BY THE WAYSIDE 
5 
Every Wisconsin 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT. 
School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters for this department should be written on 
only one side of the page, should give the name, age 
and address of writer, and should be mailed by the 
first ol the month, Illinois Children sending to Mrs. 
Wm. M. Scudder, 165 Buena Ave., Chicago, Ill., and 
Wisconsin Children to MISS RUTH MARSHALL 
Appleton, Wisconsin. An honor badge will be a- 
warded for each state every month, preference being 
given to letters about the birds study for the month 
(which is always on this page), and to original ob¬ 
servations. 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 Audu¬ 
bon Society, costs one cent, and may be bought from 
Mrs. Scudder or Miss Marshall. 
Any Wisconsin School Branch may, without ex¬ 
pense, have the use of the Gordon and Merrill Lib¬ 
raries of bird books, by applying to Miss Bossert, 
Librarian, 719 Frau Klin St., Milwaukee. 
A set of colored bird slides with a type-written lec¬ 
ture may be rented from Prof. W. S. Marshall, 114 
E. Gorham St., 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 BIRDS FOR SUMMER. 
Do The Wayside boys and girls know what 
the birds are doing in summer when we are 
having our vacation ? Building their nests, of 
coui se, and rearing their young. Rising earlv 
and working late, for most of them must do 
lots of work before they can leave for their 
southern winter homes. How many broods do 
they have? What do they build their nests 
of ? What do they eat and feed to their young ? 
Do they help the farmer and fruit grower? 
Can we help them to get food and water, and 
homes? How many have carried out the sug¬ 
gestions made in the last Wayside ? Here are 
questions for sharp eyes to find answers for. 
A bird book will be given to the Wisconsin boy 
or girl who sends the best answers to these 
questions from actual observation made this 
summer. Letters must reache the secretary 
by Sept. 1st. A similar offer is made by the 
Illinois secretary. 
BADGES AND PRIZES. 
The honor badge for the best letter about 
the song sparrow goes to Ethel Winslow, Mad¬ 
ison, Wis. A year’s subscription to By the 
Wayside is sent to William Schneider, of La 
Crosse, for a letter on bird notes. The Illi¬ 
nois letter has not been received in time for 
publication. 
• THE ILLINOIS SECRETARY’S LETTER. . 
Dear Wayside Children: 
It is so long since I have had a talk with you 
that I feel like the ‘‘old man all clothed in 
leather. ’ I want to say “how do you do, and 
how do you do, and how do you do again.” 
Just think of how much more you know than 
when I wrote to you last, more about the dif¬ 
ferent countries of the world; more about the 
people who have lived and died in it; more 
too, I hope, about all good things that make 
a girl’s and boy’s life better in every way. 
How much more do you know, I wonder, about 
our friends the Birds ? I know some of you 
have been studying them, for I have read your 
grade letters in The Wayside and have been 
glad to see some of our Illinois children have 
written letters, and very good ones, too. 
Now that we have Bird Day in Illinois, as 
they have had it in Wisconsin for so many 
years, we are going to expect great things 
from our children. All sorts of letters, telling 
about the birds they see, red birds, white birds 
and blue birds (those letters could be for the 
Fourth of July); and the little brown and grey 
birds that are not so gay to look at but just 
as lovely, and are generally the sweetest sing¬ 
ers. We want to find out what you see and 
know about them all. 
But there is another thing that is better 
than your knowing about birds, and that is 
your protecting and caring for them, and so I 
am going to tell you that I will give a pretty 
bird book to the Illinois child that sends to 
Mrs. Scudder" by next September, the best re¬ 
port of work done to help and protect the 
birds; and by the “best report” I don’t mean 
the one that is expressed in the best way, or 
is written the best, but the one that tells 
about the best work done. 
I want you to love the birds, not just know 
about them, and I want every child to learn 
this one thing: that a living bird is much 
more beautiful, much more useful, and much 
more interesting than a dead one. Now then, 
all our new children and all our old ones (who¬ 
ever heard of old children?) take good care 
of all the birds about you and then write and 
tell us how you did it. 
With all good wishes for you all. 
Mary Drummond, 
Sec’y Illinois Audubon Society. 
