t28 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 3, may 1905 



It is not, of course, suggested that children could possibly 

 arrive at such a result unguided, hut it is in good faith asserted 

 that all the deductions ahove stated were elicited from a class 

 of older scholars who had never seen more of the bird in question 

 than the foot they had before them. Such an object lesson as 

 the one described is doubtless very uncommon, and opportunities 

 for a similar prolonged course of reasoning would rarely occur 

 in school work ; but the writer's aim in describing it is to show 

 the possibility of applying in school work those methods and fac- 

 ulties which Sherlock Holmes in fiction and Cuvier in fact used 

 with such striking results. It seemed an exceptionally good 

 illustration of the way in which the various faculties should coop- 

 erate and their results be coordinated in the " scientific " exami- 

 nation of a natural object. Rut in every nature-lesson examples 

 will occur of the way in which a single observation may furnish 

 several deductions, which may again be associated with facts 

 already in the memory to enable the imagination to build up a 

 hypothesis. [From Indian Journal of Education, Madras, Jan- 

 uary, 1905.] 



ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS FROM ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



[Editorial Note. — As stated in an editorial in the March issue, this 

 department is intended to record observations made in connection with 

 nature-study classes in elementary schools. It is not aimed to make this 

 a place for recording facts new to professional naturalists, but rather to 

 stimulate careful and critical observation in schools.] 



An Interesting Canary's Nest. All lovers of nature are inter- 

 ested in the controversy going on between the " Old School Nat- 

 uralist " and the " New." The one looks at the animal from the 

 anatomical point of view and says, " Impossible " ; the other, from 

 the so-called psychological point, introducing feeling, and no 

 doubt romances a little, and says, " Probable and possible." The 

 observer sits quietly by and uses his eyes, placing confidence in 

 things actually seen. 



Two years ago a large cage for birds and small animals was 

 constructed near the Training Department of the San Jose State 

 Normal School, in such a position that the children of the various 

 departments could, from the windows, observe the action of the 



