14 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
in the topmost branches of the tree was a 
very large chicken hawk which was bat¬ 
tling with an enfuriated mother bird of the 
crow family. She was guarding her young 
birds. This cruel chicken hawk then made a 
snatch at the nest and in doing so killed the 
mother bird and all of the young but one and 
this one fell to the ground and my friend 
picked it up. He then succeeded in killing the 
chicken hawk with a small riHe he had with 
him. 
We then took the bird home and it grew to 
be quite a large bird and flew all around the 
neighborhood. One day we took him to a bird- 
dealer who slit his tongue and in a few weeks 
he was able to talk. 
One of his favorite ways was to sit on the 
telephone poles or wires and say “Jim Crow.’’ 
If anybody asked him if he was bad, he 
would say “no;” if you asked him if he was 
good he would say “ves.” 
,o «/ «/ 
One day he was making a wide detour of 
the country around and lit on a wire which', 
alas, was a live one and he bowled over like 
a shot rabbit. 
Charles Allen Clark, 
5th grade. Chicago. 
The Planting Bird. 
| The brown thrush is commonly known as 
the “planting bird” because it sings so much 
at planting time and its sweet rippling notes 
are made to say the following words.—Mrs. 1 
C. Fisher. ] 
There is a bird that sings in spring, 
It is a cheering song to sing; 
It cheers the farmer at work in the field 
As he works and says, “I’ll never yield 
While the planting bird keeps singing.” 
It says, “Dig a hole, drop a seed. 
Then cover it up, kill the weed; 
Then hoe and take care of your crop, 
Keep working and never stop, 
Till your harvest is gathered.” 
So the planting bird keeps singing. 
Aged 12. —James Pratt. 
The Baltimore Oriole. 
Almost every day I see an oriole next door 
from us. They have large trees in their back 
yard and the oriole likes to sit in the highest 
branches of the trees. 1 have never seen a 
female oriole, but I hope some day I may. I 
think the oriole is one of the prettiest birds 
we have. 
The oriole’s nest is like a pocket suspended 
from the end of a high, slim branch. It is 
•made of twine and straw and a lot of other 
things. I think the oriole builds its nest at 
the end of a slim branch so that cats cannot 
get at it., and another reason is, the oriole 
likes to have the wind rock it. I was looking 
out of our bedroom window one day and I 
heard an oriole singing, but I did not see it, 
when all of a sudden it flew past me. It look¬ 
ed so pretty. The oriole is called the Balti¬ 
more oriole because when Lord Baltimore was 
here the orioles were some of the first birds 
he saw and he chose their colors for his own. 
• The oriole’s song is like a part of the rose¬ 
breasted grosbeak’s and if you do not see the 
oriole you will mistake it for the grosbeak. 
“Hush! ’Tis He!” 
My oriole, my glance of summer fire, 
Is come at last, and, ever on the watch, 
Twitches the pack-thread I hael lightly wound 
About the bough to help h'is housekeeping— 
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his 
luck, 
Yet fearing one who had laid it in his way. 
—Lowell. 
May 26, 1905. Ava Larsen. 
Our Robin. 
We have had robins for many years and we 
think it must be the same birds, and so we 
call them “our robins.” Their nests are either 
in our yard, our neighbors, or our orchard. 
This year a pair built their nest in an elm tree 
in the street near our house. 
They are so tame that when we work in 
the garden we throw worms to them, and they 
stay near us and eat them. Early one morning 
we saw one at our lemon lilies pulling out 
the long fibrous leaves, carrying them away to 
build their nest. On one leaf he pull¬ 
ed so hard that he nearly fell over, 
and we laughed for it looked so fun¬ 
ny. This evening when 1 went into our or¬ 
chard 1 saw a nest in the plum tree, I climb¬ 
ed up the tree and 1 saw the nest; I think it 
was not quite finished. It was made of dried 
grass, strings, and bits of rags, woven togeth¬ 
er, and pasted with wet mud. I did not touch 
the nest, but 1 climbed down, and went away. 
I love to watch the birds. This morning 1 
