BY THE WAYSIDE 
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SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
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Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
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Letters for this department should be written on only 
one side of the page, should gire 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 Miss 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 Sophia Schaefer, Librarian, 
679 North St.. Appleton. 
A set of colored bird slides with a typewritten 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. 
White-Breasted Nuthatch. 
Length, 6.05 inches. Male, crown 
black; back gray; face and under parts 
white. Female similar, but crown slaty. 
—Chapman’s Bird Life. 
In Bird Neighbors , Neltje Blanchan 
says of the White-breasted Nuthatch: 
“With more artless inquisitiveness than 
fear, this lively little acrobat stops his 
hammering or hatching at your approach, 
and stretching himself out from the tree 
until it would seem he must fall off, he 
peers down at you, head downward, 
straight into your upturned opera glasses. 
If there is too much snow on the upper 
side of a branch, watch how he runs 
along underneath it like a fly, busily 
tapping the bark, or adroitly breaking 
the decayed bits with his bill, as he 
1 searches for the spiders’ eggs, larvae, etc., 
hidden there; yet somehow between 
mouthfuls, managing to call out his 
cheery, quank! quank! hank! hank /” 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Maywood, Ill., Jan. 29, 1907. 
\ Dear Wayside: 
There are two kinds of Waxwings. I 
will write about the Cedar Waxwing. 
They are seven inches long, and the end 
of their tail is yellow and they go about 
in flocks. Thev have a monotonous, 
lisping note. They are found in North 
America. None of our other birds are 
so quiet. Late in June they settle down 
and build a nest in a fruit tree about ten 
feet from the ground. They lay three to 
five eggs which are putty color spotted 
with black or brownish black. They 
live on cultivated and wild berries and 
fruits. It nests from Virginia to Labra¬ 
dor and winters from Massachusetts to 
Costa Rico. After the other birds have 
gone housekeeping they are still around 
in flocks. They build their nests of 
twigs, roots and grasses. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 10. . Clara Surrell. 
Wisconsin Prize Letter. 
Rhinelander, Wis., Jan. 30, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
The Cedar Waxwing is about six or 
seven inches long. Its nest is like a 
deep bowl, made of twigs and branches 
lined with feathers and grass. It is 
placed on a limb of a stout cedar bush, 
or tree. Sometimes it is placed in an 
apple tree. Its eggs are three to five 
and are blue and white with brown and 
lilac spots. Its song is a buzzing call 
like “Twee, twee, zee.” Its breast, crest 
and throat, wings and tail are a purplish 
cinnamon. There is a black line from 
the back of the crest, extending through 
the eye forming black frontlets. Its tail 
feathers are banded with yellow. Its 
bill and feet are black. It will not be 
