B Y THE WA YS1DE 
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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 be mailed by the first of 
the month: Illinois children sending to Miss Juliet Good¬ 
rich, 10 Astor St,. Chicago, Ill., and Wisconsin children 
to Mr. Thos. R. Moyle, 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 original observa¬ 
tions. 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 
Socie'y. costs two cents and may be bought from Miss 
Juliet Goodrich or Mr. Moyle 
Any Wisconsin School Branch may, without expense, 
have the use of the Gordon and Merrill LiDraries of bird 
books, by applying to Miss Sophia Schaefer, Librarian, 
679 North street 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 < lecture with lantern slides, by applying to E. S. 
Adams, 439 Elm Street, Chicago. 
There has been much in the magazines 
lately about the English or House Spar¬ 
row. Some people say that the sparrows 
drive other birds out of the bird houses 
that have been made for them; that they 
break the eggs of other birds, that their 
chirp is harsh and disagreeable. 
Then, on the other hand, the friends 
of the sparrow say that he is plucky and 
stays with us all the year to cheer us 
when our bird friends are few, and that 
we ought to be glad for this example of 
cheer when it is hard to be cheerful. 
I’d like to know what Wayside people 
think. Has the House Sparrow tried to 
drive away your nicer bird friend? And 
if so, what did you do? 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Maywood, Ill. 
Dear Wayside: 
I can help the birds by keeping the 
cats away and giving them what they 
can eat. Mamma has got a whole box 
| of crumbs home; she keeps them until 
the birds come around and then she takes 
i 
a handful and takes it out there. But 
when she takes it out the birds Hv awav. 
We leave it there, though, and then the 
birds come around and eat it all up, and 
then they look around for more. When 
they go away I take some out again and 
then they come after it. 
Yours truly, 
Aged 9. Marie Crofut. 
The Kingfisher. 
One bright, sunny morning when I was 
walking through the woods I came to a 
river bank. I heard a harsh sound and 
I looked up and saw a bird that was 
looking in the river. It was a kingfisher. 
Pretty soon I saw him dire down in the 
river and come up with a fish in his 
mouth. 
The kingfisher cannot swallow large 
fishes, but he beats them against a branch 
and tears them before eating. As they 
live on fish, they make their homes near 
water and only travel south when the 
rivers freeze. They burrow tunnels in 
the earth of river banks eight to nine 
feet long and build their nests at the end 
of them, just as the bank swallows do, 
only the kingfisher’s tunnel is much 
larger, and its nest is not nicely lined 
with feathers. The young often have no 
softer bed than a few fish bones. 
His length is about thirteen inches. He 
has a bristling crest. The bill is longer 
than the head,—stout, straight and sharp. 
Its color is blue above with many white 
bands and spots on its long, pointed 
wings. Below it has a blue belt across 
the breast. The female has a brown belt. 
It is a citizen of North America. It is a 
rather startling and amusing neighbor 
who alwavs minds his own business and 
is an industrious fisherman. 
Merrill, Wis. Elmer Blank. 
