99 
BY THE WAY BIDE 
away. In about rive minutes the mother and 
father came back and flew away helping their 
babe. 
I was very glad when 1 saw no boys took the 
bird, for the might of hurt it in someway. 
Yours truly, 
Anna C. Dolan, 
5333 Ohio St., Austin Ill. 
Ago 11 years. 
THE BIRDS IN SUMMER. 
La Crosse, Wis., Aug. 2, 1904. 
During the past summer I have stayed on a 
farm near Plum City, in the northern part of 
the state. While there I spent most of my 
spare time studying the birds in that region 
and also comparing their habits with those 
in La Crosse. During the spring I studied them 
in La Crosse and vicinity. There I found the 
nests of about a dozen species, but I do not 
know how they fared. Before I went on the 
farm, I had a list of 107 birds, from January 
1st, 1904. 
During the beginning of July everything was 
stirring in the woods. The Robins and House 
Wrens were shyer than here in La Crosse, 
where I liad a pair nestling in one of my bird 
houses. A pair of the same birds nested in an 
opening between the frame of the front door. 
Their eggs were all punctured by some animal, 
and then they left. This was the only one of 
their nests that I found up there. The Read¬ 
headed Woodpecked is very common here, and 
is the only one to be seen here except the Yel¬ 
low-bellied Sapsucker, which is very shy. The 
Bob-whites are very numerous and very tame 
there. 
Several days later, July 2, I saw two rare 
birds, a single Black Vulture, and a pair of 
Bohemian Waxwings. I observed the latter 
very closely. The former is supposed to be a 
rare bird in that locality. About the same 
time I found a Phoebe’s nest in an old saw¬ 
mill about half a mile from the farm. 
Every few days I went in some part of the 
woods to observe the birds. The Wrens and 
Warblers were very numerous, but I could not 
identify any of the latter. The Woodpeckers 
were common. Among the Sparrows, the chirp¬ 
ping, song and vesper Sparrows were the most 
numerous. The English Sparrow has gained 
very little hold there, there were not more than 
two pair on the farm. The Cat-birds were 
much shyer than in the city. 
During July I saw many incidents of bird 
life. Several times Iwatched a pair of hum¬ 
ming birds examining milk-weed blossoms. 
White-Breasted Nuthatchers could always be 
seen and the Chickadees more rarely. On July 
31, l even saw a Junco. It was very shy. 
On August 3, I found a pair of Blue Gros¬ 
beaks and one young one, which I caught sev¬ 
eral times with mv hands. It could flv a lit- 
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tie. The old birds were very excited and con¬ 
tinually uttered their sharp call note (ptchick). 
Once the male sang his song, a beautiful but 
feeble warble. These birds are very rare in 
that region. According to the ‘“'Color Key” 
their range is southern Illinios. 
The following Thursday I found a young 
Song Sparrow, just about able to flv. He was 
completely feathered, but his tail was lacking. 
The next Sunday, August 7, I took a walk 
through the woods. In the densest part I saw 
a pair of Chickadees, and heard their familiar 
“chick-a-dee-dee-dee,” reminding me of the 
winter time. They were quite tame. Walk¬ 
ing on a little farther, I flushed a ruffed 
grouse. I then walked back a few steps to 
watch a pair of Cat-birds. When I again went 
past the former place I flushed another one. 
I continued my walk through the pasture for 
a long distance. I then stopped and watched 
another pair of Chickadees. Then I returned 
home. On the way home I found a young 
Tohee, who could fly a little. I was attracted 
by the noise made by the old birds. 
Several days later, while walking through 
another woods, I watched a paid of Oven-birds 
and several Wood Pewees. 
On August 13, 1 saw the first flock of 
Crackles and Red-winged Blackbirds flying 
south. 
On the following Tuesday I saw a black and 
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white creeping Warbler, and several other 
Warblers, which I could not identify. 
Two days later I watched a battle between 
three ruby-throated drumming birds and a 
pair of Sapsuckers and a pair of red-headed 
woodpeckers. About the same time, for sever¬ 
al nights, we would see a flock of about a dozen 
Night-hawks flying around. 
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During the latter part of August there was 
not much to be seen except flocks of Gold- 
flinches and several kinds of sparrows. 
William Schneider. 
Age. 15. 
