BY THE WAYSIDE 
63 
will perch on the highest limb of a tree 
and meow like a cat. Otherwise its song 
is very pretty. Its color is a little darker 
than ashes. The catbird builds its nest 
mostly of dead grass and leaves. The 
eggs have a pretty color and are a little 
smaller than a robin’s, and the color is a 
kind of a dark green. I love to see birds 
and watch them. I belong to the Audu¬ 
bon Society. When »its members are 
around the birds are not so much in 
danger. Yours truly, 
Aged 12. Anna Witt. 
Cross Plains, Wis. 
Dear Wavside: 
1/ 
The bluebird is a little larger than the 
sparrow, and its wings, back and tail are 
of a pretty blue. The breast is red. Its 
length is about seven inches. The blue¬ 
bird is found in almost every part of the 
United States. Last summer some blue¬ 
birds had built their nest near our house 
in a tree. When we went to see them 
there were four light blue eggs in the 
nest. A few weeks after they were 
hatched. Three young ones were in the 
nest and the cat was eating the other 
me. I chased away the cat, but the bird 
was dead. The old one was screaming, 
md flying about to save her little one. 
Some days later some boys had robbed 
;he nest, and the birds were dead. Blue¬ 
birds build their nests of grass in safe 
blaces. Lucv Ueberselzig. 
Appleton, Wis 
k 
dear Wavside: 
Last summer a robin built her nest in 
i tree near our house. She built it of 
sticks and straws and strings, which she 
pulled from our morning glorv vines. 
She wove these together and then pasted 
them with clay. In a short time she 
laid some eggs. I did not look to see 
how many she had for I did not want to 
scare her away. They are sky blue 
about the size of an acorn. She sat over 
her eggs a few weeks and soon had some 
little robins. They had no feathers and 
looked very thin and sickly. The mother 
robin flew away finding food for her 
young birds. She brought worms, 
crumbs and cherries for the birds’ break¬ 
fast. One day one of the little robins 
fell out of the nest, a distance of about 
eight feet, but luckily did not get hurt. 
We got a ladder and put her back in the 
nest and she soon got well and strong. 
Soon after another little robin fell from 
the nest and broke its wing. It did not 
live long for it was very weak. The 
mother robin was very much grieved. 
The other little birds soon got feathers 
and their breasts were speckled and their 
backs black. 
One evening as the mother robin flew 
away, a cat approached the nest. She 
began to climb the trse, and just as 1 was 
about to pull her back, the mother robin 
came back without noticing the cat. 
The cat, seeing her on the ground, went 
towards her, but the robin was too quick 
for him and got away. So the cat went 
towards the nest. Then the mother 
robin came back and flew on the cat’s 
back. The cat tried to catch her, but 
only got two feathers out of her tail. 
She never went towards the nest again. 
Soon after, I went into the road and 
found a large bunch ofhair there, which 
