BY THE WAYSIDE 
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SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
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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 Drum¬ 
mond, Spring Lane, Lake Forest, Ill., and 
Wisconsin writers to Mr. F. S. Brandenburg, 
Madison, Wis. To each writer whose letter 
is published will be sent a beautiful colored 
picture of the b:rd 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. 
Brandenburg. 
Any Wisconsin society may, by paying 
the express, have the use of the Gordon and 
Merrill Libraries of bird books by applying 
to Mr. Brandenburg. 
A set of colored bird slides with a type¬ 
written lecture may be rented from Chas. E. 
Brown, State Historical Building, Madison, 
Wis. Ill inois Schools may use, without ex¬ 
pense, a library or a lecture with lantern 
slides, by applying to Miss Bunnel, Academy, 
of Sciences Chicago. 
The Bob White 
It is getting- colder now; and the birds 
we have come to know so well during 
the summer are beating a hasty retreat 
southward. But we have some score of 
faithful ones that stay with us the year 
round. Added to- this number there are 
a few who leave us in summer but visit 
us in the winter. Of these the shore 
lark, snowflake, Lapland, longspur, junco 
and cedar waxwing are examples. The 
last two species go a little further south 
than the home of By the Wayside. But 
they stay late into the winter and return 
early in the sprng. 
Among the birds that stay here in 
Wisconsin all year are the crow, blue- 
jay, brown creeper, chickadee, white¬ 
breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned king¬ 
let, prairie horned lark, downy 
woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, 
tree sparrow, screech owl, bob 
white, northern shrike and a 
number of others—mostly hawks 
and owls. I never count the 
English sparrow in any bird list. 
I want the Wayside readers to 
keep their eyes open all winter 
and observe all the traits and 
habits of any and all of the 
above mentioned birds. It is 
easier to watch them in the win¬ 
ter, for several reasons. The 
trees are bare of leaves ; and the 
fewer birds we have, the easier 
it is to pay heed to each one. 
One of the most interesting of 
these winter birds is the “Bob 
White." The worst of it is, he 
is good to eat. And though this 
bird is protected by law in many 
states, each year many hundreds 
of them are killed. Each of you 
