BY THE WAYSIDE 
45 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
_ 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required t> 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 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 
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. 
Prize Letter 
Mazomanie, Wis., Dec*. 8, 34)11. 
Dear Wayside:— 
«/ 
I belong to the Audubon Society, and 
like it very much. 
One day on my way home from school 
I saw a poor robin in some tall grass. 
There was blood all around where the 
1 robin lay, the robin didn’t move so I 
knew something was wrong I picked i( 
ni> and saw it’s wing .was broken. I 
took il home and when it got well it flew 
away. I put some food on the ground 
close to the house where 1 could see the 
birds when they came to eat but the 
I robin was not with the birds. 
1 like birds very much but haven’t 
any. The birds are always flying 
around very early, by a lilac bush close 
to my bedroom window, 
One Sunday when we were out walk¬ 
ing we met a boy who was shooting 
birds. We told him what a wrong it 
was to kill them but he paid no atten¬ 
tion. Whenever he saw a bird near 
enough for him to kill, he would say, 
“Ibn going to hit the post,” and he’d 
kill a bird. 
Your friend, 
Vera Thompson. 
Age, 12. 
Second Prize 
Mazomanie, Wis., Dec. 8, 1911. 
Dear Wayside:— 
One morning as I was going to school 
I saw a Snow-Bird on a fence post. 
It was singing so sweet. I stopped and 
watched a while. It’s breast was a 
light slate color. It’s back and under 
its bill. 
One day in winter I put a lot of 
crumbs out on the snow. In a few 
minutes there were five little snow 
birds out there eating the crumbs. 
One night when I was coming home 
from school 1 saw a robin with a broken 
wing. I took it home and kept it there 
till morning; then as it could not fly, 
I kept it there till it could fly, and it 
has become tame. 
Your friend, 
Ida Morrill. 
Age, 10. 
Third Prize 
Mazomanie, Wis., Dec. 8, 1911. 
Dear Wayside:— 
I saw two yellow Hammers this fall, 
one of them was by the creek, the other 
was near my house. I tried to get close 
to it but it flew. One day last spring f 
