BY THE WAYSIDE 
made of light twigs or leaf stems glued 
together with saliva and fastened against 
some wall in such a way as to form a 
I 
shallow half saucer shaped bit of lattice 
work. They lay from four to six pure 
white eggs. It has long, narrow scythe- 
shaped wings. They are dusky, little 
birds of a sooty black color, lighter on 
the throat. The bill is quite short but 
the mouth is very wide at its base. Its 
tail is very different from other birds’ 
tails. The feathers are short and the 
quills or shafts extend beyond the vanes 
for about a quarter of an inch. These 
spiny tips of the tail feathers serve as a 
brace to help support the body while 
clinging against a surface just as the stiff 
tail feathers ef the woodpecker does. 
The chimnev swifts do not rush off for 
* 
the north on the first, balmy spring 
breezes as robins and bluebirds do. It 
is the last week in April or the first week 
in May before they come into Southern 
Wisconsin. By that time the air is again 
filled with insects and they are sure to 
get food. To know a swift, one must 
look for them on the wing for they are 
tireless sailors of the azure sea. If they 
fly too high in the air the end of a tail 
: can be seen as a pointed oval. The}^ are 
masters of the air; they sweep through 
( the sky, they circle and turn; they chase 
each other as playing some kind of air 
tag, and as they fly they make a twitter¬ 
ing noise, that is, with their twinkling 
| wings. 
Chimney swifts live only on insects. 
These little fly and mosquito hunters 
must be verv active in order to get 
3 nough to eat. They got their name 
Torn building nests in chimneys. Once 
I found a swift’s nest in a hollow tree. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Emma Freimuth. 
63 
How Man and Nature Prepare for Winter. 
Man prepares for winter by putting on 
warmer clothes, ordering coal and wood, 
banking his house, putting up storm 
houses and storm windows and storing 
up food such as potatoes, cabbage, beets, 
carrots and fruits. 
The trees prepare by dropping their 
leaves, hardening the small twigs, sending 
the sap to the roots and sending out buds 
for the next year that are covered with a 
varnish like substance to keep them from 
freezing. This varnish is shown plainly 
on the cotton wood, horse chestnut, balm 
of Giliad, and poplar. The Kentucky 
coffee tree does not start a bud. All the 
evergreen trees store up enough nourish¬ 
ment in the needles to last them over 
winter and then go to sleep. 
Shrubs harden the small twigs, drop 
their leaves and go to sleep. All of these 
trees and shrubs are called perennials. 
Some plants live two years. These 
are called biennials. The first year they 
store enough nourishment in a head or 
root to last them over winter. Then the 
people take them up bv the roots, and 
put them in the cellar over winter, and 
in the spring they set them out again. 
At the end of the second year, it bears 
seed and dies. Beets, carrots, cabbage 
and turnips are biennials. 
Some plants only live one year. These 
are called annuals. These plants bear 
seed the first vear and then die. The 
•/ 
balsam, potatoes, tomatoes and radishes 
are annuals. 
Animals, such as the gophers, build 
houses in the ground and store up 
enough food to last them. The muskrats 
build houses and lives in them through 
the winter. 
The deer, fox and wolf get what food 
they can from under the snow. 
