88 
BY TIIE WAYSIDE 
Carman, Ill., March 13, 1911. 
Dear Miss Drummond: 
Thank you for the pictures and Bird 
Literature you sent us. AVe put two 
Lin cans up for bird nests, hoping the 
wrens will find them. You should see 
the birds that have visited us lately. 
There are three ponds and a swampy 
field about four miles from the Mis¬ 
sissippi river, and near them we have 
seen these birds: 
March 3. Blackbirds 
March 6. Bluebirds 
March 7. Robins 
March 7. Flicker 
March 8. Killdeer 
March 8. Red-winged Blackbirds 
March 9. Song Sparrow 
March 9. Shrike 
The gentle twitter of the Bluebird 
is welcome music, and the lordly 
Robin is hop, hop, hopping over the 
lawns, and also singing matin and 
vesper chimes in the top of the maple 
tree. “Cheer-up cheer-up” lie seems 
to say. 
The Red-winged Blackbird’s “Kon- 
ge-ree” is vigorous, rippling music. It 
seems to me it resembles somewhat the 
liquid melody of Bobolink. One was 
alone on a telephone wire, later on a 
young elm tree near a pond, and only 
ten rods away the Song Sparrow was 
giving his spirited song, then diving 
from the willow branches to a more 
sheltered retreat. 
The Tree Sparrows are giving con¬ 
certs every morning about 30 in four 
hedge clumps. I never heard them 
o-ive such outbursts of song. T hey 
o 
arc trving to say “goodbye, possibly, 
before they leave for their northern 
homes. 
A neighbor, an ex-soldier, has put 
o 
up a very commodious bird-house, 
with two doors, 4 windows and little 
porches. Blue birds are rare but we 
are hoping that they, (or Martins) 
will build in it. Of course, the Eng¬ 
lish Sparrows have been filling the 
little house with trash. Ought we 
shoot the English Sparrows in the 
winter before the Blue Birds come 
back? I hope you will have enjoy¬ 
able trips a-field. 
Yours truly, 
R. P. Crouch. 
Emerson School, Maywood, Ill., 
March 31, 1911. 
Dear Wayside:—• 
I have not seen many birds this 
spring, only the robins, blackbirds, and 
bluebirds. I have seen several robins, 
but only two bluebirds. 
I think the bluebird is very pretty. 
The upper part of his body is blue, 
and the throat and breast are a brown¬ 
ish red. It is frequently called blue 
robin, as its breast and throat re¬ 
semble that of the robins. It is also 
caled blue redbreast. The bluebird is 
about seven inches long. 
The bluebird is very common in the 
United States. The nest is built in 
the hollows of trees, and there are 
usually four or five eggs. 
This noon as I was going home I 
heard a bird singing. T wondered 
what bird it could be, and soon found 
out it was a bluebird. Tts song is a 
continued warble, and is heard in the 
serene days of spring, continuing from 
March to October. It is often called 
the little harbinger of spring. 
Mabel Peterson. 
Grade 8. Class A. Age 14. 
