BY THE WAYSIDE. 
37 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the fifteenth of each month. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois Audu¬ 
bon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year. Single copies three 
cents. 
All subscriptions and business communications should 
be addressed to the Business Manager, 
Dr. W. S. Marshall, 
116 East Gorham Street, 
Madison, Wis. 
All communigations relating to the School Branch De¬ 
partment should be sent to its Secretary, 
Mrs. E. G. Peckham, 
646 Marshall St., 
Milwaukee, Wis. 
Other contributions for The Wayside should be sent 
to the Editor, 
Miss E. H. Blair, 
State Historical Library, 
Madison, Wis. 
Address all other correspondence to the Secretary, 
Mrs. R G. Thwaites, 
260 Langdon St., 
Madison, Wis. 
Dr. O. G. Libby. 
Wisconsin Audubonites will all regret 
very much the departure of Dr. 0. G. Libby, 
our good president, for North Dakota. There 
are few bird-lovers in the state of Wisconsin 
who are such real leaders as he, and who 
can inspire by both example and enthusi¬ 
asm so deep an interest in our little feath¬ 
ered friends. 
While we rejoice with North Dakota in 
her acquisition, we can but feel the loss of 
his personal activity in our immediate vicin¬ 
ity. We in Madison can all recall early 
morning walks with him, and it is well here 
to describe briefly his method of inspiring 
in others love for our birds. 
As soon as the weather was reasonably 
comfortable, the bird classes would begin, 
each year since 1895, with a meeting under 
the evergreens north of University Hall, and 
continue every Saturday morning from 
about half an hour after sunrise to break- 
fast-time. All the way from five to one 
hundred and eight persons have been out in 
a morning. This number, of course, could 
not all follow Dr. Libby with profit; so the 
number was divided into smaller parties 
under other leaders, who guided their 
squads through regular routes laid out so as 
to bring the people in contact with as many 
kinds of birds as possible. All of these 
routes terminated at “The Bridge,” where 
an exchange of notes occurred; and then the 
party broke up, each to go home as he 
pleased. 
The leaders called attention to the new 
birds as they came in sight or hearing, and 
told what they could of interest about each. 
Many of the followers noted down facts; 
and it certainly would make anyone enthu- , 
siastic to see how even the litle children 
came with their mother or nurse so as not 
to miss the class. Many would squat down 
in the grass to write a note, or scribble a 
word or two on fence-board or tree-trunk, 
and ask questions. Such, in brief, was the 
work conducted by the “Bird Man,” as Dr. 
Libby is known. 
Dr. Libby has often lectured in this state 
and Illinois, using the lantern-slides which 
were collected, at his suggestion, by the 
Audubon Society. 
The most important scientific work in 
this line which he has done was to call 
attention to the fact that the moon can be 
used to aid in observations upon the mi¬ 
gration of birds. One can see them plainly 
as they are passing the moon’s disc, in 
spring or fall, by the use of a telescope or 
powerful opera-glass. The species can very 
often be told from its manner of flight. 
These observations were reported in the 
Auk, and were also read before the Wis¬ 
consin Academy of Arts, Letters, and Sci¬ 
ence. Other articles are given in the Os¬ 
prey, and many articles and notes in the 
Wayside are from his pen. A paper of con¬ 
siderable interest will soon appear in The 
American Journal of Psychology. 
While we shall all personally miss Dr. 
Libby, he has promised to send us fre¬ 
quent notes; and we shall be happy to know 
more of his new field at Grand Forks, on 
the Jted River of the North. No doubt 
many interesting notes will come from that 
locality. We send herewith our sincerest 
kind wishes to Dr. O. G. Libby, and congrat¬ 
ulations to the people of North Dakota, who 
are so fortunate as to secure both a good 
historian and a nature-lover. O. B. Z. 
