liljrarian herself, if a bird lover, even though she is not an authority, may find 

 material in the best books for interesting talks on identification of birds, bird 

 hal)its, food and homes, effect of storms on migration, birds that fly by day and 

 those that fly by night, adaptation of birds to flight, protective coloration, and 

 economic value of birds. At the time of the talks the bulletin-board may be 

 used for poems, pictures, diagrams or charts illustrating the subject, and the 

 special table and shelf used for best books. A diagram showing the different 

 parts of the bird will be useful in a talk on adaptation of birds to flight, and a 

 table giving the birds that fly by day and those that fly by night will be interesting 

 in connection with that subject. The bulletin of the Children's Museum in 

 Brooklyn will be very suggestive in planning a course of talks on birds. 



5. A bird club which comes to the library for talks on birds, and makes at 

 the library the beginnings of a museum from the collections of its excursions. 



It must be understood that bird nests and eggs should be collected only for 

 scientific purposes. A collection of bird specimens could be made only by an 

 ornithologist. The life histories of insects and specimens of birds may be had 

 from special dealers in the large cities. Even a very small collection, if giving 

 accurately the life history of insects, and showing specimens in their natural 

 environment, will be valuable. wSuch a museum as a part of the library is coming 

 to be indispensable in the work with children in the schools. The protection and 

 encouragement of birds and the preservation of forests, trees, and shrubbery for 

 their homes, should result from ihe study of the bird club and the talks given 

 by a bird authority. 



6. Field work in a winter study of birds" nests. 



Since winter birds are not easy for the beginner and since there are not 

 many to study unless one knows just where to look for them, a study of birds' 

 nests can be made. At this season of the year, althoiigh there will be difficulty 

 in identifying them after they have been so long abandoned, the nests can be 

 taken without stealing and can be found easily, when they might not have been 

 observed in summer. Careful questions regarding a few typical nests will arouse 

 the child's interest in the birds when they return. In studying the robin's nest, 

 its shape and color, the relation between the color of the nest and the color of 

 the brooding bird's back and environment may be worked out by the pupils. 

 The song-sparrow's, meadow lark's, woodpecker's, and other nests may be 

 studied in the same way . This will teach the children observation and train 

 thi'm in the inductive method of stud\. The adaptability of the nest and the 

 color of the bird to its environment is a subject which the children ma> 

 investigate for themselves, after their attention has been called to it in field study, 

 Nothing can take the ])lace of ticld work in bird study. 



7. Prizes offered by the library to pupils in the schools f(<r the best paper 

 rei(»rding actual observations of a local bird or birds. 



