BY THE WAYSIDE 
77 
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 Drum¬ 
mond, Spring Lane, Lake Forest, Ill., and 
Wisconsin writers to Mr. Roland E. Kremers, 
Madison, Wis. To each writer whose letter 
is published will be sent a beautiful colored 
picture of the bird of the m nth. For the 
best letter each month we will send “Winter 
Picnics” by Ruth Marshall. 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. 
Kremers. 
Any Wisconsin society may, by paying 
the express, have the use of the Gordon and 
Merrill Libraries of bird books by applying 
to Mr. Kremers. 
A set of colored bird slides with a type¬ 
written lecture may be rented from Roland 
E. Kremers, 1720 Vilas Street, Madison, 
Wis. Illinois Schools may use, without ex¬ 
pense, a library or a lecture with lantern 
slides, by applying to Miss Bunnel, Academy 
of Sciences, Chicago. 
The Bird of the Month 
f 
The month of March sees the first 
of the extensive movements of the birds 
which culminate, or seem to culminate, 
when the warblers hurl their legions 
on ns and dazzle ns by their numbers 
and by the brilliance of their plumage. 
The air has still a breath of winter in 
it and many of the birds characteristic 
of winter still remain. But the sped of 
winter seems broken. The sun slimes 
brightly, the robin and bluebird sing 
from the trees, the song of the meadow¬ 
lark is borne upward from the meadow 
below by the cool morning breeze. Th 
red-winged blackbird and the song spar¬ 
row enliven the marshes where but a 
short time ago only the tree sparrow 
and redpoll flitted back and forth. The 
fields begin to show a shade of green 
in their sombre brown color and the 
c 
swelling buds give premise of the fresh 
young leaves. 
One fine morning the roll of the 
flicker on some dead bough startles you 
most welcomely, or perchance the king¬ 
fisher, disturbed by your incautious ap¬ 
proach, betrays his hasty retreat by grat¬ 
ing rattle. Presently tne rapturous 
song of the fox sparrow sounds from 
a thicket. Then indeed, you feel that 
spring is really here; your heart beats 
quicker and your step is light and happy; 
you feel as though it is a great privi¬ 
lege to live in such a world and you 
want to do something worth whre. I 
ask of you only that you put yourself 
in harmony with the great spring mi¬ 
gration, and I know that you will never 
begrudge the time you spend in watch¬ 
ing and studying the birds. Write on 
whatever subject you wish, just so> long 
as it is the expression of your ozvn 
observations this spring. I will judge 
your letter bv its accuracy and freshness 
of stvle. 
Wisconsin Prize Letter 
Mazomanie, Wis., February 24, 1911. 
Dear Wayside 
I have been studying about the red 
poll, or linnet, as it is somtimes ca r ed. 
The redpoll is about 5 3/10 inches 
long. His head is brownish red, and his 
back is blackish brown with some white; 
his breast is tinged with a rose color; his 
sides are heavily streaked. The female 
has no coloring on its breast. Tts song 
is like the American gold-finch. 
Yours truly, 
Mabel Shower. 
Age H 
