46 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
cousin bird. Only in the coldest part 
of the winter does it occasionally seek 
the balmier clime of Illinois. But it 
soon returns, and often by the middle 
of March it has built its nest, and 
is busy hatching. The nest is an 
artless affair of grass, placed on the 
ground in some pasture lot, and very 
hard to locate. The bird itself, 
against the dry grass of the early 
spring or late winter is none too easily 
seen. It is very strictly a ground 
birds, runs instead of hopping, is prac¬ 
tically never seen perching higher than 
a fence post, and soars much in the 
manner of the skylark, singing as it 
goes. 
A cheery, unpretending, compan¬ 
ionable fellow, taking his surroundings 
with cheerfulness at all times, the 
Horned Lark is well worthy of our 
study, or respect, and our protection. 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
Before the next number of this jour¬ 
nal appears, the spring migration 
northward of birds will have com¬ 
menced. The proper work for schools 
then is the subject of this migration. 
As before, much information on this 
can be secured from various bulletins 
of the U. S. Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, which may usually be had for 
the asking. Most bijrd books have 
something to say on the subject also. 
As to field work, children should be 
encouraged to watch for the earliest 
appearance of such forerunners of 
spring as the blue bird, meadowlark, 
robin, and red winged blackbird. 
Some information can often be ob¬ 
tained thus as to the earlier appear¬ 
ance of these birds in certain favored 
locality. Something can be done also 
in observing the places of shelter these 
“early” birds seek during cold spells. 
Feeding at his time should be specially 
encouraged. 
In places where there are open mea¬ 
dows, the Prairie Homed Lark (see 
Bird of the Month in this number) 
may be frequently seen. It builds its 
nest and deposits its eggs by the middle 
of March. 
Mazomanie Wis., February 5, Did. 
Dear Wayside:— 
We have been looking for birds and 
Monday we saw the Evening Grosbeak 
sitting on a hack berry tree. The fa¬ 
ther grosbeak is brownish yellow. His 
wings, tail, and crown are black. The 
upper part of his wings are white. 
The grosbeak has a song something 
like a robin’s. The grosbeak’s length 
is about six inches. The grosbeak has 
a cone-shaped bill. It gets its food 
from the hackberry tree. 
Yours truly, 
Helen Parman. 
Age 10 years. 
Mazomanie, AVis., Feb. 5, Did. 
Dear AY ay side:— 
Monday afternoon some of the boys 
saw a flock of birds out in one of the 
big trees near the school house. They 
called Miss Roberts out to see what 
kind of a bird it was. When she got 
out there she saw that they were Even¬ 
ing Grosbeaks. We only saw the fa¬ 
ther bird. The father Grosbeak is 
brownish yellow. His wings, tail, and 
crown are black. The upper part of 
his wings are white. 
Yours truly, 
Laura Parman, 
Age 9 years. 
