BY THE WAYSIDE. 41 
maple, spruce, apple, thornapple, butternut, 
pine, elm, and boxelders, and a great many 
birds visit us. I have found and watched 
four different kinds of birds and their nests 
in our yard. 
Some house-wrens built a nest in our bug¬ 
gy-shed. They built a very bulky nest of 
dry spruce twigs and lined the hollow with 
bits of cotton and wool and chicken feathers, 
making a soft nest for four little eggs. The 
21st of July, I saw one little baby wren sit¬ 
ting on the edge of the nest. 
The 18th of July I noticed a robin’s nest 
up in one of our butternut trees by the gran¬ 
ary. Nearly every day when I go to look 
at the nest she is sitting on it. I think she 
must be laying some eggs. On July 21, the 
male was gathering currants from our cur- 
Tant bushes to feed the female. 
Some Bohemian Waxwings built a nest 
In an apple tree back of the granary. We 
put some string out on our trees, and every 
morning for a while they used to come and 
pull at the string. Their nest is made of 
dry twigs and string and it looks as if there 
was some cotton and chicken feathers in it 
After the nest was finished she laid three 
■eggs in it; and, after a while they hatched. 
One day papa climbed up in the tree to see 
if there were any eggs or birdies in the 
nest and all he could see were three mouths 
wide open, and now they are nearly half 
grown. 
A king-bird built a nest in an elm tree in 
our garden. She hatched out three little 
“birds. When they were big enough to fly 
they sat out on the fence, and their breasts 
were so white they looked as if she had tied 
some white bibs around their necks. They 
' are of a grayish-black with a white breast 
and white bar across the tail. . The king¬ 
birds got their name by fighting other birds 
bigger than themselves. Quite a time ago 
when we went to town, some king-birds were 
chasing some crows and the crows are such 
cowards that they will fly as fast as they 
can to get away from the king-birds. One 
day a king-bird chased a crow until it had 
to walk, it was so tired. 
We have a basin of water out on a stone- 
pile and the birds come and bathe, espec¬ 
ially the goldfinch. I am ten years old and 
am in the sixth grade. 
Your little reader, Veda Maksh. 
One of Polly's Days. 
Polly had finished her breakfast and was 
wondering whether to have one of her good 
cries or take a nap, when her busy eye spied 
something which caused her to scramble 
down from her perch. 
No! the door of her cage was not firmly 
fastened, and Polly did not take long to open 
it and climb out. The large yellow jasmine, 
full of blossoms, caught her eye; and, with 
a chuckle, she went to work, and in a short 
time had bereft the poor bush o'f its wealth 
of beauty. 
The window sill next received Polly’s at¬ 
tention, and such fun as she had, her strong 
bill tearing off piece after piece of wood! 
Finally she concluded to start on a tour of 
investigation. 
Across the sitting room she waddled, and 
into the dining room, where a door stood 
open a crack; through this crack she man¬ 
aged to squeeze, thus entering the kitchen. 
No one being there she climbed upon a 
chair that stood by the table. On the table 
she saw a bowl. “What can be in it?” she 
asked herself; “I believe I’ll find out!” 
The bowl proved to be half full of some¬ 
thing so delicious in odor that she could 
not resist the temptation of tasting. In 
her eagerness to get all that was possible of 
the dainty, Polly stepped into the bowl with 
both feet; and when Bridget entered the 
kitchen, what she saw caused her to rush 
into the hall calling: “Miss Cora! Miss 
Cora! plaze come and see what your baste 
of a parrot’s doing! Shure it is meself that 
could have kilt her entirely!” 
Miss Cora heard the call and came quickly, 
and on the table where the indignant but 
laughing Bridget pointed, she saw a mass 
of green feathers in the midst of a yellow 
compound. At the same time a giggle was 
heard, and Polly lifted up her bedaubed 
face, saying in her sweetest tones: “Cora, 
Polly’s all right.” 
As soon as Cora’s laughter permitted, she 
