeds grow quite different 

 from most plants. They are on the outside of the berry. 



" The bloodroot is a white blossom but it grows a little higher than the 

 strawberry. The reason it is called bloodroot is because when you break 

 the stem there is a sort of juice that comes out and the color of the juice 

 is reddish orange. The mandrake has a pretty flower. 



" The thistle grows in pastures and roads. The leaves to it are a little 

 different from most plants. There is sort of thorns on the edge of the 

 leaves. The thistle has two different colors. They are purple or white. 



" The clover is very common all over around here and the plant grows 

 all the year. 



" Forget-me-nots, wild roses and wild bluebells come about next. The 

 forget-me-nots grow along in the little brooks that flow by the road. These 

 flowers are very small and they are light blue. 



■'•'The wild rose is a pink or red flower. This flower has little thorns 

 something like the thistle only this is woodlike. 



" Bluebells grow in quite swampy places. The flower is described very well 

 by its name for it is really a blue bell. 



" The ' flower de luce ' blossoms in the same place as the bluebell. It 

 wants swampy ground. 



"Then last of all come the goldenrod. Jacob's ladder or butter and eggs. 

 The goldenrod is yellow. It grows taller than most plants. 



" From your niece 



"RUTH KIDDER 

 Age 10 years. " Jamestown, N. Y." 



