PART II. 



ANIMAL LIFE 



I. BIRD STUDY 



HE reason for studying any bird is to ascertain what 

 it does; in order to accomplish this, it is necessary 

 to know what the bird is, learning what it is, being 

 simply a step that leads to a knowledge of what 

 it does. But, to hear some of our bird devotees 

 talk, one would think that to be able to identify 

 a bird is all of bird study. On the contrary, the 

 identification of birds is simply the alphabet to 

 the real study, the alphabet by means of which 

 we may spell out the life habits of the bird. To 

 know these habits is the ambition of the true orni- 

 thologist, and should likewise be the ambition of the beginner, even 

 though the beginner be a young child. 



Several of the most common birds have been selected as subjects for 

 lessons in this book; other common birds, like the phcebe and wrens, have 

 been omitted purposely; after the children have studied the birds, as 

 indicated in the lessons, they will enjoy working out lessons for them- 

 selves with other birds. Naturally, the sequence of these lessons does not 

 follow scientific classification; in the first ten lessons, an attempt has 

 been made to lead the child gradually into a knowledge of bird life. 

 Beginning with the chicken there follow naturally the lessons with 

 pigeons and the canary; then there follows the careful and detailed study 

 of the robins and constant comparison of them with the blue birds. This 

 is enough for the first year in the primary grades. The next year the 

 work begins with the birds that remain in the North during the winter, 

 the chickadee, nuthatch and downy woodpecker. After these have been 

 studied carefully, the teacher may be an opportunist when spring comes 

 and select any of the lessons when the bird subjects are at hand. The 

 classification suggested for the woodpeckers and the swallows is for more 

 advanced pupils, as are the lessons on the geese and turkeys. It is to 

 be hoped that these lessons will lead the child directly to the use of the 

 bird manuals, of which there are several excellent ones. 



BEGINNIN'G BIRD STUDY IN THE PRIMARY GRADES 



The hen is especially adapted as an object lesson for the young 

 beginner of bird study. First of all, she is a bird, notwithstanding the 

 adverse opinions of two of my small pupils who stoutly maintained that 

 "a robin is a bird, but a hen is a hen." Moreover, the hen is a bird always 

 available for nature-study; she looks askance at us from the crates of the 

 world's marts; she comes to meet us in the country barnyard, stepping 

 toward us sedately; looking at us earnestly, with one eye, then turning her 



