B Y THE WA YSIDE 
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 ad¬ 
dress of the writer, and should be mailed by the first of 
the month: Illinois children sending to Miss Mary Drum¬ 
mond, 208 West St,, Wheaton, 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 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 Miss Edwards 
Any Wisconsin School Branch may, without expense, 
have the use of the Gordon and Merrill Lioraries 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 a lecture with lantern slides, by applying to E. S. 
Adams, 439 Elm Street, Chicago 
Bird of the Month. 
Last month we had the bluebird to 
describe, so this month I have taken the 
indigo bunting, another blue bird but 
very different from the other. They are 
small, not much over five inches, and 
their heads and rumps are a darker blue 
than their breasts, while their wings are 
* 
slightly tinged with brown. Nothing 
can describe their brilliancy as they fly 
in the sunshine from weed to weed while 
they gather the tiny seeds which is their 
chief diet. One morning last spring, be¬ 
tween showers we went birding in our 
own back yard, which is really a great 
ravine, and there on the side of the hill 
as we looked down we saw five scarlet 
tanagers, three indigo birds, summer 
yellow birds, goldfinches and many 
bright warblers. It truly was a great 
color scheme. You can look for him 
t among the bushes and weeds in the 
month of May, but in the hot July and 
August days, I have found him mostly 
fluttering in the tree tops keeping up a 
constant and unmusical call, which in 
my mind is inseparable from great heat 
and dusty roads. I sincerely hope some 
boys and girls will have found this bird 
before next month, or can describe to me 
one they saw last year. 
E. S. E. 
Molly Cotton-tail. 
As Easter draws near I hear much 
about the hare or rabbit that brings the 
beautiful colored eggs to the children. I 
do not know the origin of this fable or 
superstition, whichever you may call it, 
but I often wonder as to its truth and 
long for the Cotton-tail family that lived 
on our street last summer. On the side 
of the hill stands an old street car brought 
Used by permission of Atkinson, mentzer & Grover, Chicago 
there for a children’s playhouse. Under 
this car Mr. and Mrs. Cotton-tail made 
their home and raised their young. 
Nothing could be more cunning than the 
five little babies when they first came 
out to play. I was so interested in my 
neighbors that I lookedTiiv books to find 
out about their ancestors and their hab¬ 
its and there I found many strange facts 
that I could not prove by my living ex¬ 
amples. One book said that the inside 
of their cheeks were covered with fur and 
