BY THE WAYSIDE. 
60 
it lias a sweet little trilling song. Tt is valu¬ 
able as a destroyer of weed seeds. 
The chickadees have been more numerous 
here than ever before that I know of. Not a 
block in the city but one hears them and in 
the parks they are still more numerous. They 
nest early in May. 
The scarlet tanager is a glorious scarlet all 
over except its wings and tail, which are jet 
black. Its note is a clear, beautiful whistle 
and its mate is a soft yellow-olive—very unlike 
the male, and the young are a little like both, 
and so are very gay sometimes with their red 
and black and yellow and green. 
I should say Melinda Heidenreich’s bird was 
a solitary sandpiper, excepting that she de¬ 
scribes it as having a large tail. She should 
look this up in one of Chapman’s books and 
see whether she has made a mistake. 
Remember to tell more about what the birds 
you describe are doing. 
Annabel C. Whitcomb. 
Milwaukee, Oet. 10, 1903. 
To I he Editor of The Wayside: 
It may interest the members of the Audubon 
Society and readers of The Wayside to know 
what is being done in this vicinity to protect 
birds. 
Taking in the district north <of the railway 
track, crossing Farwell avenue and east of the 
river, purple martin houses are up, that is on 
poles, to accommodate from 100 to 150 pairs, 
and an estimate that 75 pairs nested and 
reared broods in 1903 is low. 
My twenty-six room martin house contained 
twenty pairs. A friend has a house with 
twenty-four compartments, he had probably 
fifteen pairs. Another house has twenty 
rooms, one fifteen, and so on down to single 
rooms. 
1 also had a pair each of tree swallows, blue 
birds and house wrens. 
In the same district I knew of five blue birds’ 
nests. Blue birds did not nest at my place 
until last year, although ten years previously 
1 had one pair. Last year they did not build 
a nest until May, this year apparently the 
same old pair arrived March 25th. 
Owinff to the severe weather, when the 
c 
young of the first brood left their house, close 
observation resulted in only one being about 
with the parents, when they renested, although 
six esfors were in the nest. When the second 
r"5 O 
brood was hatched and the young birds were 
about half grown. T missed the male bird of 
the pair, and then noticed the grown young 
blue bird assisting the mother feeding the 
birds still in the nest. As this kept up each 
day, and all day for a week or more, there is 
no doubt about this and it may never have 
been observed before. Who told the blue bird 
youngster that he or she must help? 
1 have three entrances in my house in the 
attic for purple martins, and each year the 
past six years, one or two pairs have raised 
a nest of young birds in the house. Peep 
holes through the boxes give full view of the 
interior, and all that is going on therein, such 
as nest building, breeding, feeding and the 
young. 
It is certainly a novel sight to see a nest 
full of freshly hatched purple martins. 
I wish to report that a few Sundays ago, 
while in the woods near the Downer College, 
at least 25 boys were noticed each armed with 
a sling shot, which they keep hidden in their 
pockets, likewise stones, which they produce 
and shoot at any bird coming near. I warned 
two beys at least 17 to 18 years old of the 
heavy fine for killing song birds, which had 
some effect. But who is there to arrest them? 
Crown people about don’t seem to notice any¬ 
thing, excepting street cars or other people, 
buildings, etc., but birds, no! The fact that 
droves ot boys go to these nearby woods shoot¬ 
ing birds, each Saturday and Sunday, and pos¬ 
sibly every day, goes to show that they feel 
perfectly safe in so doing. One day I saw two 
boys with air guns. This same thing, I am 
told, is going on in the woods in Bay iew. 
and no doubt in all outlying portions of the 
city. A few' arrests and heavy fines paid 
would put a stop to this nefarious work. 
Frederick Wahl, 
591 Frederick St. 
Floral Enigma. 
My first for each one of us 
Carpets the earth; 
Mv second in Scotchman’s name 
Tells of his birth; 
My whole with rich color 
Warms forest and field. 
And oft to the artist 
True pleasure doth yield. 
—From St. Nicholas. 
