272 APPENDIX. 



Do I approve of hof/s nudiiKj collections of birds? By no 

 means. It was to ])rt'vent just this that 1 advocated a school 

 collection })repared by a competent naturalist. 



Do I approve of dissections in class? Not in the lower 

 grades certainly. In high school and college work nothing 

 takes the place of actual dissection ; but is it best to exploit 

 the whole world of wonders for children too young to api)re- 

 ciate them ? I have purposely left out of this book all physi- 

 ology and anatomy that could not be illustrated by chicken 

 bones, in order to avoid any necessity or excuse for dissections, 

 for which most children have a distaste and to which many 

 parents have objections. In this book the mechanism of the 

 bird is taken up instead of its anatomy. Even the study of the 

 eye is conducted by means of a comparison with a mechanical 

 instrument. 



Is there any substitute for collections? No two-dimension 

 representation can take the place of a three-dimension object 

 in teaching children. They need the "real thing." Still, 

 where economy is necessary, there is a substitute which is 

 not without merit. The little monthly magazine. Birds and 

 Nature, published by the Nature Publishing Co. of Chicago at 

 $1.00 a year, gives many colored photographic reproductions 

 of mounted birds, accompanied by a simple and usually correct 

 text. Back numbers may be obtained at moderate rates. The 

 same pictures may be bought separately of the Perry Pictures 

 Company. 



What books do I recommend for teachers? Among so many 

 excellent texts, I decline to make invidious distinctions. It 

 is scarcely possible that there is a mind so abnormally de- 

 veloped that there has not been a bird book written to fit its 

 needs ! Still, it must be conceded by all, that for the earnest 

 student, especially for one who already knows thirty or forty 

 species, nothing competes in price and quality with Mr. Frank 

 M. Chapman's " Handbook of Birds of North America" ($3.00). 

 A young beginner should have a more elementary book 



