BY THE WAYSIDE 
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18 
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 he 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 
ore 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 
I 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 
Clias. 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 
llunnel, Academy of Sciences, Chicago. 
The Catbird. 
It will be two months lief ore you see 
another Wayside, so the bird of the 
month must lie one for all summer. 
Suppose we take the Catbird. Now 
I like the Catbird. Of course the call 
that has earned him his name and with 
j which we are all so familiar is not very 
musical. But he is very pretty and he 
can sing. Did you ever hear him soon 
after he gets here in the spring? The 
“northern mocking-bird” he is called, 
and certainly then his song is varied 
and pleasing. 
The catbird nests in shrubbery often 
not far from our houses. His call note 
is so unmistakable that I think we may 
all be able to locate a nest this summer. 
The eggs are laid about this time. 
Then look for the Catbird this sum¬ 
mer and see what you can learn to write 
*/ 
about in September. 
Wisconsin Prize Letter. 
Elkhart, Wis., May 24, 1909. 
Dear Wayside: 
Sunday, May 28, when I went to Sun¬ 
day School I saw a Baltimore Oriole. 
It is a very pretty bird. Its breast was 
an orange red; on the wings it was 
black, and on the head there was a black 
dot. Its nest is a hanging nest and is 
made of hair and thread and many 
other things. It is known as a very 
skilful bird in building. He is known 
as a caterpillar destroyer, and worms, 
bugs and beetles. 
On my way home from Sunday School 
I saw a Goldfinch. It was all of a bright 
sulphur yellow, and was black on the 
wings, and a black circular dot on his 
head. He is a small bird, and sings a 
very sweet song. 
I watched him a little while. Then 
he turned around and saw me, and away 
he flew to another bush near the road. 
As he was flying I noticed that he al¬ 
ways went up, then flew a little ways, 
then down, and so he flies all the time. 
He likes to be near thistles, wild sun¬ 
flower, wild lettuce and ragweed. They 
are very fond of these. They are known 
as weed destroyers; this bird has few 
equals and especially of weed seed. 
May 24th I saw two others. They were 
picking on the grass and dandelions. 
On our straw stack there is a nest 
which is made of hair, little threads, 
and real thin pieces of grass. In the 
nest are two light green eggs with black 
dots on them. The bird is a little 
