BY THE WAY SIDE 21 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
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Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
l!__ 
t 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 an illustrated leaf¬ 
let on some bird. For the best letter each 
month we will send a second leaflet. Pre¬ 
ference will be given to letters about the 
bird study for the month and to original 
I observations. 
The wren button which is the badgj 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. 
Just at this time of year we are 
almost deserted by the songsters, only 
about a dozen species being hardy and 
courageous enough to brave our Wis¬ 
consin winters. These few, however, 
can he studied best during the months 
of their undisputed occupancy of the 
fields and leafless woods. Feed them 
when you can; and don’t forget to give 
' them a Thanksgiving dinner. Keep a 
list of our winter birds and write the 
Wayside all your observations, giving 
the dates on which different birds were 
observed. 
p 
SOME NOTES OF TRAVEL 
r By Mrs. Rebecca H. Kauffman 
(Continued from October number) 
It is said that the Japanese workmen 
in the orchards and among the timber 
of the Hood River Valley shoot the birds 
for food, but I believe they do so no 
more than our own sportsmen. 
One finds ardent bird lovers every¬ 
where ! One morning I stopped-with a 
friend at a house in Hood River where 
there was a well kept lawn and a gar¬ 
den full of roses, other plants, trees 
and vines. Desiring information about 
a blue elder berry tree, covered with 
showy panicdes of ripe fruit, I asked 
about them and learned that they were 
edible. The mistress of the place said 
she allowed the berries to remain on 
for the birds in winter, when it some¬ 
times gets pretty cold here. She also 
told me that she buys suet in winter, 
chops it up and puts it at the base of 
the tree for the birds that stay and 
come down from Alaska—just as we 
are doing at home in Illinois! Perhaps 
a list of thebirds, land and water, which 
we have seen more or less of, would be 
of interest. We have not made any 
special “nature trips” but have just 
our eyes and ears wide open to every¬ 
thing as we have gone along in our 
travels. I have enjoyed verifying my 
where I find most interesting books on 
birds by W. L. Finley, who is entirely 
familiar with Oregon and the Northwest. 
Lists Rufous hummingbird, Anna hum¬ 
ming bird, mountain chickadee, Oregon 
chickadee, red-shafted flicker, Western 
yellow-throated wtrbler, black-headed 
gros-beak, red-tailed hawk, American 
crow, magpie, bam owl, screech owl, 
Parkman wren, winter wren, butcher 
bird, yellow warbler, black-throated 
gray warbler, belted kingfisher, English 
sparrow, song sparrow, chipping spar¬ 
row, white-throated sparrow, white- 
crowned sparrow, California jay, Ore¬ 
gon jay, blue-fronted jay, Western blue¬ 
bird, warbling vireo, black phoebe, king¬ 
bird, American robin, oven bird, herring 
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