BY THE WAYSIDE 
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their land. The juneo too, winters 
with us. Of it Dr. Judd says: “The 
effect of the juneo during its stay on 
( agricultural land is that of an unmixed 
benefit, because the good done by its 
extensive consumption of weed* seeds 
is not counter-balanced by any real 
I harm, even the slight tendency toward 
grain eating is practically harmless, 
since most of the grain eaten consists 
of waste kernels.’’ 
We trust that you will make an ef¬ 
fort to watch these birds in the field 
this winter as they feed on the weed 
seeds. Unlike many other sparrows- 
the juneo and tree sparrow feed more 
or less away from the thickets and out 
into the open fields. There is on rec¬ 
ord the case of a tree sparrow whose 
stomach contained 700 seeds of pigeon 
grass by actual count! A hearty meal 
for so small a bird. Yet it requires no 
figures to inform a careful observer of 
the fact that these birds do dispose of 
a large quantity of seeds. In order to 
give us a more tangible idea of what 
our winter birds do for us, Prof. F. E. 
L. Beal studied the situation carefully 
and placed the figure for the winter’s 
consumption of weed seed on the part 
[ of the tree sparrow alone at 875 tons in 
the state of Iowa. A farmer can ap¬ 
preciate this when he realizes that rag¬ 
weed, pigeon grass, crab grass, sorrel, 
lamb’s quarter, amaranth, chickweed, 
and the like are among the seeds fre¬ 
quently eaten. 
Is it not of some consequence 
whether these winter laborers of ours 
should work upon our land or not ? At 
least let us not harry them off the land 
[ or permit others to do so. or to forbid 
them the privilege of scratching for 
food in the barn yard or about the hay¬ 
stack when the deep snow drives them 
from the shelter of the thickets. Pet 
us, however, do more than this. Let us 
encourage them to visit us by feeding 
and protecting them. This cannot, 
however, be done, as for the birds of 
the wood and orchard by merely hang¬ 
ing up a bit of fat or suet. We must 
meet the bird’s tastes in this and pro¬ 
vide a little grain. Millet is said to be 
the tree sparrow’s favorite food and 
bird lovers have succeeded in bringing 
together quite a flock of juncos and 
tree sparrows by setting aside a straw 
pile with millet and other seeds scat¬ 
tered through it. The snow is blown 
off more readily from the sides and the 
birds are thus enabled to secure their 
food. For shelter, a natural thicket 
or dense shrub will often answer, but 
when none is at hand, a “birds tepee” 
may be built. This is a tepee like af¬ 
fair built out of bean poles to which 
the vines are still clinging. Any other 
structure which will afford protection 
against the cold winds and the drifting 
snow may be used. Let us all try our 
hand at attracting our winter friends 
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and let us hope for success. 
Mrs. Sage Purchases Island for Birds 
Mrs. Russell Sage has purchased 
Marsh Island, Louisiana, for a bird 
refuge, with the intention of dedicat¬ 
ing it in perpetuity to this purpose and 
of placing its control in whatever 
hands will best accomplish her object 
—the federal government, the State of 
Louisiana or some association organ¬ 
ized for the purpose. 
The island which cost about $150- 
000, is southwest of New Orleans. It 
has long been known as a famous win¬ 
ter feeding ground for ducks, geese 
and other migratory birds, and is prob¬ 
ably the most popular resort in the 
South for shooting. It is about eigh¬ 
teen miles long and nine miles wide at 
its broadest part, containing approxi¬ 
mately 75,000 acres. 
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