590 



Home Nature-Study Course. 



more wild, alert and suspicious. The habits of the two species are very similar, 

 except that the hairy lives more in the deep woods and is not seen so commonly in 

 orchards and on shade trees. The food of the hairy is much like that of the 

 downy and it is, therefore, a very beneficial bird and should be protected. 



References. — " The Woodpeckers," Eckstorm ; '" First and Second 

 Book of Birds," Miller; "Birds in Their Relation to Man," Weed and 

 Dearborn; "Bird of \'illage and Field," Merriam; "Hand Book of 

 Birds," Chapman ; " The Birds," Hoffman ; " Birds in Their Relation to 

 Agriculture," Weed and Dearborn; " Bird Neighbors," Blanchan; " Bird 

 Homes," Dugmore. 



The common striped or garter snake. 



THE SNAKES. 



There are teachers whose chief aversion is a snake: and they teach 

 small boys, whose pet diversion is capturing these " living ribbons " in 

 order to store them in their pockets during school hours. If the teacher 

 could bring herself to take as much interest as did Mother Eve in this 

 subtile animal, as the Bible calls it, she might through such interest 

 enter the paradise of the boyish heart instead of losing a paradise of her 

 own. A teacher in one of the suburban schools of Brooklyn teaches in 

 a school house situated near a ledge of rocks, which is the chosen abode 

 of snakes. These snakes the boys caught and brought into the school 

 house for the purpose of frightening the teacher, and the girls. But this 



