BY THE WAYSIDE 
47 
‘while standing on his head. If you out of 
^ive him a table and a disli lie will get I had 
into it with both feet, acting in a way 
I calculated to make the Soul of Mr. 
Fletcher uneasy. 1, for one, would he 
>orrv for any lady or gentleman, who 
! iad to undergo a Nuthatchs incarna¬ 
tion. 
Let us consider Mr. Chickadee and 
10 te the different characteristics be¬ 
tween these feathered friends. When 
dr. Chick, comes sliding down the win¬ 
der sunshine to a branch, within a yard 
d our ear, it is with a confidential 
message from some other world. In- 
|tinctively we wish to uncover our 
eads in his presence and we find the 
loul within us saying: what art thou 
jot, thou art so much? An epitome of 
de, joy, harmony, faith hope and love. 
l vest pocket addition of all the best 
pings in creation. When Longfellow 
‘escribed certain birds as being: 
de ballad singers and the Toubadours, 
The street musicians of the heavenly 
city, 
lie birds, who make sweet music for 
us all 
Tn our dark hours, as David did for 
Saul 
e feel morally certain that lie must 
ive had the Cichadee in mind, for they 
all the birds that, fly, come to us with 
message of cheer in the short dark 
lys of winter. 
The wordy optimism of well meaning 
iends, may touch us not, at all, when 
respond, in spite of grouch and 
‘ssimism, instantly to this tiny feath- 
ed optimist who rollicks about in all 
e cold and bluster of the winter storm, 
wonder if they are not ashamed of 
ortals who dress in fur, or have all 
! r ds an instinct against a fur bearing 
| imal? However this may be I have 
! ver been able to get even a Chickadee 
j the friendliest of all birds—to eat 
my hand, or come near me when 
on a fur coat. 
Do not get the idea that Mr. Chick¬ 
adee poses as a saint. Par from it, he 
is impudent, unashamed and can out do 
any canary I have ever known, in scold¬ 
ing. When he is looking for sliced 
peanut, just offer him sliced chestnut, 
and he will detect the cheat instantly. 
His table manners are exquisite. Every 
meal is a banquet at which bright talk 
and singing abound. - We can all, if we 
will, come to know our winter birds 
intimately, which should afford us great 
satisfaction. 
The Hessian Fly, the Chinch Bug, and the 
Boll Weavil 
W orking in close conjunction with 
the 1 biological Survey, the National 
Association of Audubon Societies is do¬ 
ing more than any other organization 
in ihe l nited States to save and protect 
our wild birds, that they may act as 
extra hands about every farm in our 
country to prevent such outbreaks of 
injurious insects and rodents. 
According to Dr. C. L. Mar] a ft, of 
the Bureau of Entomology of the De¬ 
partment, of Agriculture, millions of 
dollars are expended annually all 
through the country in the fight against 
insect pests. This is but a small part 
of the real loss. After a careful study 
ol the inroads which the Hessian fly 
makes upon the wheat crops, Dr. Mar- 
latt says it is seldom this insect causes 
a loss of less than ten per cent of the 
'wop. In f904 this amounted to over 
tifty million dollars, while in 1900 the 
loss in the wheat-growing states from 
this tiny insect approaches one hundred 
million dollars. Year after year the 
losses caused by the attacks of cinch 
hugs in the Mississippi Valley states 
have amounted to millions of dollars. 
