B Y THE WA YSIDE 
43 
easily sail in a down slanting direction, 
and that it can do this against the wind, 
but in an upward slanting wind the lift 
of the wind amounts to the same thing 
the downward slant does in still air, and 
we have the apparent paradox of a bird 
sailing against the wind and at the same 
time rising. It is perhaps a little diffi¬ 
cult to get hold of the matter in one’s 
mind without first remembering that the 
earth has nothing to do with the matter, 
except to be always pulling down on the 
bird and the wind always lifting it. To 
the bird it must alwavs seem that the 
•/ 
air is still, and that his sailings always 
have a downward slant, and so thev do 
as regards the wind itself. If the bird 
were to lose some light feathers, and we 
could watch them, they would be hun¬ 
dreds of feet above the bird in a few min¬ 
utes, and the bird could not rise to them 
without flapping his wings. 
—0. H. Hampton in Forest and Stream. 
ArriOal of Winter Birds in Chicago. 
Scarcity of food owing to dry weather, 
forest fires in the northern country, or 
other and perhaps more usual causes, 
seems to be hastening the winter birds 
southward, and the coming season prom¬ 
ises to be a good one for winter observa¬ 
tions. 
On November 7, I saw a pair of Even¬ 
ing Grosbeaks on the Wooded Island in 
Jackson Park, Chicago. They were 
perching quietly in a clump of small 
trees, were not at all wild or timid, and 
gave me an excellent opportunity to ob¬ 
serve them. Presently they flew r down 
to the edge of the lagoon and drank, and 
I have never seen a more pleasant sight 
in bird life than these two Grosbeaks 
made standing side by side in the frosty 
morning sunlight dipping up water. 
On November 8,1 found a flock of pine 
siskins in the south part of Jackson Park. 
They were making themselves verv much 
at home about the trees and shrubbery 
and in the grass. Some English spar¬ 
rows took offense at their presence and 
assailed them again and again. The sis¬ 
kins yielded their ground very reluc¬ 
tantly, and came back each time as soon 
as the sparrows had gone. 
On the same day, just south of the 
Park, on some vacant land, part of which 
is under cultivation and part overrun by 
weeds and w r ild grasses, I encountered a 
small flock of snow buntings. I have 
been so accustomed to associating snow r 
buntings with wintry storms and snow r - 
blown fields that the sight of these win¬ 
ter birds seems all the more worthy of 
note.—F. A. Pennington in Bird-Lore. 
W hv are so many so-called Christian 
people, w'hileabsolutely dependent upon 
the mercy above them, so deaf to the cry 
for mercy of the helpless animals beneath 
them? That is the question which so 
puzzles the great body of working Hu¬ 
manitarians, to-day.” 
Man s cruelty to animals transcends 
all his other crimes, all his sins of omis¬ 
sion and commission. Ever since I have 
been able to think, this one awful reality, 
man s unspeakable cruelty to dumb ani¬ 
mals has seemed to me the most terrible 
and most terrifying fact in life .—Minnie 
Maddern Fiske. 
The Audubon Society of Madison have 
engaged Mr. William L. Finley to lecture 
upon some phase of bird life on the even¬ 
ing of December 14th. 
