14 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
smaller than a meadow Lark, and is of 
a grayish brown. 1 think it is a lark, 
but am not sure. It is a sweet singer. 
There are some Cliff Swallows around 
the river. The Cliff Swallows always 
build their nests on the cliff of our sand 
pit. They would dig holes in the sand,, 
and lay their eggs in them. 
Some other birds I saw was a snipe; 
(it was wading in the water in the 
swamp), Red-headed Woodpecker, Cow- 
birds, Common Oriole, House Wren. 
Yours truly, 
Hattie Rot he. 
Mauston, Wis., April BO, 1000. 
Dear Wayside: 
Yesterday when it snowed and rained 
so, there were three or four Hermit 
Thrushes on the School Ground. There 
were Robins with them and they were 
looking for worms. Some of the chil¬ 
dren saw them pulling worms out of 
the ground. 
One morning as I looked out of the 
window, I saw a Robin pulling at a 
caterpillar. He would peck at it and 
pick it up m his bill and then diop if . 
He at last picked it up and carried it 
away. 
Last night after school Clem Bradley 
and Kenneth Grubb found a Hermit 
Thrush in the fresh air chamber. They 
brought it up in the sixth grade so we 
could get a good look at it. Phen the 
boys went up town and bought a loaf 
of bread and fed it to the birds. The 
first and second grade teachers bought 
a loaf of bread and fed it to the birds. 
Wednesday night after school as I 
sat. by the window a Hermit Thrush flew 
up to the window by me and then flew 
down again in the cellar window. But 
there was so much snow in the window 
it flew back in a tree. 
To-day there is another flock of Her¬ 
mit Thrushes on the ball-ground. Mary 
Johnson put some suet on the ground 
for them to eat. The description of 
the Hermit Thrush is as follows: Back, 
olive brown; reddish color on the tail, 
beneath white, gray on sides; pure 
white throat with brown spots; yellow¬ 
ish spots around the eye, rather short 
tail. This morning one of the trees On 
the school ground was filled with Her¬ 
mit Thrushes, Robins, Purple Grackles 
and Sparrows. There was another flock 
on the ground and they seemed to be 
playing cross-tag. 
The Purple Grackles are of a blackish 
purple and their breast is a changeable 
color. 
Yours truly, 
Bertha Pierce. 
The Franklin Audubon Society gave 
an interesting literary and musical en¬ 
tertainment on the evening of Arbor 
Day. 
Plymouth, Wis., May 18, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am a great lover of birds and I make 
a list of the birds every year. My father 
who used to be a teacher of birds, and 
who still is a great lover of birds, taught 
me to know them. Although 1 cannot 
remember all of them, I try to remem¬ 
ber as many as I can. From the begin¬ 
ning of February to May IT I saw and 
heard 67 birds. 
We had our entertainment on May 
7th. It was held in the name of the 
Audubon Societv. We had a debate. 
