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BY THE WAYSIDE 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to f 
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 
ot 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 he 
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 
t has. 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 Red-vOinged Blackbird. 
Let’s go to the marshes for our next 
Bird of the Month. In most anv marsh 
we find the Red-winged Blackbird. I 
think he is a soldier because he is always 
found in regiments; his black uniform 
has scarlet epaulets and he calls out 
“con-quer-ee” in clear ringing tones. 
High on a tree he sings while his wife, 
dressed inconspicuously in buff and 
black, sits on the nest in the reeds below. 
i 
He is the true herald of spring. The 
Robin and Bluebird often arrive before 
winter has truly departed. A warm day 
or two will tempt those hardy birds far 
north. But when the Red-wing arrives 
we know that spring is here. The farmer 
does not always love him; he is too fre¬ 
quently found in his corn-field. But it 
is doubtful if he does much harm and lie 
would not be noticed if it were not for 
bscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
his habit of collecting in great flocks 
eaiH in the fall. Most of their food is 
the wild rice of the swamp. Often in 
these flocks you will find with the Red¬ 
wing his cousins, the Yellow-headed 
Blackbird and the Bobolink. 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Gladstone, Illinois, March 26, 1909. 
Dear Wavside: 
I he Meadow Larks have been whistling 
tins morning. I can hear the whistling 
clear across the fields. It sounds pretty 
to hear them sing. They like to sing in 
the morning before seven o’clock. I like 
to look at the Meadow Lark. It has a 
piettv breast, yellow with a black mark. 
It is different from other birds because 
it has a long bill and a short tail with 
white feathers. Last summer I saw a 
pest of a Meadow Lark. It was on the 
giound near a post on the west side of 
the pond. The nest has five eggs in it. 
Maybe there will be another nest there 
this summer. 
Yours truly, 
A S ed 8 - Donzella Furnald. 
La Grange, Ill., Feb. 23., 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
Yesterday, which was Washington’s 
Birthday, we (meaning four ladies, two 
of whom were school teachers here, an¬ 
other boy, and myself) took an 8:20 
trolley from here, to a wood about six 
miles from here. When we got there, 
we heard a bird singing which we thought 
was a bluebird, but found out was a car¬ 
dinal. 1 hen the other boy and I crossed 
the river, and heard a bird singing. We 
followed the song, and found it on the 
very top of a tree, singing for all it was 
