48 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Maywood, Ill. 
Dear Wayside: 
Last Saturday I saw a sparrow with 
its head bitten off and I looked at it. A 
cat must have caught it. I think it 
must have been the English sparrow. 
Its wings were brown and with a little 
black. It had a black spot on its neck 
and its breast was white. Wednesday a 
girl found one and, it was just like the 
one I saw. Yours truly, 
Aged 10. Arthur Polkow. 
© 
Cross Plains, Wis., Nov. 29, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am a member of the Audubon Society. 
I have seen many robins. They build 
their nests with sticks, mud and other 
things. One time when my playmate 
and I were in a pasture we saw a robin’s 
nest. We looked in it and saw five green 
eggs. The next day when we went over 
we saw little birds in it. Then we went 
over the next day again, and took with 
us a can full of worms and set them 
near the nest for the robins to eat. I 
I think I will close. Hoping to find my 
letter in the Wayside, I remain as ever, 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11. Angela Saeman. 
Cross Plains, Wis., Nov. 29, 1905. 
Dear Wayside: 
Once I was digging worms to go 
a-fishing and when I was done a robin 
came and got the rest and carried thetn 
off to his nest. It was in a young maple 
tree near my grandma’s house. I fol¬ 
lowed him to his nest. I climb'ed up to 
see what was in the nest. Mrs. Robin 
flew out of the nest when she saw me. 
There were five young robins in the nest. 
I forgot all about going fishing that day. 
Yours, 
Aged 12. August M. Stumpf. 
Cross Plains, Wis., Nov. 29, 1904. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am a member of the Audubon Society. 
The fox sparrow is a nice bird; it has a 
grayish red color but its wings and tail 
are of a brownish red. It eats bread¬ 
crumbs, insects and little stones. Three 
fox sparrows had built a nest near our 
neighbor’s house in a plum tree. They 
have gone to the south for the winter. I 
hope they will come baok next spring. 
I would like to see them. They build 
their nest with hairs and twigs. There 
were four young ones without feathers in 
the nest. We have a picture of the bird 
in our school room. Papa told me all 
about it. I have learned very much 
about birds the last two years and want 
to learn more vet. I am very fond of 
birds. Yours sincerelv, 
Aged 10. Lucy Uebersetzig. 
A Children’s Christmas Bird Census . 
Continued from page 43. 
and rusty; outer tail feathers white; walks 
not hops on ground. 
Three birds more: 
Blue Jay, length 114 inches. Above 
grayish blue, blue crest; black collar; 
white tips to wings and tail, harsh call. 
Crow, length 194 inches; entirely black. 
American Herring Gull, length 24 
inches. White; back and wings pearl 
gray, the longest wing feathers have their 
end portions black, marked and tipped 
with white. In winter, head and neck 
streaked with grayish. Immature birds, 
dark and much streaked with brownish- 
gray; seen flying or sailing above Lake. 
To One Hundred Illinois Schools. 
The Illinois Audubon Society has de¬ 
cided to make a gift of By The Wayside 
to one hundred schools of the State dur¬ 
ing the rest of the school year. This is 
wholly an experiment and will be con¬ 
tinued next year only in case the results 
are satisfactory. The teachers who re¬ 
ceive By The Wayside are asked to read 
it and to encourage their pupils both to 
read it and to write letters to it, for it is 
being sent in the hope that both teachers 
and pupils may discern how much of in¬ 
terest there is to be known about birds. 
J. T. G. 
