44 
BY TUB WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except July and 
August 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois Audu¬ 
bon Societies. 
Twenty=five cents per year. Single Copies 5 cents 
All communications should be sent to Thos. R. Moyle, 
Appleton, Wis. 
Of late The Wayside has received a 
number of letters from some of its older 
friends. We have not had permission to 
publish any of these so we will compro¬ 
mise by omitting the signatures. One 
mother writes: “We need The Wayside 
to counteract the teaching of certain 
books contained in our school libraries. 
My boys have been studying ‘The Amer¬ 
ican Bovs’ Handv Book’ bv, D. C. Beard, 
and have learned from it how to make a 
number of bird traps, which, of course, 
they were not allowed to use/’ 
Another writes: “I have found it very 
easy to interest the teacher of the school 
where my little girl attends, in birds. 
She seems very glad to get the reading 
material which I was able to furnish her. 
Later she reported that the children had 
become very much interested in the 
birds.” 
From still another: “I think the best 
wav to save our birds is to make as manv 
%/ * 
women as possible personally acquainted 
with the birds about us Then they 
would find it impossible to ever wear 
anything in the shape of a feather on 
their hats. To me it is a practice that is 
childish and barbaric. It is strange how 
ignorant people are in regard to bird life 
and there is much that we Audubonites 
can do.” 
What an overwhelming catastrophe 
was the introduction into America of the 
house sparrow! Its harsh insistent, in¬ 
cessant chirp is now the dominant bird 
voice about our homes, where we may 
never again hope to hear a chorus of 
native bird music unmarred by the dis¬ 
cordant chatter of this pest. It is as 
though some foul odor had forever de¬ 
filed the fragrance of our fields and 
woods.— Bird-Lore. 
Tti)o Sparrotf Episodes . 
A friend^ in this town, who is a close 
observer of birds and is thoroughly re¬ 
liable, has just told me the following in¬ 
cidents. A robin was gathering angle- 
worms in the lawn, and had filled her 
bill with a fine bunch of them for her 
little ones in the nest near at hand. Sev¬ 
eral English sparrows were hoppingabout 
close to her, evidently intent on trickery. 
As the robin lifted her head and wa^ 
getting ready to fly, one sparrow at her 
right, and another in front, were chirping 
and threatening in a way to divert her 
attention; then, just at the right moment, 
a third sparrow darted up to her from 
the right side and a little in the rear and 
nabbed the bunch of worms, pulling them 
all from her beak. Poor Madam Robin 
stood looking puzzled, as if she scarcely 
knew what had happened. 
My informant also says the purple 
martins, as a rule, seem to be quiet and 
peaceably inclined just as long as the 
English sparrows keep their distance. 
But more than once he has seen one of 
the martins turn like a flash on a spar¬ 
row that was getting too bold and coming 
too near, seize it by the feathers of the 
nape, gave it a twist and a snap, and send 
it whirling to the ground. This will help 
to explain how the martins manage to 
hold their own against the sparrow clans. 
—L. S. Keyser, in Bird-Lore. 
