191 1J The Ottawa Naturalist. 63 



In the spring its nasal "yank" is most commonly heard, but 

 when nesting it is extremely quiet, though, I believe, no less 

 common. Often, during the month of May, while eating my 

 lunch in the woods (by choice I should select rather open maple 

 woods and sit by the sugar-shanty) I have been attracted by 

 the faint lisping imitation of the male Nuthatch's spring-time 

 call. After sighting the bird, busily searching for larvae, it was 

 usuallv not long before a sudden quick flight to feed its sitting 

 mate, would disclose the nesting-site. 



Penthestes atricapillus, Chickadee. 



"Winter visitant ; common."* 



The Chickadee should be described as a rather scarce 

 summer resident, as I have found it breeding on several occasions, 

 both on the Island and in the immediate vicinity. 



Hylocichla guttata pallasi, Hermit Thrush. 



"Summer resident; common. Breeds in Mount Royal 

 Park."* 



Mount Royal has become too popular a resort for this species 

 and it is a scarce bird on the Island in the nesting season. Fifteen 

 miles to the north and thirty to the east it becomes the common 

 Thrush of the respective localities. It is particularly fond of 

 sandy ridges with a rather sparse growth of pine and white 

 birch. 



THE TEACHING OF INSECT LIFE AND ITS PRACTICAL 



IMPORTANCE. 



By C. Gordon Hewitt, D.Sc, F.E.S., 



Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa. 



Each year sees the origin of new methods, new ideas, and 

 new subjects calculated to produce a_ more prefectly educated 

 child. There is no doubt a concomitant racking of brains on the 

 part of teachers to adapt and correlate these new additions to 

 their previous curricula. Not infrequently, owing to a some- 

 what overcrowded and hopeless conglomerated time-table, 

 teachers, usually those whose minds are not sufficiently elastic 

 to enable them to progress with the evolving systems, utter a 

 sigh of despair when any new subject is suggested, and for the 

 sake of these it is necessary to dispel their fears and soothe their 

 troubled spirits with the assurance that this article does not 

 suggest any addition to their systems of instruction: such a sin 

 I would be unwilling to have laid to my account. The reasons 



