BY THE WAYSIDE 
4 
Wisconsin Prize Letter. 
The Bronzed Grackle. 
The bronzed glackle is sometimes called the 
“crow blackbird,” and at other times the 
“keel turner,” because when it commences to 
light and turn like any other bird its tail 
turns up, and when he gets on the ground he 
looks all around to see if any thing will hurt 
him. If he thinks that nothing is around he 
walks as if he were a king, and commences 
to eat something from the ground. But 
make some kind of a noise and he is off 
in a flash giving his “chirp,” “chirp,” “chirp,” 
and giving the. warning that something was 
), around. Then he will fly off to some other- 
place and watch and when you go away he 
will “chirp” again and go back to his old feed¬ 
ing place. 
The next time he is quite a little bolder 
about the same noise, but make any other- 
noise and away he goes again. 
Tlr’eir nest consists of some mud plastered 
between some old stump or on an old crotch 
of a tree “usually a pine tree” and they will 
fight any one until they drive him away be¬ 
fore they will give up and let him have the 
eggs or young birds. 
The grackles some times kill other young 
birds. Rath'er than to build his own nest he 
prefers to take the crotch of an old pine tree, 
an old tree that has got a great big hole in 
it, or a woodpecker’s hole. 
The young are all covered with black fuzz 
and make the queerest noise that I ever heard. 
Irving Fitts 
Aged 10. Kilbourn, Wis., April 21, 1905. 
The Bronzed Grackle. 
One night 1 saw several Bronzed Grackles. 
They looked to be very big from where I 
stood. They flew away after they had been 
there a couple of minutes. Their flight was 
straight. 
This morning I saw a large bronzed 
grackle. It was on the ground picking worms 
or insects from the ground. I was quite near 
it before it saw me. In some places it 
looked blue and it shone brightly. It started 
to sing. The first note was long and clear, 
the second was short and the last was nearly 
as long but not as clear as the first or second. 
T have seen about 50 robins, five downy wood¬ 
peckers, six or seven sapsuckers, and a few 
bluebirds, one partridge and a few more birds. 
Aged 12. James Kelly. 
Austin Station, Chicago, March 24. 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
I have not much to say but I think I will 
write about a meadow lark. One day some 
boys and I were playing base ball when we 
heard a meadow lark. We stopped playing 
and lay down and listened. It was singing 
and stayed there very long. We were talk¬ 
ing to each other, thinking that it was the 
meadow lark that was there last year. I am 
a member of the Audubon society and I have 
been a long time. 
Yours respectfully, 
Aged 10. George Hanson. 
Austin Station. Chicago. 
Dear Wayside: 
One morning when I was out in the yard 
I saw a robin in the garden looking for some¬ 
thing to eat. I went into the house to get 
some bread for the robin and when I came out 
to give it to him I let the door slam. 
The robin flew up into the tree with a straw 
in his mouth and I saw what he did with' it; 
he took and fastened it around the nest and 
then around the bark of the tree to hold the 
nest. 
One day when I was out in th’e woods I 
saw a lot of chips around the roots of a tree. 
I went on, not paying attention and in a lit¬ 
tle while I heard a noise and looked up and 
l saw a wood pecker fly out of a hole in the 
tree. Some wodpeckers bring the chips away 
so the nest can’t be found. 
Aged 12 Thomas Harrison. 
Spring Creek, Wis., April 4, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am glad spring has come because it brings 
the little birds and flowers back again. We 
had a snow storm last night. I hope the 
birds have not built their nests and laid their 
eggs because the snow would get in and melt 
and make t-h’e eggs and nest all wet. 
Your truly, 
Jannette Johnston. 
Letters were also received from Willie Zie- 
genhagen, Alma Schmidt, Elizabeth Wolter, 
Rav Redner, Fred Auerbach Ruth Marlow, 
Lester Steans, Harlod Weidencacher, Ruth 
Stanton .Milton Rising, Archie Vanalstin, 
