BY THE WAYSIDE 
63 
black head, white spotted beneath, no 
white on wings or tail. Small rings 
about eyes. It was an Oven Bird. It 
is called Oven Bird because its nest re¬ 
sembles an old Dutch oven. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 10. Pearl Moore. 
January 20, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
I have been noticing a bird which is 
of a dark bluish slate color all over ex¬ 
cept lower breast which is a grayish 
white which forms a vest. It is about 
six and one-fourth inches long. It has 
a sweet simple trill, which has a musical 
sound when given by a whole flock in 
unison. It is the Junco, or commonly 
called the Snowbird. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11. Roy M. Cadoo. 
January 20, 1908. 
Dear Wavside: 
I saw a house wren. It was brownish 
gray above, dusky white breast. About 
four and one-half inches long. It was in 
a tree hunting its nest. But it found 
one in the hen house in an old gourd. I 
put up a little box and put some food 
in it. Yours truly, 
Aged 11. Grace Page. 
Angelica, Wisconsin, Jan. 28, 1909. 
1 
Dear Wavside: 
f The bluej ty is found onh' in America. 
It sometimes stays all the year round in 
New York, but usually goes south in 
lutumn. Its color is purplish blue 
above and whitish below, with light 
clack bands, and in some places tipped 
with white. On its head is a beautiful 
blue crest. 
The bluejay is noisy, mischievous and 
quarrelsome. It is a great scamp and 
"obs the nests of other birds of their eggs 
| ind young, and when these fail it steals 
rom the farmer’s crib. Its usual note is 
i harsh scream, but it is a great imitator 
)f voices and sounds. It seems to take 
^reat delight in frightening other birds 
)y screaming like a sparrow hawk and 
then wailing like a bird in pain. The 
negroes in the southern states believe 
that the Bluejay is the agent of the devil, 
and that it carries to him all sorts of 
slanderous stories about colored people. 
They therefore take great delight, when¬ 
ever they catch one, in wringing its neck. 
II taken from the nest when quite 
young, the jay may be easily tamed. It 
will become much attached to its owner 
and will readily learn to talk, but not so 
well as a parrot. It is very vain of the 
few words it speaks, and likes to show 
off before strangers. 
The Bluejay belongs to the Crows fam¬ 
ily. It gets its name from its color. 
Yours trulv, 
Aged 13. Ruth Ainsworth. 
Franklin, Wis., January 22, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
We untrimmed our Christmas tree, 
some time ago. Then we set the tree 
outside and tied some bacon and some 
pieces of bread to the branches for the 
birds. There are a few Nuthatches 
around our house. There is also a piece 
of meat tied to our smoke-houses for the 
birds. Once as I walked along, there 
were some Nuthatches picking at the 
piece of meat. I stopped to watch them. 
I went nearer and nearer, but they did 
not flv away. They are very tame birds. 
The birds have good shelter here. They 
can go into the barn or under some of 
the other roofs. They also have good 
shelter in the Christmas trees and hedges. 
The Bluejays are also around here. 
They have a very beautiful color. There 
are not very many Bluejays here now, but 
sometimes we can see them hop around in 
the pine trees. A short time ago when I 
came to school one morning I heard a 
Bluejay chirp. I could not see it, but 
knew it by its chirping. At last I saw it 
hop around in some pine trees. When 
it saw me, it flew farther into the woods. 
We have our Audubon meeting, the 
last Friday of every month. We are a 
branch of beginners, and not many letters 
have been written to vou. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 11. AlbenPfeiffer. 
