28o Bird -Lore 



Educational Leaflets. — A liberal portion of the educational fund should be 

 used to increase our series of Educational Leaflets, illustrated with correct 

 drawings in the natural colors of the birds, and giving a brief resume of the 

 habits of the bird, and especially of its economic value. It is of vital importance 

 that Leaflets should be used in every public school in the country, especially those 

 in the rural districts. There are a thousand species of wild birds in North America, 

 each one of which is of greater or less value to humanity, and every child in 

 the country should be able to recognize at sight the more common ones that 

 are to be found in his locality, and should also he able to give some of the 

 reasons why such birds are of benefit to him. 



Our Educational Leaflets are the quickest and surest method of bringing 

 this knowledge to the millions of school children of the country. In order to 

 encourage among school children the practice of studying the habits of birds 

 ir. the field, I strongly urge offering medals for the best essays on birds, based 

 on original observations. I recommend a silver medal for each state, and a gold 

 medal for the United states. Such a competition among the school children 

 of the country would produce splendid educational results. 



Field Agents. — The work of our field agents has secured results that are 

 most gratifying, and fully warrant a very greatly increased staff of such import- 

 ant helpers. Instead of having a lecturer and organizer to care for ten states, 

 on the average, we should have at least one for each state, and, where the common- 

 wealth is very large and populous, there should be two or three. It is a well- 

 established fact that the quickest method of getting good returns in sentiment 

 and interest is to have a well-equipped person give illustrated bird lectures. 

 The experience of this Association is that, wherever it has done the most work 

 of this character, it has found it the easiest to secure good bird and game laws 

 and the least trouble in their enforcement. There are several states where it 

 is imperative that lecturers and organizers should be established at once; for 

 in them, in the past, all of the efforts made have proved futile, owing to the fact 

 that sufficient preparatory educational work had not been done. A great part 

 of the hoped-for educational endowment must be used to increase our field 

 staff 



Traveling Lecture Out jits. — Supplementary to the work of the field agent, 

 a large number of circulating lecture outfits can be used to advantage. These 

 consist of a box of colored slides of birds, a small lantern to exhibit the same, 

 and a descriptive lecture to be read by a teacher, Master Granger, or any inter- 

 ested person. Such an outfit costs about $150, and it can be kept at work almost 

 constantly. There is a steadily increasing demand for these outfits, and at least 

 one hundred of them could be used to advantage. 



One of the most practical methods of educating adults about birds is to 

 make exhibits at agricultural fairs. A comprehensive exhibit, when once estab- 

 lished, can be moved from place to place with slight expense The good done by 

 such object lessons of the value of birds to agriculture and forestry is very marked. 



