78 
by the wayside 
worth. We could not make up our 
minds what it was, but we thought it 
was a bluebird. From the description 
we gave of it, the ladies thought it was a 
cardinal, but I am sure it was not. In 
fact, I think it was a Carolina wren. 
We went on, and after a while heard 
what we thought was a Goldfinch, but 
found out that it was a Red-poll. 
Then we heard a bird singing chee- 
wink, chee-wink, and followed the sound, 
and, what is strangest of all to me, found 
that it was a Cardinal! None of us knew 
that a Cardinal had that note. 
We also saw some Hocks of Juncos, or 
Snow-birds, and two Downy Woodpeck¬ 
ers. One of the ladies and I had to go 
before the rest, and in our absence they 
saw a Sparrow-hawk, a Carolina wren, 
and two pairs more of Cardinals, making 
five pair in all. . 
I forgot to say that we saw Bluejays 
and Crows. This being the account of 
the trip, I will close. 
Aged 12. 
Lovd W. Metzel. 
J 
Norwood Park, Ill.. March 26, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
Some one who has, studied birds tells 
us that the Meadowlark does not belong 
to the Lark family, but to the Blackbird 
familv. It is called Meadowlark because 
it builds its nest in a meadow. Its eggs 
are the size of a pigeon’s eggs, with brown 
dots in. It has a very small nest. 
The Meadowlark is a little larger than 
n Robin I saw two Meadowlarks this 
‘year already. Last year in front of our 
house, the Meadowlark built its nest. I 
saw its eggs and young ones too. I be¬ 
long to the Audubon Society so I take 
care of the birds and I try not to frighten 
the birds. 
Your interested friend, 
Aged 19. 
Josephine Fritseh, 
Reedsville, M is., March 19, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
I saw a bird sitting on our tree t 
had a worm in its mouth. It was a Red- 
winced Blackbird. I threw some bread 
out.” Afterwards the bird flew away. 
The next morning it came again. Then 
it sat down on a tree. I ben I threw 
some bread out again and it came again 
and ate it again. Then it flew away to 
its nest. Two weeks after there were 
little baby birds in it. Then she was 
busy feeding her baby birds. When her 
little baby birds were old enough they 
flew away. Every morning when I got 
up the bird was on the barn singing its 
sweet songs. I was so glad to hear it 
sing. I threw some hair out and some 
wool. It would pick it up and fly away 
to build its nest. I also put some water 
outside and then it would drink it. 
think that little bird was not afraid of me 
because I never do anything to hurt them. 
Yours truly. 
Acred 9. Mata Aiemer. 
Wisconsin Brize Letter. 
Mauston, Wis., March 25, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
I live a mile and, a half out in the 
country, and on each side of the road is 
a meadow. There is a ditch on each 
side of the road. There is .so much 
water this spring that on each side of the 
road the ditch is so full that it has 
flooded about half a mile square. It 
looks like a lake. 
This morning as I was coming to school 
I saw two flocks of Red-winged Black¬ 
birds in a tree near by, and on the othei 
side of the road I saw two Meadowlarks 
light on the grass right by the water. It 
looked as if they had come for a drink. 
They have a sweet song. Their back is 
dark brown and black mixture. The 
upper part of the breast is yellow with a 
black bib, and when it flies it shows 
some white feathers. 
That same morning as I was coming 
through the court-yard I saw a Robin 
singing in a tree. As my friend and I 
were going home from school one after¬ 
noon we heard a Robin singing in one of 
the trees near by. W e looked but could 
not see him. By and by we saw him in 
the very top of one of the trees. It was 
the second one I saw this year. 
As I was going home from school I 
