BY THE WAYSIDE 
62 
rows. I uni feeding them some cane 
seed ol which they seem very fond. 
We have also been visited bv a flock 
of titmice and a pair of hairy wood¬ 
peckers. I think they are hunting in¬ 
sects around old apple and pine trees as 
thev won’t come near mv cane seed. 
I used to see a big flock of bob-whites 
this fall, but they were either driven 
away or killed, as I saw a man shoot at 
them. 
There is a screech owl in our barn 
which I have seen catching sparrows sev¬ 
eral times in the evening. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 14. Robert Weber. 
Granville, Ill., Feb. 1, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
I have joined the Audubon society and 
thought I would write to you. My 
brother wrote to you and had his letter 
printed, so I thought I would try, too. 
My brother and I were going to our 
neighbors; we saw a robin hopping in 
1 ■ i V - .i 1 " • » 
tho grass. We went closer to it and we 
saw that some one had shot through its 
wing. We took it home and bound the 
i 
wing up, hut it did not live. 
One day my sister and I were outdoors 
and we heard the bluejays calling for 
help. We went to see what was the 
matter, and we saw our cat had a voung 
bluejay in its mouth. We whipped the 
cat and made it let go of the bluejay. 
'fhe bird was dead. The cat did not trv 
to catch any more birds. 
Yours truly. 
Aged 9. Bertha Anderson. 
Maywood. 111. 
Dear Wayside: 
Two or three years ago. when we lived 
in the country a pair of hairy wood¬ 
peckers built in our orchard. The nest 
was in an old cherry tree. I went to 
look at it every day. By and by when 
the little birds came we watched the 
mother feed them. She did not seem a 
bit afraid and would feed them while we 
w r ere watching, but the father would not 
come near. When the birds got larger 
they made such a noise that you could 
hardly go near them. I often put pieces 
of bread beside the tree and it was al¬ 
ways gone when I went the next time. 
One day I went and found them gone. 
, ' . • y. > 
They had flown. 
Aged 13. Juanita Reade, 
Treas. Maywood Audubon Society. 
Drummond, Wis., Dec. 14, 1905. 
Dear friend: 
i - : ‘ . : L • 
Once I was out in a field and saw a 
bird. This bird’s name was Robin. I 
watched it for a long time. Soon I saw 
it gathering mud and it started to build 
its nest. After it had made its neSt. I 
went over and peeked in it; there were 
four greenish eggs. When I went up to 
the nest, the two robins chirped and sang 
and were so angry because I went up to 
them. About two weeks after I went 
over to the nest and there were four little 
babv birds in it. I did not touch them 
because if I had they would have died. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Emil Miekelson. 
Ludington, Wis,, Nov. 20, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
Last summer 1 saw a large hock of 
canary birds. They came near the 
house. 1 hey are such lovely singers. 
My sister Ella and 1 took an old bird 
cage out and hung it on a post. We 
thought they would come and flv in the 
cage, so we could tame them. But not 
