86 
B Y THE WA YSJDE 
almost always see one or more song spar¬ 
rows, but I can never see the little black 
spot on its breast. It is a brown bird. 
It is not much larger than a vesper spar¬ 
row. It is most always on the fence post 
or telephone pole. When it sings it puts 
its head back. It does not seem to be 
so afraid as most of the birds are. It 
almost always builds its nest near or on 
the ground. The other night I saw two 
song sparrows in a fight. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 12. Iiuth H. Morrill. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 24, 1907 
Dear Wayside: 
One morning as my teacher was read¬ 
ing she stopped and listened, and all of 
the pupils listened, too. A song sparrow 
was singing very sweetly. I looked out 
of the window and saw it. When it 
sang it threw back its head. The song 
sparrow has brown and white and black 
spots on its breast and has a large black 
spot on the middle of its breast. It has 
brown on its back. It builds its nest on 
the ground and lays four eggs. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11. Clinton Kilev. 
S' v ' 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 19, 1907 
Dear Wayside: 
As I was going to my home I heard a 
sweet note. I looked on a fence post and 
I saw two song sparrows. The color of 
the song sparrow is brownish back and 
light throat with brown stripes and his 
breast is very light gray. He builds his 
nest sometimes in a tree, but mostly on 
the ground. When he sings he lifts his 
head up. He has a black spot on his 
breast. When I came closer they flew 
away. Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Walter Johnson. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 19, 1907 
Dear Wayside: 
Last night as I was going home I saw 
a song sparrow and he was sitting on a 
fence post. He sang very sweetly. The 
song sparrow comes very early in the 
spring and they sing all summer. The 
song sparrow hatches three broods every 
vear, and thev build their nest near the 
ground, in some bush or in the grass. 
His breast is spotted with black, and 
one spot is larger than the other. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 10. Frank Cairns. 
AdOantages of kindness to Animals . 
Prize Composition Written for the Ant- 
cruelty Society. 
There is no doubt that kindness to 
animals is a great advantage to mankind. 
A visit to the barnyard of a well-kept 
American farm will convince anyone that 
kindness to animals brings its own re¬ 
ward, in more ways than one. It may 
be said that it is nearly impossible to 
find cases of animals being abused on a 
successful farm. Other proofs are not 
wanting, if you have ever seen an exhi¬ 
bition ol trained animals you will notice 
that the trainer never forgets to reward 
his animals for a trick well done, a lump 
of sugar for the horse, a piece of biscuit 
for the dog. Even the travelling show¬ 
man with his dancing bear finds it much 
easier to dole out lumps of sugar than to 
use force. Professor McCormick, trainer 
of the celebrated performing dog Bronte, 
tells that it is impossible to train a collie 
dog by use of force or punishment, while 
