BY THE WAYSIDE 
55 
I 
3 ear W ay side :— 
I had a very interesting experience 
i with Pine Siskins last March and April. 
To my knowledge I had never seen 
them before or have mistaken them for 
Redpolls or Goldfinch. 
I kept a record of the first seen 
March 9, 1911 to the last of April. On 
| March 9 about noon I heard two birds 
hinging in the top of a tall oak tree in 
our yard. The song was similar to the 
Goldfinch but sweeter and more con¬ 
stant. I got my bird glasses to ex¬ 
amine them but they flew on my ap¬ 
proach. On November 11 I saw four 
or five little birds picking in the grass 
just under the kitchen window, so near 
1 could see the markings distinctly and 
at once identified them as the Pine Sis¬ 
kins. Marcli 15 was a cold windy day 
but in an evergreen tree near the 
house a flock of six Siskins were sing¬ 
ing but not their full song as the first 
I two were. March 16 I saw a few. 
March 17, two Siskins spent an hour 
or more picking seeds from a bunch of 
catnip in sight of the kitchen window. 
■ March 18 a flock of twenty or so, were 
seen in the top of an oak close to the 
house. Several flew down to the grass 
to feed. March 20 a small flock re¬ 
mained in the yard all day. March 23 
! several Siskins singing at 7 A. M. in a 
tree near the house. March 25 saw 
two in the yard. March 26 was a 
j warm rainy day and the yard was full 
j of migrating birds. About 10 A. M. I 
heard what I thought were Pine Sis- 
: kins singing, but when I opened the 
door, I could scarcely believe my ears. 
In a little boxelder, 20 feet from the 
j door, were seventeen Pine Siskins sing- 
i ing, everyone clinging to the little 
| branches, swaying from side to side. I 
called the family to come and listen 
and the birds continued to sing for ten 
or fifteen minutes. I never heard so 
sweet a chorus. From that day until 
April 16 we saw them nearly every 
day in numbers from two to twenty, 
but never again heard more than four 
or five singing at the same time. 
Lena M. Whitcomb, 
Albany, W r is. 
Three Little Neighbors 
The junior readers of the Wayside 
may like to bear of the nature studies 
of my small neighbors, three brothers, 
Maurice, Carroll and Valmah Wright, 
whose ages now (November, 1911) are 
eleven, ten and eight years. Last sum¬ 
mer the eldest boy, when asked to 
name the birds he knew, gave the fol¬ 
lowing species in the order here given : 
kingbird, chipping sparrow, English 
sparrow, robin, bluebird, blue jay, 
shrike, warbling vireo, cowbird, red¬ 
winged blackbird, crow, scarlet tana- 
ger, kingfisher, song sparrow, cuckoo, 
brown thrasher, killdier, swallow, 
cedar waxwing, flicker, screech owl, 
grosbeak, dickcissel, bobwhite, mead¬ 
owlark, catbird, hummingbird, towhee, 
red-headed woodpecker, mourning 
dove, vesper sparrow, pigeon, wren, 
bobolink, grackle, sora, Virginia rail, 
phoebe, chimney swift, nighthawk, ori¬ 
ole, goldfinch, Bohemian waxwing, red¬ 
start, Savannah sparrow, downy wood¬ 
pecker, and chickadee. He knew a 
few others that he could not recall just 
then. It is quite doubtful if he can 
identify the Savannah sparrow in the 
field, but last spring he found a dead 
one and learned its name. 
The boys do much good by their war 
