54 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
school I see some little gray birds along 
the road. When I come down the road 
these little birds fly fast ahead of me and 
then turn quickly and fly through the 
hedge. They are dark gray birds with 
white feathers in their tails. These 
white feathers do not show only when 
the birds fly. They are very shy birds, 
and seem to be afraid for me to go near 
them. I think they arejuncos. I never 
saw them till the last of November. 
They were not here in September. They 
seem very quiet, but one day I heard a 
twittering and singing like a canary. 
Afterwhile I saw a little gray bird fly 
from the place. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11. Ruth Milligan. 
Biggsville, Ill., Dec. 28, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
There is a large grayish woodpecker in 
a hickory tree. The under part of its 
neck is almost dove color. It has a long 
bill and the back part of its head is a 
scarlet color. Its wings or back are white 
and gray in checks. It goes up the 
trunk or branches with a jerk, it stops to 
look at a piece of bark then goes on up 
the tree. It sometimes has a loud rattling 
call while it is hunting food. I never 
saw it in the summer, but it always 
comes every day and is alone. A man 
said that this woodpecker was the red¬ 
breasted woodpecker. 
Yours trulv, 
A^ed 13. Llovd Whiteman. 
Gladstone, Ill., Dec. 28, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
Every morning for six weeks we have 
seen a bright red bird fly out of the 
hedge and then up on top of the hedge. 
It says peet, peet, peet, and jerks its tail. 
It seems to be restless when the children 
come out to play “dare-base" and gives a 
quick call and flies over to a spruce tree. 
One morning we saw it picking at some 
old plums on a plum tree. It has a crest 
and has black feathers around the bill. 
Its bill is a reddish brown and is thick 
and stout. The mother-bird has more 
brown than red in her feathers. 
Yours truly. 
Aged 11. Viola McClinton. 
Biggsville, Ill., Dec. 29, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
As I was going to church yesterday I 
heard a rustling at the foot of a hill where 
there were some dry leaves covered over 
with briars. At first I thought it was 
the wind, but on looking saw there were 
about ten quails. The male is black 
with white above its eves. The female 
is a dark brown. When I came back 
they were still in the same place. I am 
glad the hunters never got them. 
Aged 12. Hazel Weir. 
Biggsville, Ill., Dec. 28, 1908. 
Dear Wayside: 
This morning was a little cool. It 
was 28° above zero. Before school began 
I saw in a hickory tree an odd little gray 
bird. It was saying “yank, yank” while 
it was going down the trunk. It had a 
sharp bill and it holds its head out from 
the trees in a queer way. It has whitish 
grav under the chin and black near the 
eve. It was looking under every piece 
of bark for food. [White-breasted Nut- 
hatch-ED.] There was another little 
gray bird with a blackcap. It was look¬ 
ing at the ends of the twigs and branches. 
I think it was a black-capped chick-a-dee. 
Yours trulv, 
Aged 13. Ruth Whiteman. 
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