BY THE WAYSIDE 
7 
a tree near the ground. After the nest¬ 
ing period is over it stays around till 
winter, and then they go to Central 
America to spend the winter. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 13. Clifford Leach. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 30, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
The indigo bird is five or six inches 
long. It is an indigo blue. The female 
is brown. It winters in Central America 
but it comes north and nests in the 
northern part of United States. It comes 
to Mazomanie in May or June. It lavs 
three or four bluish white eggs, in a 
nest of grass leaves and bark lined with 
fine grass and hair. Its nest is built in 
the fork of a bush near the ground. 
Sometimes they fix the old nest and use 
that. This bird sings all summer,; nd 
all through August. It feeds mostly 
from the ground. After the nesting sea¬ 
son the male bird bt comes brown like 
the female. 
From your friend. 
Aged 9. Zella Reeve. 
Glendale, Wis.. April 14, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
Last spring a pair of robins nested in 
front of our house. I saw' the robin on 
her nest. Her mate brought her food 
and sang to her. One morning as I 
looked up in the tree I saw the pretty 
nest torn down. There was a pair of 
robins around our house all summer, but 
thev did n’t nest near by. 
A pair of bluebirds nested in our plum 
tree a year ago. They would come up to 
the chicken coop to eat when I fed the 
little chickens. 
Aged 13. 
Weblake, W f is., May 1, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
The other morning when I was going 
to school I saw a little bird with a 
broken wing. After chasing it for some 
time I succeeded in catching it. I 
brought it to the school house, where we 
fed it and gave it a nest. It was soon 
able to fly quite well and we were going 
to let it go, but one morning when we 
came to school it was gone, and we have 
never heard or seen it since. 
We could not find out the name of the 
bird, but I will describe it. Its bill was 
on a level with the top of its head. Its 
wings and back were black, spotted with 
yellow. Its breast was gray spotted with 
black, and it was about five inches long. 
Yours trulv, 
Lvnn Marsh. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 30, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
I will tell you something about the 
indigo bird. The indigo bird is from 
five to six inches long. Its wings and 
tail are blackish. Its body is indigo 
blue. The female is brown. In winter 
it stays in Central America, but it comes 
north and spends its nesting period in 
the northern part of the United States. 
It appears in Mazomanie in June or May. 
It lavs three or four bluish white eggs. 
Its nest is made ofgrass, leaves, and bark. 
It is lined with fine grass and hair. It 
builds its nest in a fork of a bush near 
the ground. Sometimes it uses its old 
nest. The bird sings all summer even 
in August. It feeds mostly from the 
gr >und. After the nesting season the 
male bird becomes brown like the female. 
From your friend, 
Aged 10. Hazel Howard. 
Mvrtle Craig. 
