BY THE WAYSIDE 
79 
the wren came, peeped in, and pulled 
out a piece of grass. He let the grass 
drop and while it was descending, the 
wren went round and round it. It 
looked as if he were sorry and afraid of 
what he had done and wanted to put the 
grass back again. 
When the bluebird came back the 
wren was safe in its own house. This 
happened many times until the bluebirds 
were discouraged and moved away. It 
came back now and then to take a peep 
at the old home which had been so care¬ 
fully chosen and proved very comfort¬ 
able until the wren intruded. 
Willie Ross, 
Appleton, Wis., Aged 10. 
Mar. 23, 1906. 
Cross Plains, Wis., Mar. 29, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
I saw many bluebirds last summer. 
Some great man said that they carry the 
sky on their back and the earth on their 
breast, because their back is blue and 
their breast is like clay. One summer I 
found a nest in a hollow post. I went to 
the post every day and watched the bird. 
Once a blue jay came out of the nest. I 
looked into it and saw it empty. I think 
the blue jay got the eggs, but the blue 
bird always came back each summer. It 
builds its nest chieflv in hollow trees, 
7 
stumps and posts. 
Yours truly, 
Joseph Marking. 
Cross Plains, Wis., March 29, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
I was very much pleased when I saw 
that the bluebird was the bird we were 
to write about. The bluebird is a very 
pretty bird and is found in nearly all 
parts of the United States. It is one of 
the first birds that comes north in spring 
and therefore it is called the spring mes¬ 
senger. 
Last year a pair of bluebirds built 
their nest in a hollow old maple tree. 
A boy in the neighborhood did not like 
birds. He got his gun and shot the 
mother bird. I asked him why he shot 
the poor innocent bird. He replied: “It 
is not good for anything, anyhow.” The 
father bird soon got a new mate. I hope 
they will come again this spring. There 
are some blue birds here alreadv. 
J 
Yours truly, 
John Uebersetzig. 
Elkhart Lake, Wis., April 5, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
March 23th some of my friends went 
walking in the woods. I went with 
them. We saw a robin sitting on one of 
the topmost branches of a hickory tree. 
He was singing very sweetly. We 
stopped a little while to watch him. It 
was the first robin that I saw this spring. 
April 2nd we took another walk, and saw 
one partridge, one bluebird and about 
six blackbirds. Elkhart is a verv good 
place to study birds and nature. 
I am a member of the Audubon Socie¬ 
ty. We have a meeting of the Audubon 
Tuesday evening. We will have little 
talks about birds. I am on the program. 
I will talk about the robin. I love birds 
very much. Miss Ida Diehl is my 
teacher. I am eleven years old and am 
in the sixth grade. 
Luetta Kraemer. 
Granville, Ill., March 29, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
There are very many different kinds of 
