The Teacher's Corner 



The Editor 

 The following outline for studying a bird is the one I have used for years and 

 have found it fairly satisfactory : 



Date 



Name of bird 



1. Where is the bird seen: Woods, border of woods, bushes, open field, 

 trees or bushes along fences, roadsides, border of stream, marsh, pond or lake, 

 garden, orchard, about buildings. 



2. Compare the size of the bird with that of the crow, the robin, or the 

 English sparrow. 



3. Its most striking colors are: Gray, slate, brown, chestnut, black, white, 

 blue, red, yellow, orange, green, olive. 



4. Does it show flash colors when flying? If so, where and what color? 

 Wing, rump, tail, under tail. 



5. In action is it: Slow and quiet or active and nervous? 



6. Does it occur alone or in a flock? 



7. In flying does it go : Straight and swift, dart about, up and down, wave- 

 like, flap the wings constantly, sail or soar with wings steady, flap the wings and 

 then sail? 



8. Describe its song and call note? 



9. Where does it sit when singing? Does it sing while flying? 



For Closer Observation 



10. Colors and markings of: Breast, throat, wings, tail, top of head, eye- 

 streak, back. 



11. Is the bill : Slender, long, short, strong, thick, medium, curved, hooked? 



12. Is the tail: Forked, notched, square, rounded? 



The following questions should be answered from observation, if possible; 

 if not, the answer may be found by consulting bird books : 



13. What is the food of the bird and how obtained? 



14. Where does the bird spend the winter? 



15. Describe the nest, where placed, how far from the ground, how sup- 

 ported, of what material is the outside made, how lined? The color and num- 

 ber of eggs. 



16. How are the young fed and cared for? The colors of plumage of the 

 young birds. 



17. Is this bird beneficial to us, and if so, how and why? 



"In the early years we are not to teach Nature-Study as science, we are not 

 to teach it primarily for method or for drill. We are to teach it for living and 

 for loving — and this is Nature-Study. On these points I make no compromise. 

 — L. H. Bailey. 



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