54 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
In the middle of the winter there was a 
robin and in the early spring there were sap- 
suckers. 
When they had got the food sometimes they 
would fly to a tree to eat it. 
Aged 9. Ruth Noel Bennett. 
ILLINOIS PRIZE LETTER. 
Julia Ward Howe School;, Chicago. 
November 30, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
There is a very small bird about four and 
one-half inches long with a bright Vermillion 
spot on the back of its head known as the 
ruby- crowned kinglet. I do not remember 
ever seeing one but I am quite sure I have 
seen a golden-crowned kinglet which is very 
much the same, four inches long and one of 
the smallest birds in the United States. The 
rubv-crowned kinglet never shows its Vermil¬ 
lion spot until it is about one year old. 
His song is thin, very much the same as a 
tinkling of a wire. On their way to the north 
in spring they stop here in April, and in au¬ 
tumn as they are coming south' they also stop 
in November. 
This being the last day of November, I 
rather think the ruby-crowned and golden- 
crowned kinglets are gone, but the crows, blue 
jays and the sparrows are still here. 
Yours very truly, 
Myrtle Pokorney. 
Waumandee, Wis., Dec. 20, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
I have taken notice of quite a number of 
birds this summer, but as the blue jay is the 
bird of this month, I will try and write some¬ 
thing about it. 
The blue jays are very quarrelsome and rob 
other birds of their eggs. They are larger 
than the blue bird. Their color is blue. They 
also have some white. On their heads they 
have a little tuft of feathers which is blue and 
white. They stay all winter in some places 
but in others they go away. 
Near our house is a creek. Here we could 
hear the blue jays screaming all day long. 
I saw a pair of blue jays building a nest 
in an elm tree near our house. They were 
very busy birds, gathering sticks and other 
things to build it. They also took the strings 
and cotton which we put on the trees and 
fences. The nest was made of the sticks out¬ 
side and the cotton inside. 
Sometimes, after the nest was finished, when 
we looked in it the mother blue jay would be 
sitting on it. After a time there were three 
eggs in the nest. The eggs were quite large. 
They were green with brown spots on them. 
But one day, when we looked in the nest, 
the eggs were broken. 
One time I saw a blue jay. It had a piece 
of cotton in its mouth. It was flying to an 
oak tree in which a robin was building a nest. 
When it came there it started chasing the 
robin. Then the piece of cotton fell to the 
ground. Your friend, 
Ao-ed 11. Olive Ochsner. 
O 
Durand, Wis., Dec. 30, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
One Sunday morning I went out early in the 
morning and the blue jays were scolding me. 
I did not know what was the matter, but I 
went up and told mamma about it and she 
said that she saw a little blue jay in the grass. 
The old birds were trying to teach the young 
one. 
Aged 8. John Mace. 
Durand, Wis., Dec. 29, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
Tuesday we had a terrible snow storm, and 
after the storm was over I did not see any 
more chickadees and the wind blew all day 
and drifted the snow. I wonder where they 
have gone. I hope they aren’t frozen. I wish 
1 could help them. 
Aged 9. Hallie Allison. 
Chicago, December 13, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
This summer there was a robin’s nest in a 
tree in front of our house and one day a blue 
jay came to rob the nest but the male robin 
killed the blue jay. One day there was a 
whole lot of chiping and my brother and I 
wondered what was the matter and just then 
a blue jay flew out of the tree and we saw that 
a baby robin was in its claws. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 9. Willard V. Compton. 
Julia Ward Howe School 
