08 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
(you all know sparrows like to stay in the 
hay), he had just shot a bird and had picked 
it up and put it in a sack, for that is wlieie 
lie put them, and had leveled his gun to shoot 
another when he heard someone speak, he 
thought. It frightened him and he dropped 
his gun and as he dropped it, it discharged; 
at the same instant he saw in the place of the 
sparrow a pretty yellow-bird, and then he was 
o-lad he had been frightened for on looking in 
the place from which the bird came lie found 
hve little half-grown birds. Ray is a big boy 
now. Bettie stands in the corner and Ray 
(i-ops hunting with a camera. 
Freda Fisher, age 12 years. 
Xeeedah. 
“What is the good of the birds?” one will 
say. 
Well, one of the greatest pleasures we de¬ 
rive from the birds is their pleasant songs 
and cheerful ways, and the amount of insects 
and bugs they eat is beyond belief. 
It is said that upon opening the stomach 
of a warbler, as many as two or three bundled 
insect eggs have been found. Xo\\, if those 
eggs had hatched, what a damage these in¬ 
sects would have done to our fruit trees? And, 
again, it is said that a robin will make a meal 
of a pile of worms as big as a large goose egg, 
and other birds will eat as many in proportion. 
“But what is the use of protecting the 
birds?” one will say again. It is claimed that 
not one-half of the young birds reach the stage 
of maturity, and the more birds there are, the 
better for the farmer. 
W. XX Williams, age 14 years. 
Xeccdah. 
515 X T . 12th St.. La Crosse. 
Dear Madam:—Heavy rains caused the water 
in a marsh near my home to rise very high. 
A few other boys and myself made a raft and 
took turns in riding back and forth on the 
water. One day when I was out riding I saw 
a kingfisher perched on a tree near the watei. 
He was not here very long, but made two or 
three flights about three feet above the water, 
when suddenly he dropped. He soon returned 
with something in his mouth. This that he 
had in his bill jumped so much that it escaped 
the bird. He went after it again and returned 
with it in his bill. Willie Owen. 
Dear Wayside:—I saw a robin hopping on 
a- bush. I saw a canary and it was sitting 
on a tree. I saw a bluejay sitting on a tree. 
1 saw a chick-dee sitting on a tree and it was 
singing to us. 1 saw a brown thiusli sitting 
on a limb. I saw a catbird and it Avas flying 
and singing. I saw a humming-bird sitting on 
a bush. I saw a fish-hawk sitting on a tree. 
Bert M. Williams, age 8 years. 
Why Our Society Receives the Name 
“Audubon.” 
John James Audubon, a celebrated American, 
a writer on birds, was born in Louisiana, May 
4. 1780. When he was a boy he loved the 
birds. He would often keep the birds as pets 
and often tried to make pictures of them. His 
father being an officer of the French na\y, 
sent him when he was fourteen years old, to 
Paris, to study drawing and painting with the 
artist David. When he came back lie settled 
on a farm in Pennsylvania. While he was liv¬ 
ing there he drew many birds from nature, 
but these pictures were destroyed bv mice. 
Ten years later he moved to Kentucky. He 
stayed in the woods for a few’ years, catching 
birds and painting pictures of them. He went 
to England and published a work called “The 
Birds of America,” which contained the pic¬ 
tures of more than a thousand birds, all of life 
size and in their natural colors. 
Audubon died in New r \ ork when 71 years 
old. His works made him very famous. 
Hattie Davis, age 16 years. 
Xeeedah. 
October Birds. 
1 -aw a flock of gulls yesterday. I saw a 
sparrow-hawk yesterday. I saw a bluejay yes 
terday. 1 saw’ a blackbird last Sunday. I saw 
a crow last Saturday. 1 saw a chicken-hawk 
Friday. I saw a woodpecker Thursday. 1 saw 
a w ild duck last A ednesday. I saw a robin 
last. Tuesday. I saw a flock of snow-birds last 
Monday. 1 saw a flock of wild geese last Sun¬ 
day. 1 saw a flock of blackbirds last Sun¬ 
day. 
Harry Sawin, age 9 years. 
Xeccdah. 
