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BY THE WAYSIDE 
of small twigs, bits of soft birch bark, 
cotton and grass. Many beautiful songs 
did they sing for us while they rested 
from their work. The catbird is often 
called the northern mocking bird, a name 
which it shares with the brown thrush, 
and it certainly is a fine mimic. Its imi¬ 
tation of the robin's call was so clever as 
to decieve many listeners. 
In a tall oak near the house a pair of 
robins built their nest and reared their 
young. They were very bold in their 
search for food, hopping about the lawn 
and pulling up angleworms while we 
were watching them. Another pair of 
robins built on a rail in the old rail fence 
back o‘f the barn but something pierced 
the eggs, eating their contents. 
lust across 'the road in the meadow 
the bob-o-link and meadowlark both 
nested and each seemed to try to sing- 
more sweetly than the other. I he lark 
would sit on a fence-post and warble 
its sweet song that every farmer-boy 
loves, while the music-mad bob-o-link 
made the air rattle and tinkle as he 
gurgled and bubbled out the notes of his 
song as he Hew from one tuft of grass to 
another. And though he seemed a plump 
bird he scarcely bent the grass as he 
alighted. 
Many goldfinches visited us and left 
their autographs in the beet and cabbage 
leaves in the garden. A pair of indigo 
birds made us a short call one day, stop¬ 
ping for a few minutes in one of the 
burroaks near the house. In an apple 
tree a chipping sparrow made a nest and 
laid two tiny eggs, but a hard wind blew 
the frail structure to the ground and 
it was never rebuilt. The swallows have 
built in the shed and a phoebe in the 
hay loft. From the hazel thicket across 
the valley comes the mellow “bobwhite” 
of the quail and the cheerful note of the 
whippoorwill. Often in the evening we 
hear the full mellow “ooah" of the hoot- 
owl and one evening a screechowl 
screamed in a large apple tree whose 
branches almost brush the house. The 
jays, crows, sparrows, hawks, juncoes, 
brown thrushes and the dear little black- 
capped chickadees are all abundant in 
their different seasons. Also the sweet 
songsparrow and from the meadow we 
often hear the call of the killdeer. 
The vesper sparrow makes evening 
cheerful. In the granary a swift has a 
nest and early in the summer several 
martins were seen flying around the 
buildings. The tiny housewren and the 
birds’ policeman, the kingbird, as well 
as the red-winged blackbird and cow- 
blackbird were here in plenty; but ow¬ 
ing to the dry summer and consequent 
lack of fiowers but one tiny ruby-throat 
humming bird was seen. During the 
last snow storm last spring a strange 
bird that I have not been able' to identify 
was seen eating the buds on an apple 
tree by the house. 
From the woods or orchard we fre¬ 
quently hear the hoarse croak of the rain 
crow, and occasionally the plaintive note 
of the mourning dove. 
Ivy C. Fisher. 
A Plea for Wild Flowers 
Circular of the Seal Harbor Village Im¬ 
provement Society, reprinted by per¬ 
mission. 
It is to the interest of every one that 
beautiful and characteristic plants be 
guarded from extermination. It is be¬ 
lieved that every one will be ready to aid 
in this work if once he or she fully 
realizes the danger with which these 
plants are now threatened 
It is not our wish to discourage unnec¬ 
essarily the gathering of wild flowers and 
