BY THE WAY IS IDE 
77 
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 address ofthe writer, and should be mailed by the 
first of the month; Illinois Children sending to Miss 
Ethel E. Hooper, 541 N. State ^t., Chicago, Ill., and 
Wisconsin Children to Miss Ruth Marshall, Appleton 
Wisconsin. An honor badge will be awarded for 
each state every month, pre erence being given to 
letters about the bird study for the month (which is 
always on this page), and to original observations. 
Any child who wii s the honor badge twice will re¬ 
ceive By The Wayside one year as a prize. 
The wren button, which is the badge of the Audu 
bon Society, costs two cents, and may be bought 
from Miss Hooper 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 Edna 
Edwards Librarian, 846 Prospect St., Appleton. 
A set of colored bird slides with a typewriter lec¬ 
ture may be rented from Prof. W. S. Marshall, 114 
E. Gorham Street, Madison, Wi*. 
Illinois Schools mav use. without expense, a libr¬ 
ary or a lecture with lantern slides, by applying to 
Mrs Ruthven Deane, 504 N. State St., Chicago. 
THE WISCONSIN SECRETARY’S LETTER. 
My Dear Wayside Readers— 
This time my letter will bear you greetings 
from northern California, where we are enjoy¬ 
ing beautiful spring weather. There are fre 
quent rains, so the hills are covered with 
flowers, and there are birds everywhere. What 
interests me most in the bird life is the vari¬ 
ation between the forms here and those fa¬ 
miliar to us in Wisconsin. There are many 
closely related species, but th’ey are not ident¬ 
ical. The meadow lark is abundant here as 
in the south, and greets us from the fence 
posts as we drive out into the country. In the 
wet lands we see the bicolored blackbird in¬ 
stead of the red-winged. His epaulettes are 
larger and of the most gorgeous scarlet, no 
buff showing. Th'e feathers are spread beau¬ 
tifully in flying. But his voice is weaker, and 
he cannot say “kong-quer-ree.” 
One day I saw some horned larks, the Mex¬ 
ican, I think. They ran along in the wagon 
ruts on the road, always in pairs. They were 
quite tame and allowed us to come within five 
feet of th'em before they flew. The beautiful 
little house finch, commonly called the lin¬ 
net, is everywhere, and its song is one of the 
commonest. I have had a glimpse of the red- 
shafted flicker, a gorgeous fellow who acts 
much like h'is cousin, the yellow hammer. And, 
alas, the English sparrow is here too, just 
the same little rascal that he is in the east. 
F can only mention a few others that 1 have 
identified, the brilliant Steller jay, the little 
Arkansas gold finch, the tiny Anna humming 
bird, which is larger than our ruby-throat; but 
my letter would be too long if I told you of 
them all. 
bo you see that I shall have some new birds 
on my list this year that I have not seen be¬ 
fore. I hope that your lists are growing too, 
and that you are writing some good letters 
to The Wayside. 
Very sincerely your friend, 
Ruth Marshall. 
Petaluna, Cal. 
Purple Grackle. 
About th'e time the red wings come, late in 
February or early in March we may expect 
the purple Grackles or Crow Blackbirds. They 
migrate in large flocks, and their chorus sing¬ 
ing is quite as inspiring as the springtime 
concerts of the redwin. Ther are two kinds 
of crow blackbirds, known as the Purple Grack¬ 
le and the Bronzed Grackle. The former has 
irridecent bars on the back and in the Northern 
States is found only east of the Alleghanies 
and south of Massaschusetts; the later has 
the back, shining brassy, bronze, without iri- 
decence and in the nesting season inhabits 
the country west of the Alleghanies and 
north of Connecticut. The females of both 
species are smaller and duller than the males. 
Crackles are among th'e feAv of our land 
birds who live in flocks all the year. They 
pass the winter and migrate in larger com¬ 
panies, but when nesting are in smaller bands 
or colonies. They generally select a pine 
grove, often choosing one in acemetery, park 
or other locality where they will not be de- 
sturbed. This may result in a scarcity of 
food when the young are born, but, rather 
than abandon a locality, which experience 
has proved to be safe, they make long jour¬ 
neys in search of food for their nestlings. 
By watching the old birds one may then easi¬ 
ly learn where they live. Their flight is direct 
and somewhat labored, and when going only 
a short distance they “keel” their tail feath¬ 
ers, folding them upward fro mthe middle, 
an action which renders grackles conspicu¬ 
ous and easily identifiable when on the wiim. 
On the ground they strut about with a pecu¬ 
liar walk, which in connection with th'eir vel- 
