30 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
related to the May beetle. The catbird 
subsists largely on fruit, of which one- 
third is taken from cultivated crops. It 
eats caterpillars, grasshoppers, and crick¬ 
ets, with a small percentage of leaf-eating 
and click beetles. The volume of these 
insects destroyed is equal to only one- 
half of that of the cultivated fruit eaten. 
— S. D. Judd , Yearbook oj U. S. Dept, of 
Agriculture , 1895. 
Wisconsin Prize Letter. 
Cross Plains, Wis., Sept. 29, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
I will write about the whip-poor-will. 
I have often heard a whip-poor-will, 
sometimes two or three of them. But I 
never saw one. Once I heard a whip- 
poor-will very near, and I think he saw 
me, and he flew away and scared me. 
For the winter the whip-poor-will goes to 
the far south. I belong to the Audubon 
Society. I have learned much about 
birds during the past year. 
Yours, 
Aged 10. Mary Rollenbeck. 
Cross Plains, Wis. Sept. 23, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
Some time ago I mocked the whip- 
poor-will and it came nearer. It looked 
like a little rooster. It had black and 
white streaks. Its eggs are white and 
have brownish gray spots. It lays two 
eggs. I heard many whip-poor-wills 
during the summer. 
Yours truly, 
Christina Ripp. 
Letters have been received from Ed¬ 
ward Noltner, Willie Woringer, Katie 
Endres and Christina Eartung also from 
Cross Plains, Wis. 
Portage, Wis., Feb. 24, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
Last summer the blue jays built a nest 
in a cedar tree about eight feet from the 
house. We could look down from the 
chamber window and watch the birds 
build their nest. One day I looked out 
of the window and saw four little eggs. 
About three weeks later when my little 
brother and sister and I were left alone 
and all was quiet except the chattering 
of the blue jays, I guess they thought it 
would be a good time to teach the little 
ones to fly, so they got them all out of 
the nest. And by this time there were 
four more old blue jays around. The 
little blue jays all flew down to the 
ground, and my little sister ran out and 
picked one up and an old bird flevv down 
and picked her on the head and matte 
her cry, so I .went out and got her and an 
old bird.scratched me on the head and 
by this time we were obliged to leave 
them alone. But after that I never saw 
them. I hope they will nest there again 
next year. 
Aged 12. Jessie Turner. 
A Bird Story. 
The eagle is a strong bird with large 
claws and strong beak, which is curved 
and very sharp at the end. Some eagles 
build their nests on the high cliffs where 
they think no one can reach it. A man 
was once up the Wisconsin River. He 
shot a very large eagle in the Dells. He 
tore down the nest; three eggs were in it- 
The eggs were very large. 
Aged 12. Grover Olson, 
Kilbourn, Wis. 
Appleton, Wis., Sept. 25, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
•/ 
A few weeks ago a boy gave me a little 
bird. He said, “A boy knocked down 
