BY THE WAYSIDE 
15 
saw the female picking lip some dried straw 
till she had a big mouth full. 
One morning I saw the robin and the jay 
fighting, but 1 don’t know why. The neigh¬ 
bors and ourselves don’t keep a cat so that the 
wild birds can find good homes in our yards. 
When a stray cat happens to come near, the 
buds know enough to scream loudly, and we 
run out and chase it away. 
Cora Wuerker, 
Aged 11. Alton, Ill. 
Park Falls, Wis., May 4, 1005. 
Dear Wayside: 
Our Audubon Society was just started this 
spring, so we don’t know much about the 
birds. But we are going to learn more about 
them. I will describe a scarlet tanager which 
is very pretty. It has a short black bill; its 
eyes are brown and black. Its wings are 
black and its tail is black. All the rest of the 
bird is red. It looks like a bright red ribbon. 
It eats bugs, worms, seeds, and berries. This 
is all I know about it, but I will learn more. 
A little Audubon girl, 
Aged 0. Diamo Besaw. 
Chicago, May 5, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
I do not know much about the purple grack- 
le so I will tell about frogs. One day 1 went 
with some other boys to study birds. On the 
way I caught a big frog in the ditch and took 
him home. Frogs live mostly in marshy places. 
When it is in a tadpole state it is a water an¬ 
imal, but after its change it has to come to the 
surface to breathe. The tongue is fastened at 
the entrance of the mouth so that it lies back 
in the throat. When it is hungry it darts out 
its tongue and catches an insect and carries it 
back to the throat where it is swallowed. The 
hind legs are longer than the fore legs and are 
webbed. The frogs can make far and rapid 
leaps. I think it is very cruel for boys to 
keep frogs in cans and bottles without board 
or something for them to rest upon and 
breathe freely. I put a board in when T had 
one and 1 wish others to do the same. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 10. Robert Dewar. 
Does Robert know that frogs can breathe in 
water as well as in air? How many of the 
Wayside readers have ever watched frogs 
breathe? 
Durand, Wis., May 19, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
There is a little pewee’s nest in our shed with 
little birds in it. We had another nest but 
the shed fell down and broke the nest and the 
two little eggs that were in it. There is a cat 
bird that comes every night and sings his song 
in our trees. 1 tried to see him one night but 
I just caught a glimpse of him as he flew 
away. When I went into the house he came 
back and finished his song. There; are two lit- 
. . r 
tie ruby-throated humming birds that stay 
around our flowers. Sometimes they try to get 
in at the flowers in the house. There are al¬ 
so a great many gold finches around the yard. 
I see a pair of brown creepers every night and 
morning when I am going and coming from 
school. I think they have a nest somewhere 
but I cannot find it. I also see a pair of 
robins. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 14. June Johnson. 
Kilbourn, Wis., May 17, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
Three seasons ago a pair of flickers hollow¬ 
ed out in a hole in an old decayed tree in our 
yard. Then they built a nest there and they 
have been building there till this spring. Last 
spring T thought a pair of blue birds were go¬ 
ing to build there but they did not. This year 
before the birds came the squirrels made a nest 
there. Then the flickers made another hole 
higher up in another tree, but before it was 
finished we saw two flickers having a fight and 
we think one killed the other for we found a 
dead flicker with its eyes picked out. A little 
while after, the tree in which the flickers nest¬ 
ed first blew down, so neither the flickers or 
squirrels could have the nest. 
Your Wayside reader, 
Aged 9. Ruth Bennett. 
The following is an extract from a very 
interesting letter which is too long to print in 
full: 
Before 1 came to Chicago I lived in Florida 
ten years where I was born. There I enjoyed 
\ ery much the study of birds. I have seen 
the Florida blue jay, some species of th» 
warblers, the mocking bird, and the cardinal 
which I have seen in the state of Georgia. 
One morning while there 1 saw five cardinals 
