102 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [6:4-Apr.,l9lO 



an institution might be endless. At present the Educational 

 Museum of the St. Louis Public Schools contains most of the 

 common cereals, grains and other food products; the various 

 vegetable and animal fibers, and other products used for cloth- 

 ing material; commercial exhibits, showing processes of man- 

 ufacturing; minerals, rocks and ores of many varieties; woods, 

 plants, and models and charts of plants; specimens of sea life; 

 hundreds of mounted birds and small mammals; thousands of 

 stereoscopic views; models of home and field implements, 

 wearing apparel, charts, colored pictures, maps, etc., illustrating 

 the life and history of different peoples; art objects and models 

 used by the classes in drawing; a fairly comprehensive collec- 

 tion of physical apparatus; and, lastly, what is proving of great 

 assistance to the teachers, the well assorted reference library. 



By this system of bringing the museum material into the 

 schoolroom, the loss of energy necessarily attending the tak- 

 ing of large classes to the museum is avoided, and the child's 

 attention is concentrated on one collection instead of being dis- 

 tracted by the innumerable variety presented in the museum. 



The desire for investigation on the part of the children 

 must always be appealed to when presenting museum mate- 

 rial. The teacher should use this material in such a way as 

 to arouse the spirit of curiosity and research. The aim should 

 be to give the child a knowledge of his tools, so that he may 

 go out into the vast home of Nature with eyes and ears and 

 fingers ready and eager to continue these investigations, stim- 

 ulated by the conscious desire to know, to love and to under- 

 stand. 



A REMARKABLE OBSERVATION ON BIRD BEHAVIOR 



By NINA L. SWEETLAND 



[Editor's Note: The following interesting letter is furnished us 

 by its recipient, Miss Jessie Phelps, Assistant Professor in Zoology, 

 Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich. The comment which 

 follows, by a recognized student of bird life, is complimentary to the 

 accuracy of the observer.] 



My Dear Miss Phelps: 



I'm sure you will be surprised to receive a letter from me, 

 but I had a novel experience the other day and I thought it 

 might interest you, as it did me. The experience was nothing 

 less than seeing a real bird's ball! 



It was a morninsf late in May, warm and sunshiny. I first 



