BY THE WAYSIDE 
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SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters for this department should be written on only 
one side of the page, should give the name, age and ad¬ 
dress of the writer, and should be mailed b.y the first of 
the month; Illinois children sending to Miss Juliet 
Goodrich, 10 Astor St,, Chicago, Ill., and Wisconsin 
children to Miss Ruth Marshall, Appleton, Wis. An 
honor badge will be awarded for each state every month 
preference being given to letters about the bird study 
for the month (which is always on this page) and to or¬ 
iginal observations. Any child who wins the honor 
badge twice will receive By The Wayside one year as a 
prize. 
The wren button, which is the badge of the Audubon 
Society, costs two cents, and may be bought from Miss 
Goodrich or Miss Marshall, 
Any Wisconsin School Branch may, without expense, 
have the use of the Gordon and Merrill Libraries of bird 
books, by applying to Miss Edna Edwards. Librarian, 
846 Prospect St., Appleton. 
A set of colored bird slides with a typewriter lecture 
may be rented from Prof. W. S. Marshall, 114 E. Gorham 
Street. Madison, Wis. 
Illinois Schools, may use, without expense, a library 
or a lecture with lantern slides, by applying to Mrs, 
Ruthven Deane, 504 N. State St., Chicago. 
The Meadowlark. 
Adult, both sexes.—General appear¬ 
ance of back and wing coverts mixed 
black and brownish, each feather being 
streaked or barred; top of head with med¬ 
ian line of buff; outer tail-feathers largely 
white, inner ones barred; line from bill 
over eye yellow, bordered above and be¬ 
low by black; sides of throat whitish, 
middle throat, breast and upper belly 
bright yellow; large black crescent on 
breast; sides and lower belly white 
streaked with black; legs strong, toes 
long. Length of males from end of bill 
to tip of tail 9-50 to 11 inches; females, 8 
to 10 inches. 
Nest—is placed beside a tuft of grass 
or at the foot of a weed stalk in a natural 
depression, or one made by the birds in 
a meadow or prairie; it is built of coarse 
grasses or weed stalks lined with finer 
material of the same kind and is usually 
well hidden bv a dome or roof. 
Eggs—White, spotted and speckled 
with brown, purple and lavender. Usual 
number five, varying from three to seven. 
The people whose homes are among 
the green fields need no one to tell them 
of the {Esthetic value of the meadowlark. 
It is claimed that the song of the prairie 
bird far exceeds in volume and sweetness 
that of its eastern brother of the meadows, 
but the wild sweet song of either leaves 
an impress on the mind of the hearer that 
can never be effaced. However, the 
beauty of the meadowlark’s plumage and 
the sweetness of its song are far less im¬ 
portant to the human race than its value 
as an insect destroyer. 
It is probable that there are few birds 
as valuable to the farmer as the meadow- 
\ 
lark, as it is entirely terrestrial in its hab¬ 
its, procuring almost its entire food supply 
from insect life harmful to meadows and 
prairie lands.— Dutcher, Audubon Leaflet 
Number Three. 
Letters about the Meadowlark should 
be sent to the secretaries by May 1st. 
Wisconsin Secretary’s Letter. 
My dear Wayside Teachers and Children: 
This is the time of year to organize 
school Audubon societies. Do vou know 
how to do it? Well, it is very simple if 
you are interested in birds. Form a so¬ 
ciety in your school of those who “will try 
to cherish and protect wild birds and their 
nests.” Have the members sign this 
simple statement and send the list to the 
secretary of the Children's Department. 
Enrollment blanks will be supplied if 
you wish them. Most children like to 
wear a badge, and so we have ordered 
several hundred wren buttons, which the 
secretary will supply at two cents each. 
Two hundred and eighty-two thousand 
eighty-eight Wisconsin children have 
already enrolled in the eight years that 
there has been an Audubon society in 
the state. To be a full-fledged societv, 
each school branch is expected to sub- 
