92 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
We imagine their breasts get white when it 
is going to snow. 
The j unco’s morp, common name is snow-bird. 
Frances Toq^sb'age 12 years. 
, * \ -'H/' 
Boardman. 
Dear Wayside. —Once there were two blue 
jays fell out of a nest at our place. One of 
them broke one of his wings. We took it into 
the house and put it in a cage. His mother and 
father staid around the cage all the time. His 
mother came and pecked at him. When we had 
him a short time we let him go. 
The blue jay stays here all year, and during 
the warm days of February and March he 
surprises us with his sweet song. His voice 
lias a wide range and his cry is harsh. 
They have one bad habit, that of robbing 
other birds’ nests. When they go to rob nests 
they are very quiet. Some of the good things 
that they do are: To pick worms and insects 
out of the ground and from the bark of the 
trees and they take good care of their little 
ones. 
The blue jays are not afraid of cold weather, 
they stay long after the other song birds are 
gone to the south. Mr. Blue Jay is always 
dressed in grand style. His crest and back are 
light purple, his wings are bright blue with 
here and there pretty marks in black and white, 
his tail is blue with black bars across it and 
the ends of the long feathers are tipped with 
white. He has a black collar. His face is 
white, his bill is black, and his eyes are brown. 
Although a beautiful bird, he is very rude. 
Lauretta Simon, age 8. 
Some Letters Written Last Autumn. 
Dear Wayside. —The little birds begin to 
look sad and think: “The cold winter is nearly 
here.” and they know they will have to leave 
us. Most of the birds are going south. But 
some of them are not done nesting yet. As 
T was going to school one morning an old 
mourning dove flew up. I went after her a 
ways but T remembered that they did the sa'-'O 
when they had a nest, so I went back to look 
for it and there it was, with two little birds in 
it. As soon as they saw me they began to 
fly and flutter through the grass. I had a time 
catching them, but after a few minutes T had 
them both. I put them in the nest and went 
away, I saw two snipes going south this 
morning, and lots of birds are going all the 
time. 
James Clinton Pratt, age 11 years. 
There is a flock of canaries flying around 
our house in the morning. 
Last Friday six bluejays went flying past 
to the southwest. 
About two weeks ago two owls were flying 
over our corn field and rye field. 
Annie Fredreka Williams, age 12. 
Miner, 
Wis. 
About Birds in September. 
Dear Wayside. —I saw a red bird last night 
as I was going to the barn. It had black wings 
and a black tail and black bill. 
This morning I saw a cuckoo. It was in j 
an old oak tree. It kept singing “cuckoo! 
cuckoo!” and then it flew away. I saw a nest 
of sparrows. It was in a little oak bush. 
To-day noon I saw a crow. It was hollering 
* “caw, caw!” It was in an oak tree. 
Mabel A. Sawin, age 8. 
Necedaii. 
September Birds. 
Necedaii. 
Dear Wayside. —Last week I saw a little 
chickadee carrying straw in a bird house. Af¬ 
ter it got all of the straw it wanted it found 
a piece of bread and carried it to the box and 
took it in the door. Then after a while it 
came out and flew on the well porch where 
the children had pumped some water and got 
a drink. Wilson Vammeter, age 11. 
Birds in October. 
Necedaii. 
The robins have gone away from us and they 
went south. The blue jays are here vet, but 
they don’t go away from us; they stay nil 
winter. I saw a chickadee flying south. And 
the woodpecker, they don't go away. 
Bert M. Williams. 
