44 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except July 
and August. . . , ..... 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois 
Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year. Single Copies 3 cts. 
All communications should be sent to Miss Ruth 
Marshall, Appleton, Wis. 
NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 
VI.. The Winter Birds. 
We are very apt to think that spring and 
summer are the only times of year in which 
to study and enjoy the birds, that all of them 
fly south in winter and leave us. So we put 
away our bird books and opera glasses and for- 
fet all about them. As a matter of fact, theie 
© 
is no time of year so favorable for a beginner 
in bird lore as winter. In spring, the multi¬ 
tudes of birds in the full of the migratory sea¬ 
son is very confusing, and one becomes dis¬ 
couraged trying to learn the large number of 
unfamiliar forms. Then the air is full of song. 
and it is onlv the trained ear which can dis- 
™ « 
tinguish all. When the trees begin to put 
forth' their foliage, the birds are much con¬ 
cealed, and this adds to the difficulty for the 
be°*inner. But in winter all is different, and 
conditions are more favorable for commenc¬ 
ing study. Most teachers of nature study are 
beginners, and if they would add to their small 
stock of bird knowledge, and begin the system¬ 
atic study of birds with their pupils, let them 
begin in winter. 
For the winter is by no means birdless. 
There are half a dozen or more kinds one may 
see almost any day even in the dead of win¬ 
ter-brave little fellows who manage some¬ 
how to find food enough to keep them alive 
and seemingly happy, during our coldest 
months. They are friends well worth know- 
in 0 ', for they are industriously at work eat- 
ing seeds’ of weeds and picking out larvae of 
injurious insects from the bark of our fruit 
and shade trees. There are the blue jays to 
cheer us with their bright colors, the hairy 
and downy woodpeckers, the crows, the acro¬ 
batic nuthatches, the industrious brown 
creeper, the cheerful little chickadees, the 
snow bunting; we may even be fortunate 
enough to see the pine and evening grosbeaks. 
This is a very short list, but a good one to 
begin with. There is' no foliage to intercept 
our view. The leafless shrubs and the white 
background make the forms stand out more 
clearly than at any other time of year. The 
notes are few, clear and distinct. And then, 
too, the scarcity of food and shelter may 
drive them near our dwellings. From our own 
windows we may see them, and on our short 
walks we may learn to know well the few win¬ 
ter birds. And before one can make any pro- 
°ress in identifying birds he must know some 
© * y ° 
few birds well. 
Everyone knows nowadays that birds are of 
enormous value to man in helping to keep 
down noxious weeds and insect pests. There 
is no time better suited to interesting our¬ 
selves and the children in some active form of 
help for the birds. In spring and summer when 
food is abundant, they are indifferent to our 
bounty; in winter they are ready to accept it 
cheerfully and repay us amply. It is be¬ 
lieved that birds are driven to seek southern 
climes chiefly by the scarcity of food and not 
by the extreme cold. If this be true, we have 
it in our power to do much toward keeping 
them with us all winter. Every household 
and every school should give this matter some 
attention. 
To scatter crumbs from the table on the 
snow at the back door is not going to do much' 
good; it is only attracting the English spar¬ 
row. A little intelligent thought suggests 
that, as many of the birds we want are in¬ 
sect eaters, suet, bones, and nuts are better 
food for most. Then our much petted tabbies 
must be watched and the food put where it 
will not prove to be a death trap. A shelf 
on a window, or' in the crotch of a tree, sup¬ 
plied with cracked nuts, crumbs and grain; a 
basket of scraps fastened to a tall shrub; 
bones and suet tied to branches of trees, are 
suggestions made by experienced bird students. 
Whoever has not spread some bounty for the 
birds in winter knows not half the pleasures 
of bird study. 
Teach the children to know the winter 
birds by all means. Teach them also how to 
attract them about the home, and thus help 
our little feathered friends in return for the 
help they are rendering us. R. M. 
The editor would be glad to receive for pub¬ 
lication in the January number the list of 
birds which any of the readers may have kept, 
the results of their bird observations through¬ 
out the year. 
