I054 Rural School Leaflet 



BIRD NOTES 



Every year boys and girls in New York State are learning to know the 

 birds better. We are receiving hundreds of letters from rural schools in 

 which teachers have this year helped the children to establish feeding 

 stations for the birds, and have encouraged the building of bird houses. 

 We are constantly receiving excellent descriptions of birds that the 

 children have seen, but the names of which they do not know. The 

 descriptions are improving, and the expert is nearly always able to give 

 the right names of the birds described. These are sent to the schools. 



All young persons who are now making effort in country districts to have 

 the New York State farms the best in the world are taking an interest 

 in birds, because knowledge of bird life is important to good farming. 

 Added to this is the fact that song birds give joy in country places, and 

 that through the years farm folk are going to take greater interest in them 

 as they come to know them better. There are a few birds that are 

 troublesome, and whenever they cause disturbance in your locality, 

 your parents will be able to get information regarding the means of con- 

 trolling them by writing to the State College of Agriculture. It is a 

 mistake for boys and girls to think that they are doing good by killing 

 birds; on the contrary great harm is likely to come as the restdt of the 

 destruction of bird life. Boys and girls should study the habits of birds 

 that arc considered a nuisance, for information gained from such observa- 

 tion is valuable. 



Nearly all the school children of the State are familiar with the birds 

 given for study this year with the exception, perhaps, of the great blue 

 heron. If any of you live near a lake shore, you may have an opportunity 

 to see one of these stately birds standing, as Dr. Allen expresses it, 

 " humped up like a piece of driftwood." If you chance to see one, notice 

 how he waits for his prey, and how he catches it. Try to find out whether 

 he has any bird note, pleasant or otherwise. Try to find out what he 

 eats. Have you seen him hunting alone or with other herons ? 



When you are on the lookout for the great blue heron, perhaps you will 

 see the little green heron, which is about the size of a crow, and is described 

 in the teachers' leaflet. 



To learn to know all the birds about your country home by sight and 

 by their songs will be an achievement. If you learn to whistle the notes 

 of the birds that whistle, there will be an added interest in yoiu" study. 

 If in your garden a family of birds is living in a house that you have made, 

 j'-ou wdU watch them with much pleasure. Daily thought for these farm 

 helpers should be given; the cats should be controlled particularly during 

 the birds' nesting season, so that they are not free to wander about the 

 place at night. Water should be left where the birds can use it freely. 



