BY THE WAYSIDE 
79 
mother-bird off its nest. After awhile 
they got her off. Then they began to eat 
her little ones. Mamma tried to drive 
them away but they would not go. I 
never liked bluejays after that. 
Another time a robin built a nest in 
our hayshed. It laid some eggs and 
hatched some young birds. One day 
when I went out I found her young ones 
i on the floor. I looked at them and 
found they were dead. A bad boy had 
f been there just before I came. I think 
he did it. Once before he tried to kill 
them and I made him stop. 
Yours truly, 
A^ed 11. Clinton Kiley. 
© 
Little York, Ill., Mar. 29, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
In some bushes near the school yard 
we saw the chewink. It is about ten 
inches long. Its head and back are very 
black. The tail is black with white out¬ 
side tail feathers which are very notice¬ 
able when it flies. The throat is black 
and the breast is white and reddish 
brown. On its wings next to its body 
are a few white feathers. It has a pe¬ 
culiar wav of scratching on the ground. 
It jumps forward and scratches the 
ground and then jumps back,' Its call, 
which is distinct, sounds like its name, 
chewink. It is commonly called a 
ground robin, probably because it stays 
on or near the ground and the reddish 
brown on its breast is similar to the 
robin’s breast. 
Yours truly, 
Hazel A. Maley. 
— 
Elmhurst, Ill., April 1, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
One morning last summer as my father 
and I were sitting at the breakfast table 
we looked out of the window and saw a 
big bird flying after a meadow lark, and 
my father got up and went to the win¬ 
dow. He said that the big bird saw him 
and then turned round and flew away. 
Then the meadow lark came in front of 
our window. We kept still and tried 
not to let it see us, and it staid there and 
laid an egg, and went a little further and 
laid another egg and then flew away. 
We supposed that the meadow-lark had 
been chased off its nest by the big bird, 
and that the meadow lark was ail ready 
to lay its eggs and that the big bird 
chased it off and then the meadow lark 
came down on our lawn and laid its eggs’ 
Yours truly, 
Aged 10. Faith Putnam. 
Mazomanie, W 7 is., March 21, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
As T was coming to school I saw a 
meadow lark. He was sitting on a fence 
post. He had a yellow breast, a brown¬ 
ish back, and a black collar. When he 
flies you can see a white spot on his tail. 
Yours truly, 
A^ed 12. Stella Reeve. 
ft 
Mazomanie, Wis., March 22, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
To-day I was walking to school very 
slowly and just as I turned the corner I 
heard a whistle up in a tree and looked 
up in it and saw a meadow lark. I saw 
a bird in January that had a brown back 
and white breast. I got to school and 
found that he was a brown creeper. 
Yours truly, 
Aoed 10. Harold Swan. 
ft 
Mazomanie, Wis., March 21, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
On my way to school this morning I 
