V. 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
To the Young Readers of By The Wayside. 
In March the birds begin coming from 
their winter homes in the south, some¬ 
times in South America, to their nesting 
places in the north. In May this migra¬ 
tion is at its height. The woods and 
fields are full of them, thev invade the 
city parks, and the trees in front of our 
houses. We can hear them calling to 
each other as they fly at night, or, per- 
'* haps, even see them passing across the 
face of the full moon. 
Now is the time to go out and see how 
many kinds you can discover. I do not 
advise you all to go together; divide up 
into small groups and make as little 
noise as possible. Keep a list of all the 
birds you have learned the names of, 
and I am sure your teacher will be will¬ 
ing to let you have a big paper, at school, 
on which you will write the names of all 
the birds identified bv the school, and 
the day when first seen. The next year 
when you go out you can compare what 
you find with what you have found this 
vear. 
j 
May is the month for Warblers. You 
say you have never heard of them. 
Well, I will quote what some bird stu¬ 
dents say of them. Mr. Walter in his 
little book on “Birds in City Parks” de¬ 
scribes Warblers as: “Tiny, tireless, gaily- 
colored explorers of the twigs of trees 
and bushes.” Mr. Frank Chapman 
writes: “Warblers may be described as 
among our most abundant, most beauti¬ 
ful, and least known birds. * * * It is 
because we do not see Warblers unless 
we look for them, that they are strangers 
to so many people who go to the woods,” 
and again “Between thirty and forty of 
these active, beautiful little creatures 
may be found in the course of a year in a 
single locality.” 
All warblers have long sharp bills 
quite different from those of the sparrows. 
Now I hope next month you will each 
have something to tell us about at least 
one Warbler. J. T. G. 
All honor to Queen Alexandra for giv¬ 
ing her full support to the Roval Societv 
* ^ 
for the Protection of Birds in its crusade 
against the practice of destroying rare 
and beautiful wild birds for the value of 
their plumage. For years princesses of 
the royal family wore aigrettes on their 
heads and hats, but when the movement 
against the custom began to agitate socie¬ 
ty, the Queen, then Princess of Wales, 
was one of the first to enlist the sympa¬ 
thy of Queen Victoria for it, and by her 
own example make the ornament ob¬ 
tained at such sacrifice unfashionable. 
But it was not until she herself became 
Queen, and the slaughter of birds had 
alarmed every right-minded person, that 
she publicly gave support to the cause. 
Now, however, there is no uncertain 
measure in her majesty’s action, and the 
wearing of birds, and more especially 
aigrettes, will condemn the woman to a 
limbo more dreadful than words can 
paint, the limbo of “bad form.”—From 
the Boston Herald. 
School Branch Audubon Societies have 
been formed in Wisconsin, since the last 
issue of the Wayside, as follows: Cum¬ 
berland, Miss Minnie Cliff, teacher, 54; 
Antigo, Miss Mae McNutt, 14; Heller, A. 
M. Bessey, 18; Wyocena, Jesse Miles, 24; 
Flambeau, Miss Adelyne Gordeau, 20f 
and the Elkhart Lake Society has added 
43 new names, some of whom are 
adults who have asked to join the chil¬ 
dren. This makes a total of 341 school 
branch members during the school year. 
An unfortunate error appeared in the 
April number of By the Wayside in the 
article, “Bird Houses in Chicago Parks.” 
Orioles do not use boxes nor is it ex¬ 
pected that nightingales will come to 
Chicago. 
