76 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
Birds in December. 
La Crosse, Wis., Jan. 6, 1904. 
4If) N. 12th Street. 
On the 0th of December, while taking a 
walk in Pettibone Park, we saw a flock of 
chickadees. In company with these little fel¬ 
lows we found three or four white-breasted 
nut-hatches. Yvnen returning we were attracted 
by a lisping tone, and found that it was made 
by a brown creeper. We saw four of them. 
In the morning of the same day I saw a downy 
and hairy woodpecker. 
On the twelfth I saw a flock of birds com¬ 
posed of juneos and tree sparrows. Near the 
same place we saw a flock of about a dozen 
evening grosbeaks. In company with them we 
found a solitary robin. He was nearly frozen. 
At the same time we saw a flock of about two 
dozen bobwhites which staved under the cedar 
and spruce trees. These birds have stayed in 
the same place during the whole winter up to 
the present time. 
William Schneider, age 15. 
Boardman, Wis. 
Dear Wayside. —The bluejay lives in the 
forest in winter. Their neck and head are 
purple. He has a crescent shaped collar. His 
wings and tail feathers are of bright blue with 
stripes of black and white. He is a very orna¬ 
mental fellow. 
The bluejay has a peculiar voice. You can 
hear him a long ways off. His cry is harsh, 
but in the warm days of February and March 
they surprise us with their almost sweet music. 
When they are talking with one of their 
friends that they have learned to love their 
voices are low and sweet. 
They have one bad habit—robbing the nests 
of the smaller birds of their eggs and little 
birds. When they go out robbing, they are 
very still. 1 saw them catch some little birds. 
1 have told about their bad habits and now 
I am going to tell some of their good habits. 
They take great care of their little birds. No 
bird does more good to the crops than the 
bluejay. He picks the worms and insects and 
for this reason we ought not to harm him. 
lie is a brave, busy bird. He is not afraid of 
cold weather. Long after the song birds have 
gone south you can see him dodging about 
among the bare trees. They are very busy 
looking for something to eat and do not have 
time to get cold. 
In April they find a place among the thick 
branches of some tree and build their nest 
with twigs and fine roots and stems of dry 
leaves, which they lay together until they have 
made a big nest. They work so fast that in 
live or six days it is ready for the eggs. The 
eggs are of a greenish gray color with little 
spots of brown all over them. 
We caught two little bluejays once. They 
fell out of their nest. At first we could not 
catch them, but after a short time we suc¬ 
ceeded. We kept them in a cage for a long 
time and one day when we were going away 
papa told us to let them go. We did so. The 
mother and father sat on the tree and watched 
us. I was afraid they would peck us. I 
would not catch them since I have joined the 
Audubon Society. 
Elsie Simon, age 10 years. 
Kosiikonong, Wis. 
Dear Wayside. —One day I went out in 
the field to take my papa some water, and as 
1 came back I saw two little ground birds 
and I wanted to give them some crumbs which 
1 had with me, but when 1 got hear them 
they would run along the ground and give a 
happy little chirp. They did not seem afraid 
of me. I talked kindly to them and threw 
the crumbs on the ground, and they flew up 
in a tree near by. But if they came back and 
ate them or net I don’t know, for mamma called 
me and I went home. 
Norma Weiss, age 12. 
Hammond, Wis. 
Dear Wayside. — 1 belong to the Audubon So¬ 
ciety and like it very much. One day I was 
outside and I happened to see a robin by the 
water barrel. Then I stayed outside awhile 
and watched him. He then flew up in a tree 
with 'gome mud in his mouth. When I looked 
up in the tree there was straws, horse hairs 
and feathers. He put the mud down in the nest 
and came down all the time getting mud for it. 
Then when he was up in the tree I put a string 
in the mud, but when he cam e down again he 
would net take the string but went back up to 
the nest. Josie Rasmussen, age 11. 
