B Y THE WA YSIDE 
69 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT* 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters to this department should be 
written on only one side of the page, 
should give name, age and address of the 
writer and, should be mailed by the first 
of the month; Illinois writers sending to 
Miss Mary Drummond, Spring Lane, Lake 
Forest, Ill., and Wisconsin writers to Miss 
Edith Edwards, Appleton, Wis. To each 
writer whose letter is published will be 
sent a beautiful colored picture of the bird 
of the month. For the best letter each 
month we will send the Wayside free for 
( one year. Preference will be given to 
letters about the bird study for the month 
and to original observations. 
The wren button, which is the badge of 
the Audubon Society, costs two cents and 
can be bought from Miss Mary Drummond 
or Mr. Moyle. 
Any Wisconsin society, may, by paying 
the express, have the use of the Gordan 
and Merrill Libraries of bird books by 
applying to Mr. Moyle. 
A set of colored bird slides with a 
typewritten lecture may be rented from 
Chas. E. Brown, State Historical Building, 
Madison, Wis. Illinois Schools may use, 
without expense, a library or a lecture 
with lantern slides, by applying to Miss 
Bunnel, Academy of Sciences, Chicago. 
-—- 
The 'Meadowlark . 
For the coming month I want the 
Waysiders to look for the meadowlark 
particularly. There is not much need of 
describing him for you must all know 
him; the black crescent on his golden 
breast, the outer tail feathers that show 
white when he flies, the brownish back, 
and his song, the most beautiful sound 
of early spring. Look for him in Wis¬ 
consin between the 15th and the 25th of 
March; in Illinois perhaps five days 
earlier. 
Soon the great procession of birds, 
which is already headed north, will begin 
to pass us; first in the procession are the 
Bluebird, the Robin, the Meadowlark, 
the Song Sparrow, and the Phoebe. 
We ought to be especially grateful to 
these friends who come so long before 
the green, who brave the stormy weather 
of early spring to cheer us with their 
prophecy of summer. 
Mauston, Wis., Feb. 5, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
I will tell you about our winter birds. 
January 17th as I was riding across the 
track, I saw a whole flock of Quails. It 
was a half mile from the depot. They 
were eating food from the track, walking 
the rails and ties. I have also seen the 
Bluejav on January eighteenth. On 
January second I saw a Chickadee. I 
was on the sidewalk and he was on our 
barn, and hearing his call I looked up 
and saw him. On January twenty-sixth 
I saw a Red-headed Woodpecker. He 
was hammering away on a tree. On Feb¬ 
ruary third as I was coming home from 
school I saw a Nuthatch. I cannot de¬ 
scribe him because I did not get a good 
