B Y THE WA YSIDE 
21 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is requfred to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters for this department should be written on only 
one side of the paj?e, should ^ive the name, age and ad¬ 
dress of the writer, and should be mailed by the first of 
the month; Illinois children sending to Miss Juliet 
Goodrich, 10 Astor St,, Chicago, Ill., and Wisconsin 
children to Mis* Edna Edwards, 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 Edwards. 
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 Cedar Waging. 
My Dear Children:—The bird for this 
month is the Cedar Waxwing and I will 
give you only a short description for I 
want vou to find out about him your- 
selves and write what you have learned 
to me. The writer of the best letter will 
receive our silver Audubon button to 
have for the next month. He is a dear 
little chunky bird between six and seven 
inches long. His sober cinnamon color 
is relieved by a big black line through 
the eye and a small red spot on each 
wing. The crest on his head makes him 
easy to identify. 
Edna S. Edwards. 
846 Prospect street. 
Appleton, Wis., May 2, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
We went to the woods Saturday. We 
had to go through a meadow where we 
heard a song of a bird, but we didn’t 
know what it was until we saw it fly. 
Then we knew it was a meadow lark. 
The meadow lark is a little larger than 
the robin. It has a stripe of yellow on 
top of his head. He wears a black bib 
and his head is yellow with brown spots. 
His tail is short with white feathers. 
His back is brown with darker brown 
spots tinged with yellow. His mate is 
not as dark as he is. 
He builds his nest on the ground in 
the field or meadow. Do you know 
what he makes his nest of? I will tell 
you. He makes it out of sticks, grass 
and weeds. The female lays from three 
to seven eggs and they are pure white 
with brown spots on them. The tall 
green grasses hide the nest from their 
enemies. 
Some people think he says ‘‘Spring of 
the Year,” and others think he says, “I’m 
a meadow lark.” 
Yours trulv, 
Aged 12. Florence Loos. 
Cross Plains, Wis., March 29, 1906. 
Dear Wayside: 
The bluebird is about seven inches 
long. The wings, back and tail are blue, 
but the breast is red. The eggs are a 
kind of light blue and it lays from four 
to six eggs at a time. In winter the blue 
birds go south, but early in spring they 
return to us. I have not seen any this 
spring but I hope I will see some soon. 
Once a blue bird built a nest in a tree 
near our house. The tree was near the 
railroad track and near a creek. The 
nest was low and could easily be reached. 
It had four eggs in it. All the eggs 
hatched and four little bluebirds were in 
the nest. But when they were hatched 
the water rose and washed the nest with 
the young ones away. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 12. John .T. Zaxder. 
