970 Rural School Leaflet. 



Suggestions i . In the study of birds in the schoolroom, special emphasis 

 should be laid upon their practical, everyday value to the farmer, fruit 

 grower, nurseryman, and people in general. Children should be en- 

 couraged to watch birds feeding, both caged and in the wild state. 

 If at any time one is fortunate enough to have a young crov/ or other 

 bird in the schoolroom, accurate observations should be encouraged as 

 to the exact amount and nature of the food eaten. Such observations 

 on a young robin have shown that it occasionally eats one and five-sixths 

 its own weight of food in a single day. It averaged 50-70 cutworms 

 and earthworms a day and one day consumed 165 cutworms. Even 

 when full grown it required one-third of its weight of beef each day. 

 Similar observations on a young crow showed that it required food 

 equal to one-half its weight daily. One day when it was fed two ounces 

 of tomato, 56 grasshoppers, 12 crickets, and a little grain, it lost 10 per 

 cent, in weight. From this, it can be understood how destructive to 

 an invasion of grasshoppers a flock of crows would be, if they gorged 

 themselves. 



2. Children should be encouraged to watch birds feeding out of doors 

 with the interest to discover the nature of their food. Oftentimes a 

 robin will nest in a convenient place where one can watch the number 

 of times the parents bring food and very often determine the exact 

 nature of the food. If birds are seen feeding upon seeds, an attempt 

 should be made to determine whether they are the seeds of obnoxious 

 weeds. 



3 Bird houses constructed by the children (See Cornell University 

 Teacher's Nature Study Leaflet No. 10) should be placed on the school- 

 house or about the grounds, where the feeding of the young can be 

 watched. 



4. The planting of mulberry, mountain ash, Virginia creeper, or wild 

 fruit trees about the school grounds should be advised in order to attract 

 the birds. 



5. Children should be encouraged to feed the birds in winter by 

 fastening suet in the trees and scattering seed in a definite place on the 

 snow. A bird's "Christmas tree" and feeding shelf should be estab- 

 lished near a window or where it can be observed from a window. 

 This will be most satisfactory if there is a tree close at hand by which 

 the birds can approach. The shelf should be erected in a convenient 

 place and some sort of branch or small tree fastened to it. A pile of 

 brush near by for shelter would also avail much. Suet should be tied 



