i6 Bird -Lore 



teacher, by the kindly aid of some self-sacrificing ornithological 

 friend, and by encouraging individual work in the few who can 

 profit by it. But even with all these aids it is a real difficulty, which 

 grows with the class and with the growing interest of the public. 

 We may be heartily glad that such difficulties arise now, indicating, 

 as they do, that the time is approaching when the force of those 

 capable of giving instruction will be sufficient to meet the demand. 



During this term of study the field work is largely done during 

 the early morning hours — 4:30 to 6:30 a. m. It is not only the 

 best time of the day to study birds, but is practically the only time 

 available, with the other work which must be done. Either one 

 forenoon or one afternoon each week is usually available for class 

 field work, and this time is utilized by any who find the early 

 morning work too debilitating. But it is a poor substitute. Better 

 field work is done if the men and women do their work at sepa- 

 rate times. Strange, but true ! The teacher reserves two morn- 

 ings out of the six for private field work in preparation for the class 

 field work. 



With such a limit of time made necessary by the sub-divisions 

 of the class, field study taken alone could not accomplish the task 

 of teaching the student many species. As a further aid, skins of 

 about ninety species are identified by each student, with the book 

 in hand. Here the importance of exactness in description of color, 

 form and proportions are brought into prominence, and many wrong 

 impressions corrected. The bird 'in hand' is a revelation of things 

 unsuspected in the makeup of a bird. Some one will ask, Where 

 did you get all those skins ? They are a damaged lot that was 

 about to be thrown away as unfit for the cabinet, but serve the pur- 

 poses of identification admirably. Thus no demand was created for 

 the slaughter of more birds. None have ever been killed to furnish 

 skins for this work. The finished list of skins identified comprises 

 the name of the order, family, genus, species, and sub-species, if 

 such, and the vernacular name. 



In the two-hour advanced course the student is introduced to the 

 many problems which the subject affords, with suggestions of methods 

 for their solution. Topics are assigned for special original work in- 

 volving the use of literature as well as original field work, and the 

 results obtained are presented to the class in a finished paper. The 

 Story of the Birds, by James Newton Baskett, published by D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co., is used as a guide to the class-room work, supplemented 

 by lectures and outside reading. Where possible each student studies 

 the breeding habits of some one or more species by watching the 

 process from the beginning of the nest to the time when the young 



