BY THE WAYSIDE. 
07 
Birds in October. 
During this month the remainder of the mi¬ 
grants were passing, and the winter birds were 
beginning to arrive. The birds were most nu¬ 
merous during the first half of the month. 
Robins, juncos, goldfinches, bluebirds, chick¬ 
adees, and blue jays were common throughout 
the month. 
Of the warblers, the myrtle was the most 
numerous. 
The American coot and the pie-billed grebe 
were seen several times during the month. 
The first winter birds to arrive were the 
winter wren and the white-crowned sparrow, 
both of which were first seen on the tenth of 
the month. 
Other birds occasionally seen were the belted 
kingfisher, purple finch, golden-crowned king¬ 
let, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated, 
fox, song and tree sparrows, flicker, hairy and 
downy woodpeckers, and the towhee. 
La Crosse. William Schneider, age 15. 
The Humming=Bird. 
The humming-bird is very small, so small 
that they can easily go through between the 
wires of a common bird cage. Their eggs are 
very small, too. Their nest looks like a little 
ball of grass. Once I climbed a tree to look 
in a nest but the mother bird was on, keep¬ 
ing her egg’s warm. I was going down when 
another bird came and flew around me till 
T got down. The young bird is about as big 
as a honey bee when it is first hatched. 
James Pratt, age 11. 
Necedah. 
Cedarburg, Wis. 
Dear Mrs. Peckiiam. —One day last summer 
I Avent to the woods to hear the birds sing. 
While looking around I discovered a bird’s nest. 
I did not know what kind of a nest it was, 
but later I found out that it was the nest of 
the summer yellow bird. The nest was about 
four feet above my head, and contained three 
infant bird babies. 
The mother bird had been killed by some 
cruel boys who threw stones at her. So the 
little birds were left to perish in the nest. 
They were entirely helpless, for they could not 
fly away in search of food. 
J tooJv the nest and inmates home with me, I 
cared for them tenderly and in a short time 
their wings were strong enough so they could 
fly. I took them out doors and they sat on 
the perch in the cage for a few moments, then 
they flew away. They came back several days 
for food, but finally did not return any more, 
at least I did not see them again. 
Frieda Starke, age 13 years. 
Dear Mrs. Peckham I saw a woodpecker 
in our woods. His head was red and his back 
was black. 
One morning on my way tio school I saw a 
flock of wild canaries. They flew from branch 
to branch as if they were cold. 
Caroline Sophia Zentner, 
Member of the Mayflower Audubon Society, 
R. D. No. 2, Oshkosh, Wis. 
512 Pine St., La Crosse. 
Dear Wayside: —One day some of my 
friends and I went to the cemetery. The first 
bird we: saw was a yellow one and we followed 
it every place it. went and at last we found 
out that it was the Baltimore oriole. Then 
we saw a kingfisher and it dived into the 
water and when it came out it bad a fish in 
its mouth. We saw a. little bird and when we 
got up close to it tipped its head and we' saw 
a little red topknot. After a while we were 
told that- it was the ruby-crowned kinglet. It 
was so proud of its little red topknot that 
every time we saw it, it would tip its head. 
We saw a song sparrow, but we were not sure 
what it wa.s, so we followed it up until it flew 
away, so that we didn’t know where it went. 
At last we saw 7 it in the same tree. When we 
saw it, it had its mate. Then a robin came 
and chased them away. We saw 7 the bronzed 
grackle, hawk, flicker, belted kingfisher, chip¬ 
ping sparrow, myrtle warbler, brown thrush, 
red start, red winged blackbird, bluebird and 
black and white creeper. That was all we saw 
that day. 1 can’t think about any more birds, 
so I'll close. 
Josephine Benjamin, aged 11 years. 
Ray and Bettie. 
Ray w 7 a.s a. little boy when this happened. 
Bettie is what lie called his gun. Ray used 
to have lots of fun in shooting sparrows, but 
one day while he was standing in front of the 
hav-mlow trying to scare some sparrows out 
