28 
BY TIIE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month oxcept 
July and August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin, Illinois and 
Michigan Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year Single copies 5 cents 
Contributions to By the Wayside are invited 
from all lovers of Nature ;ind friends of the 
birds. All communications should be sent to 
Roland E. Kremers, 1720 Vilas St., Madison, 
Wis. 
NOTICE 
.The English Sparrow is one of our 
greatest nuisances. It. is very desir¬ 
able that we should all know more 
about it. To encourage young people 
in observation and in recording ob¬ 
servations, By the Wayside hereby of¬ 
fers a prize of a copy of Reed’s Bird 
Guide to the Landbirds, to the child, 
under 14 years of age, who sends us 
the best account of this bird as it oc¬ 
curs in his or her home locality. The 
following conditions are attached to 
this offer: 
Each essay must lie accompanied by 
a statement from the teacher of the 
child, stating that the child is under 
fourteen. All essays must be sent by 
mail to Mr. Roland Kremers. 1720 
Vilas St., Madison, Wis., before April 
1, 1013. The essay must be based on 
what the child has observed, not on 
what he has read in books. The prize 
will be sent to the winner on or before 
May 1, and the prize essay will be pub¬ 
lished. 
Who will win? As suggestions let us 
state that we want to know such things 
as the abundance of the sparrow, its 
favorite nesting places, damage it is 
known to do. or good; what has been 
done to reduce its numbers; peculiar 
habits observed in it; etc., etc. And 
the whole thing should be put into 
good English. Now, go to work! 
Save the Wild Life 
Last summer we spent a few weeks 
in the Superior National Forest, in 
northeastern Minnesota. It is a region 
almost without inhabitants, and hunt¬ 
ing is by law forbidden. As a conse- 
quence of this law, ruffed and spruce 
grouse can be seen daily; the smaller 
birds, if you are not too noisy in camp, 
will come to see you daily. A young 
hawk fairly haunted us for a week. A 
mink was observed a number of times 
near our boat landing. One of us saw 
nineteen moose at close range within 
two weeks, one of which he spanked 
with the canoe paddle. Deer, though 
by nature more wary, we saw several 
times. Within three miles of our camp 
was a beaver colony. The uncanny 
cry of the loon resounded everywhere. 
Chipmunks were regular boarders with 
us. 
Can you see all this, or even a small 
part of it near your home? Never. 
But there is a chance to get much of it 
back. Once large tracts of land are 
closed to hunting, and only a little en¬ 
couragement given to the wild crea¬ 
tures, many can be brought back and 
some of their confidence in man re¬ 
stored. Hunting, even under present 
restrictions, will before many decades 
be a thing of the past in Wisconsin* 
But the pleasures of seeing wild things 
alive, can be preserved for all times 
to come, if we begin now. 
We are glad to see that the State 
is to fence a large tract of forest land 
in northern Wisconsin, and is both to 
protect the wild life now in it, and to 
add new forms, from without. Let 
there be more of such work. 
