BY THE WAYSIDE. 
47 
The nest stayed there a long time until the rain 
and wind blew it to pieces. The birds have 
never been back for I suppose they have found 
a better home. Natalie Snider,, 
Age 11. Kilbourn, Wis. 
Necedah, Wis., Nov. 6, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
The red-winged blackbird has a kind of a 
golden red on the wings. They have a bill like 
a robin or common blackbird. It is a perch¬ 
ing bird. It is about as big as a robin. Its song 
is not a song; it is a warble. They have their 
nests in marshy places. They are sometimes 
called the marsh blackbird, because they stay 
on the marsh in the summer. They raise their 
young, then th'ey go south. They come in the 
spring. Sometimes they come in the fields and 
eat things in it it, one is rice. They are larger 
than the common blackbird or cow blackbird. 
DeWayne Adelbert Fisher. 
. 
— 
I! 
Tinley Park, Ill., Feb. 26, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
I saw an owl this morning. It flew from the 
high trees. It scared me, it made such' a noise. 
Three other children saw it too. It flew over to 
a post and sat there. It flapped its wings and 
looked at us with big eyes. It was not very 
big. The owl was about a foot long. It had 
a big head. . It was light brown with a white 
breast. Its wings were big ones. The post 
that it flew to was a long post near a barn. 
The owl was a little scared. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Cena Christiansen. 
Chicago, Ill., June 3, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
One day as I was going to school I saw a 
blue-bird’s nest, which' was built in a little 
house made by a man. Wh'en I went along I 
thought I would sit on the sidewalk and watch 
the blue-birds. The father bird went out after 
food while the mother bird was sitting on her 
eggs, and before th'e father bird had come to 
the nest a sparrow flew in, and the mother bird 
got out of the nest and started fighting with 
the sparrow. While they were fighting the 
father bird came and saw them fighting and 
started in too. Then I watched them for a long 
time, and after a time the blue-birds got the 
best of the sparrow. I think that the sparrow 
went in there because he saw the father bird 
fly out. The sparrow thought that he could 
go in and take the nest, but he was fooled and 
so h'e flew away. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Oscar Frisen. 
Westfield, Wis., Nov. 17, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
A little while ago I found a bird in my room. 
It was a very small sparrow. If it had not 
been for my cat I would not have seen it. I 
was in one of my rooms and the cat was in the 
other room. All at once I heard a rustle and 
there was a sparrow. I took it and let it fly. 
There was not anything so special about the 
sparrow only it was so small. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 9. Florence S. Round, 
Durand, Wis., Nov. 29, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am a bird lover. Teacher made a bird 
table; she took two chalk boxes and nailed 
them to the school house and then put a board 
on top of it. It is across the window. We put 
crumbs on it. A lot of little birds came and 
began to eat while school was keeping. It 
made us laugh to see them. Th'ey were chick¬ 
adees, and were singing very sweetly. I love 
the birds. 
/ 
Aged 10. Esther Brotzman. 
The noisy jay 
Jargoning like a foreigner at his food. 
—Longfellow. 
“All Nature is so full that that district pro¬ 
duces the greatest variety which is th'e most 
examined.” White’s “Selborne,” 1768. 
Protection—“Those who pretect the birds 
are wise; those who persecute them other¬ 
wise.”—C. A. Abbott, M. D., “Days Out of 
Doors.” 
I 
