BY THE WAYSIDE 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN AND ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
One Year, 25 Cents Price Three Cents One Year, 25 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society. 
Entered January 27, 1903, at Milwaukee, Wis., as second-class matter, under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 
VOL. VI. SEPTEMBER, 1903 No 5 
Professor Chipmunk’s Surprising 
Adventure. 
The oak tree selected by the committee was 
excellently adapted for the purpose, being deep 
in the woods, shady, and yet not so thickly 
leaved as to obstruct the audience’s view of 
the sky, in case of hawks or other unruly mem¬ 
bers of society. . 
Professor A. Chipmunk, though a little 
dingy in coloring and somewhat thin, as in¬ 
deed was natural, considering his experiences, 
appeared to be fully conscious of the import¬ 
ance of the occasion and ready to do his best. 
Precisely at noon he climbed to his place 
on one of the smaller brances, took a dainty 
sip of rain water from an acorn cup, waved 
his tail gracefully to the audience, and began: 
Quadrupeds and Bipeds: Your committee 
has told me that there is much curiosity 
among you in regard to my experiences dur¬ 
ing my recent captivity in the hands of that 
grasping and selfish race which converts our 
happy woodlands into desolate farms, and 
prefers to the sprightly and interesting dwell¬ 
ers of the woods the overfed and stupid slaves 
of the farmyard. For the benefit of my young¬ 
er hearers, I will say plainly that I refer to 
the ordinary Homo, commonly known as man. 
| (Applause.) 
Most of you know that it was my misfor¬ 
tune to fall into the clutches of these strange 
animals, and my good fortune to return again 
to my bereaved family, and to you, my neigh¬ 
bors. And I am sure that I can find no more 
fitting occasion that the present to thank you 
all for having supplied my wife and children 
with acorns and walnuts during my absence. 
But for the sake of the few who may not know 
how it was that I became the prisoner of the 
slow-moving animals to which I have already 
referred, I will explain that I entered, in the 
interests of science, a sort of inclosure or arti¬ 
ficial burrow known in their tongue as a 
“trap.” My purpose in entering the inclosure 
was to ascertain whether it was a safe place 
for a squiirel to reside and I am quite con¬ 
vinced by my experience that it is not. The 
trap is commodious, dark and well sheltered; 
but it has the serious defect that the entrance 
does not always remain open. Indeed, in the 
case of the one I examined, no sooner had I 
entered it than something fell over the end, 
shutting out the light. As it fell I heard a 
peculiar sound from a bush near by, sounding 
like “Igothim” 
Some of you may ask why I did not push 
aside the obstruction and escape. The same 
thought occurred to me; but no matter how 
hard I pushed, it would not move. I then 
began to gnaw my way out, when a remark¬ 
able thing occurred. You have, many of you, 
, been upon a branch when it was violently 
swayed by the wind. In the same Avay did this 
trap behave. It seemed to be raised from the 
ground and to be shaken violently, so violently, 
in fact, that I had to cease my attempts at 
gnawing my way out. 
This continued for quite a time, and when 
it ceased the cover was opened. Glad to es¬ 
cape, I sprang through the opening. But to 
my surprise I found that I was not free. I 
found myself in another inclosure made of 
thin straight twigs, without bark, and harder 
than any wood. I think I may say without 
presumption that my teeth are as good as 
those of any rodent who may be present, but 
try as I might, I could make no impression 
upon even the smallest of those cold gray 
twigs. 
[At this moment two blue-jays in one of 
the upper branches, who had already been 
chattering in rather an audible tone, burst 
into a peal of mocking laughter. A king-bird 
flew at them and gave them a good pecking, 
whereupon they flew away toward the swamp, 
and the audience settled down again and begged 
the professor to go on.] 
As I picked up a few words of their lan¬ 
guage, I can inform you that this contrivance 
was called a “ cage ,” and seemed to have been. 
