6 
BY THE WAY BIDE 
WISCONSIN PRIZE LETTER. 
Dear Wayside: 
As I was walking past a clump of willows 
the other day, I noticed a small brown bird 
near the end of a branch, who suddenly jerk¬ 
ed his tail, put back his head and began to 
sing. I knew in an instant that the little fel¬ 
low was a song-sparrow. As he sent forth 
each note his head was thrown back and his 
white throat appeared and disappeared making 
the small black spot on his breast more pro¬ 
nounced. I noticed that his tail, also, kept 
time by twitching gently .up and down. As he 
sang, each time with a new variation, I could 
hear another song-sparrow far away, replying. 
The bird which I was watching, however, no¬ 
ticed my close attention and flew away. Since 
his destination was a tree only a short dis¬ 
tance away, I did not have to walk far to find 
him again. Very soon, after picking insects 
from the bark of the tree—between songs— 
he grew tired of airy perches and descended 
to the ground. Here he stayed picking in¬ 
sects and seeds from the dry grass. Once he 
paused and uttered one of his melodies but 
otherwise silence prevailed. After eating his 
fill he decided to leave me and giving his tail 
a final flirt, he flew over the trees and out of 
sight. 
Robins, blue birds song-sparrows, and jun- 
coes are very common, but I have seen a great 
many others. Ethel Winslow. 
Aged 13. Madison. 
o 
A REPORT FROM NECEDAH. 
Dear Wayside: 
We started a little Audubon society here a 
year ago with twenty members. We now have 
thirty-nine on our roll. We have roll call 
answered with weekly report of observations 
on birds. During 1 vacations we have no meet- 
ings as we are all farmers and rather scattered. 
Our president can not always meet with us 
so different members are asked to take charge 
at different times. This plan works well as 
they all take an interest in the work. We 
are to have a paper edited by our program 
committee. 
We conduct our business according to par¬ 
liamentary rules and find it a good thing as 
the members when in other business meetings 
surpass some of their elders in observance of 
rules. We expect to adopt a constitution soon. 
Can anyone tell us another name for the 
bird commonly called “sweetheart" or “sweet- 
hearting,” and describe the bird? We often 
hear them and all love their sweet song, but 
they seem very shv and stay in the brush 
and woods, seldom showing themselves. Has 
the chickadee any note, call or song beside 
“chick-a-dee-dee ?” 
There are flocks of small grey birds here. 
They are a little larger than a chickadee, dark 
slate color, almost black on back and whole 
of head and throat with lighter grey under¬ 
neath. When flying they show white feathers 
on each side of the tail. The only sound we 
have heard from them is “chip-chip.” They 
eat weed seeds. No one knows a name for 
them. 
If there are any Audubon societies in this— 
Juneau county, will their secretary please 
write to our secretary? We may be of help 
to each other. 
Our secretary’s address is Freda Fisher, Ne- 
cedah, Juneau county, Wis. 
Mrs. Ivy Fisher (Teacher) 
Necedah, Wis. 
We know of no bird called “sweetheart.” 
The chickadee has a song which resembles the 
phoebe’s. Nuttall says of it: “Altho more 
frequently uttered in spring, it is now and 
then whistled on warm days even in winter, 
it may be heard, in fact, every month of the 
year. It consists of two, or less frequently, 
three, clearly whistled and rather meloncholy 
notes, like the syllable phee-bee, not drawled 
like the song of the wood pewee, and sweeter 
even than the cry of the phoebe.” The flocks 
of slate colored birds are juncoes. They have 
been very common during the stormy days of 
the late spring. R. M. 
Necedah, Juneau Co., Wis., March 30, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
I saw a flock of robins last Thursday and I 
think there was more than a hundred of them. 
And I saw four mourning doves onThursday, 
they were on a tree. Aand I saw a flock 
of bluejays last Friday, they were singing and 
they were on a tree. And J saw a flock 
chickadees around our house all winter and 
when we butchered they would eat the meat. 
And I saw two owls and they were on a stump 
in the field. And I saw six chicken hawks, 
they were trying to get some of our chickens. 
Age 10. Nellie Pearl Pratt. 
o 
We should be careful to notice exactly the 
kind of hawk that we accuse of chicken steal- 
gni. Several hawks are called “chicken 
o 
