BY THE WAYSIDE 
13 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT. 
Every Wisconsin 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 of the month, Illinois Children sending to Mrs. 
Wm. M. Scudder, 165 Buena Ave., Chicago, Ill., and 
Wisconsin Children to MISS RUTH M ARSHALL, 
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 badjge of the Audu¬ 
bon Societj", costs two 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, bj r applying to Miss Bossert, 
Librarian, 719 Fran 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 appHingto Mrs. 
Ruthven Deane, 504 N. State St , Chicago. 
ri 
BADGES AND PRIZES. 
The badge for the best Wisconsin letter on 
j the bird for the month, the Goldfinch, goes to 
; William Schneider, of LaCrosse. A year’s sub¬ 
scription to By the Wayside is sent to Earl 
Delong, Appleton, for a letter on bird observa¬ 
tions. Excellent letters have been received 
from Illinois from Joe Rick, Harriet Koehler, 
Ruth Larson and George Sippel. 
THE APPLETON AUDUBON SOCIETY. 
Prof. 0. B. Zimmerman, state president, gave 
a very interesting illustrated lecture on “Bird 
Wanderings” before the society on May 5. 
The annual picnic occurred on May 28, 
when members and friends to the number of 
twenty-four went by boat to Clifton, and spent 
the day observing. A list of over forty birds 
was the result. The list is as follows: 
Robin, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, 
' English' Sparrow, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, 
House Wren, Belted Kingfisher, Phoebe, Wood 
Pewee, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Her¬ 
ring Gull, Catbird, Tree Swallow, Bank Swal¬ 
low, Marsh Hawk. Kingbird, Hummingbird, 
Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Bronzed 
l Grackle, Indigo Bunting, Redstart, Towhee, 
Bluebird, Bobolink, Red-eyed Vireo, Vesper 
Sparrow, Wood Thrush, Brown Thrasher, 
Great-crested Flycatcher, Rose-breasted Gros- 
j beak, Crow, Downy Woodpecker Cedar Wax¬ 
wing, Mallard Duck, Chimney Swift, Great 
1 Blue Heron, Oven-bird, Scarlet Tananger. 
The editor requests that reports of other 
societies in A isconsin and Illinois be sent for 
publication in the Wayside. 
The History of a Robin During One Season. 
One pair of Robins last summer built a nest 
in a willow tree in our yard. I saw them take 
the twigs and build the nest and saw them 
look at the eggs with great- pride. Every day I 
would go to the willow tree and see the eggs. 
Once when I went the mother bird was on 
the nest, and I did not know it. I climbed 
up the tree; well 1 came down faster than I 
went up any way. You should have heard the 
noise. My mother asked me if I broke or 
took any eggs and 1 said, “No, I just climbed 
up and the robin was on the nest when I got 
there.” After a while I went there again and 
the robin was on the nest when I got there. 
After a while L went there again and the 
robin was on the nest again and I went up 
even if the robin was there. When I got 
to the top, I looked at the nest and eggs and 
the robin. But the robin flew up to a higher 
branch and watched me. Very soon the father 
came with some food for the young. I went 
down and watched the robins feed the young 
ones. The young ones did not have any feath¬ 
ers on and they looked very ugly with their 
mouths open as wide as they could be wait¬ 
ing for the food. 1 took the spading fork and 
dug up some worms for the mother and father 
to feed the young ones. Once a little bird fell 
out of the nest into the creek. I saw it fall 
and I picked it up and put it in the nest. 
The next morning when I went down I found 
the nest empty. I left it there for six days 
and each night the old birds came back until 
the sixth night when I took the nest and kept 
it for a whole year, then it was knocked off 
the shelf and was broken up. Earl Delong. 
Appleton, Wis. 5th Grade. 
Dear Wayside. Tinley Park. 
I belong to the bird lovers. 
I know where there are three birds nests. 
A robin’s nest is in our elm tree, a blue 
jay’s nest in a pine tree and ground bird’s 
is back of our school house. 
I saw a pretty bird; it was black and had 
red spots. John Mace, 
Age 7. Durand, Wis. 
