BY THE WAYSIDE 
85 
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 ad- 
dress of the writer, and should he mailed by the first of 
the month; Illiuois children sending to Miss Juliet 
Goodrich, 10 Astor St„ Chicago, I1U; 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 
^ 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 
mav 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 L. S. 
Adams, 439 Elm street., Chicago. 
Yellow Warbler. 
Upper parts greenish-yellow; under 
parts yellow, streaked with reddish 
brown. 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Oswego, Ilk, April 19, 1907. 
Dear Wayside: 
I am going to tell you about our 
spring birds. Some of them started to 
come about the first of February but 
there are a great many to come yet. The 
robin and the bluebird were two of the 
first birds to come. The first robin I 
saw this year was picking among dead 
leaves hunting for food. 
One day last spring as I was walking 
along the river I glanced up and saw a 
robin’s nest in the top of a tall bush, 
looked into it and saw four blue eggs. 
The next day I went to look at the 
nest again arid found one of the eggs 
gone. I thought nothing of this for one 
might have been broken. But four or 
five days later I went again thinking the 
ewer’s might be hatched. W hen I reached 
tile nest. to : my surprise I found nothing 
but some pieces of blue shell. I soon 
decided that some crows or bluejays 
must have stolen and and eaten them 
for I knew that thev could not have 
•/ 
hatched and the birds flown away in 
such a short time. 
If we wish to see our wild birds tame 
and build near our homes we must feed 
them and never hunt or scare them and 
they will soon learn to know us and we 
must feed them and never hunt or scare 
them and they will soon learn to know 
us and we can get close to them. I hope 
vou will try this and see if it is not true. 
•j * 
Aged 13. Ruth Freemain. 
© 
Wisconsin Prize Letter. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 19, 1907 
< / • 
Dear Wayside: 
The song sparrow is about as big as 
the English sparrow. It builds on or 
near the ground. It lifts up its head 
and looks into the sky when it sings. It 
has a very sweet song. You will see it 
sitting on the fence-post or in a tree. I 
saw a song sparrow this morning in a 
little tree by the road. It began to sing 
and as soon as it saw me it stopped sing¬ 
ing and flew away. I once saw two song 
sparrows near each other. One of them 
started to sing and just as soon as it got 
through the other one began to sing. 
They kept it up for several minutes. The 
song sparrow has a dark brown back and 
brown and white spotted breast. 
Aged 11 years. Mildred Morrill. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 19, 1907 
Dear Wavside: 
As I come to school every morning, I 
f 
