BY THE WAYS JOE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
84 
the distance. As we drew near a thou¬ 
sand or more birds took flight and cir¬ 
cled above us with loud cries, for they 
had been visited before by the fishermen 
who depend upon these birds for fresh 
eggs in the breeding season. 
We found the island occupied by 
about one thousand pair of birds. Most 
of the eggs were placed in little pockets 
formed by the rock which lay at an 
angle forming jagged steps up the 
slopes. There was no appearance of a 
nest except the accumulation of refuse, 
which levelled up the rough surface of 
the rock. We found however over a 
hundred nests along a shingle beach 
where a storm had washed up a drift of 
debris, on top of which the nests were 
all well built of the materials from the 
drift. These were dangerously located, 
however, for the first storm would wash 
the drift and destroy the nests. 
On the other side towards the open 
lake great ice domes had been formed 
by the dash of the winter’s storms and 
some of the birds were foolish enough 
to erect nests upon these ice masses. 
The warm May sun had melted the ice 
all around, leaving the nest of twigs 
and grass on top of a cone of ice two 
feet high, some of which were already 
toppling. . 
In most instances the nests contained 
three eggs, the ground color of a pale 
drab to a brownish color, with markings 
of a violet-gray, mixed with blotches of 
sepia brown. 
The fishermen never destroy the birds 
but they occasionally land for a few of 
the eggs, which form an important ad¬ 
dition to their food supplies. One old 
fellow took off his coat, tied the ends 
of the sleeves with cord and filled up 
each sleeve with eggs; and to be sure 
the eggs were fresh took only from nests 
that had two eggs in them. He then 
scrambled down the rocks to the boat, 
much to my surprise, without scram¬ 
bling the eggs! 
It has been found that when one set 
of eggs are taken the gulls soon begin 
to lay another set, and if despoiled 
again this is repeated a third time, the 
( Concluded on page 88.) 
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. 
This spring there has come to the 
Wayside so many requests for informa¬ 
tion in regard to the School Branches 
that we feel it is space well occupied to 
outline the plan the Wayside would like 
to see followed. 
We would like to see as many school 
children as possible enrolled in Aububon 
work. We feel teachers are spending 
time to advantage when they encourage 
the formation of School Branches. 
There is no membership fee except such 
as the local society may assess upon its 
own members. 
By the Wayside furnishes the wren 
button, which is a badge of membership, 
at two cents each. By the Wayside is 
the official organ of the Audubon soci¬ 
ety and each School Branch should 
subscribe for at least one copy. 
The customary officers should be 
elected, i. e. president, vice-president, 
secretary and treasurer. Weekly meet¬ 
ing could be held to advantage at which 
the members could discuss their obser- 
servations on bird life and perhaps ar¬ 
range frequent excursions. The mem¬ 
bership should be encouraged to write 
out their observations and send to the 
Wayside for publication. It is the un¬ 
varying experience of all teachers who 
have tried it that there is no subject 
upon which it is easier to arouse the 
interest of the children. 
See that your school officers provide 
some bird books for the school library. 
Perhaps an assessment of five cents 
a piece would enable the School Branch 
to buy a book which they needed to 
identify birds. 
And be sure to have the secretary send 
to the Wayside an account of your or¬ 
ganization and your work. 
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