14 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



sidered out of place, or of no special value. If the main 

 object of our educational system is to prepare boys and 

 girls for the intelligent performance of the duties and la- 

 bors of life, why should not some attention be given to 

 the study of nature, particularly in rural schools where 

 the farmers of the next generation are now being edu- 

 cated ? 



The study of birds may be taken up in several ways 

 and for different purposes; it may be made to furnish 

 simply a course in mental training or to assist the pupil 

 in acquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be 

 taken up alone or combined with composition, drawing, 

 geography or literature. But it has also an economic 

 side which may appeal to those who demand purel}^ prac- 

 tical studies in schools. Economic ornithology has been 

 defined as the "study of birds from the standpoint of dol- 

 lars and cents.'' It treats of the direct relations of birds 

 to man, showing which species are beneficial and which 

 injurious, teaching the agriculturist how to protect his 

 feathered friends and guard against the attacks of his foes. 

 This is a subject in which we are only just beginning to 

 acquire exact knowledge, but it is none the less deserving 

 of a place in our educational system on this account. Its 

 practical value is recognized both by individual States and 

 by the national government, which aj^propriate consider- 

 able sums of money for investigations of value to agricul- 

 ture. Much good work has been done by some of the ex- 

 periment stations and State boards of agriculture, partic- 

 ularly in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Neb- 

 raska and Pennsylvania. In the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, the Division of Biological Survey 

 (formerly the Division of Ornithology) devotes much at- 

 tention to the collection of data respecting the geograpliic 

 distribution, migration, and food of birds, and to the 

 pubhcation and diffusion of information concerning 

 species which are beneficial or injurious to agriculture. 

 Some of the results of these investigations are of general 



