8 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
and a downy woodpecker once in a 
while in our trees. There are many more 
here, but we do not know their names yet. 
Yours respectfully, 
Aged 11 years. Willie Zeit. 
Appleton, Wis., May 3, 190G. 
Dear Wayside: 
Last summer some robins built a nest 
in our box elder tree. It was not long 
before there were three blue eggs in it. In 
a few weeks there were three hungry birds 
to be fed. The mother and father would 
go away and come about every hour. 
When thev came back they would have 
their mouths full ot worms to give 
to the little robins. The mother bird 
came in our back yard, and how do you 
think she got the worms? She would 
hop a little and then put her ear to the 
ground and listen if there were any 
worms. She then would peck into the 
ground and pull the worm out. 
In about a month, the little birds had 
feathers and strong wings. They have 
speckled reddish breasts, brownish heads 
and wings. They learned to fly in our 
back yard among the cherry trees. The 
mother bird would call to them, and they 
would try to fly to her. It was not long 
before they learned. Then they left 
their nest. I have not seen them back 
again this vear. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11 years. Henry Kelszer. 
Appleton, Wis., May 2, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
One day in March, I saw a flicker 
across the road near our house. The 
flicker has had his nest in a tree for the 
last few years, but this year the sparrow 
built his nest in the tree, so when the 
sparrow came, he found that some other 
family had moved into his house. The 
flicker did not like this so thev had a 
J 
fight. The sparrow soon gave up fight¬ 
ing and went away. Then the flicker 
built his nest in the tree. In a few days 
the sparrow came back and looked in the 
nest, but did not go in. 
The flicker is about thirteen inches in 
length, and the female lays five to ten 
eggs. It has been known to lay seventv- 
one eggs in one season. The eggs are 
white in color and are quite large. 
Yours trulv, 
Aged 11. Raymond Kranzusch. 
Letters have been received from Otto 
Zimmerman, Elda Laun, Edna Metze, 
Russell Pope, Ida Bratz, Blanch Schwass, 
Margaret Bitner, Florence Loos, Emmery 
Gruenke, Irving Van Oyen, and three 
letters from some young readers in 
Creedo, Colorado,—Carl Blades, Major 
Frazee and Zella Blades. 
N AT V RE ST UDYIN SCHOOLS 
The Soil. 
(Continued from page 4 ) 
serves another purpose, for it helps the 
plants to break up the soil so that they 
can get at the mineral stores. In this 
connection the work of the earthworm 
should be mentioned. 
All of these points may be illustrated 
to the children by simple experiments. 
If there is a school garden, the work can 
be very complete, but much can be done 
in the school room. The origin and fate 
of soil is a fascinating subject. The soil 
mantle over the rocks of Wisconsin is es¬ 
pecially interesting and in its simple ele¬ 
ments not too difficult for grade children 
to understand. Now that spring is here, 
would it not be profitable to spend some 
time in the study of the relation of the 
plant to the soil so that throughout his 
life each child may have an appreciation 
of his dependence upon it? 
R. M. 
