B Y THE IVA YSIDE 
5 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Etfzry 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 sh mid be mailed by tue first of 
the month: Illinois children sending to Miss Mary Drum¬ 
mond, 208 West St,. Wheaton, 11., 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 
Mary Drummond 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 
The American Redstart. 
In May the Redstart comes to us with 
troops of other warblers which have been 
spending the winter in the South. He 
is one of the gayest of that gay family, 
which the Cubans call mariposas , butter¬ 
flies, because of their brilliant colors. 
The redstart they call candelita , the little 
red torch. Our English name means 
red-tail, but he really hasn’t a bit of red 
on him. He always makes me think of 
a Baltimore oriole because he wears the 
same colors. His head and back are 
jet black and there are bright orange 
bands on his wings, tail and the sides of 
his breast. Only the old males are col¬ 
ored like this: the females and young 
males are gravish-olive, with yellow 
markings. 
Warblers are all restless birds, but the 
redstart is the most active of them all. 
He will dart back and forth, circle over 
the ground, opening and shutting his 
orange tail meanwhile, like a dainty fan; 
then he will fling himself into the air, 
turn several somersaults, and come tum¬ 
bling to the ground like some mad thing. 
He is not mad, however, but is snapping 
up insects with that sharp, black bill of 
his. 
Redstarts build a pretty cup-shaped 
nest which they usually place in the 
crotch of some sapling. Cowbirds often 
lay their eggs in redstarts’nests. Once I 
watched a redstart feeding a full-grown 
young cowbird on our lawn. The cow- 
bird would make a rush for the redstart, 
and snatch the worm from her bill, mak¬ 
ing a loud gobbling sound that seemed 
to scare the little mother nearly to death. 
Finally the cowbird flew with a whoop to 
the top of the house, and the timid little 
redstart followed, wondering, I am sure, 
what kind of a child she had hatched 
out. E. I). F. 
Arbor and Bird Day Exercises. 
The Arbor and Bird Day program was 
given by the members of the Harmon 
Audubon Bird Societies No. 1 (primary 
pupils) and No. 2 (intermediate pupils). 
The literary part of the program was 
held in the primary room which was 
prettily decorated for the occasion and 
suitable drawings were on the boards. 
The flower beds were made, one bv the 
girls and one by the boys, the children 
doing all the work of digging, raking and 
planting, under the supervision of the 
teacher. 
The twelve boys of the spade drill, 
near the close of the drill, planted three 
trees which were named George Wash¬ 
ington, Ulysses Grant and Abraham Lin¬ 
coln. A number of the readings were 
about birds and were very much appre¬ 
ciated, as was all of the program. 
The birds of this community need have 
