54 Bird -Lore 



as Wilson and Audubon, through encyclopedias like Newton's, to 

 those works which in recent years have sprung up in answer to the 

 call for 'handbooks.' Beside it is a reading table on which lie 

 BiRD-L(iRE and other magazines, as well as the publications of the 

 Audubon society. Each student possesses one book, either the 

 'Birds of Wellesley and Vicinity,' or one containing keys for identi- 

 fication. 



Formal instruction is embodied in weekly lectures, to which come 

 others than those who are members of the class. The object of 

 these talks is to arouse an interest in the birds so great that it 

 will be satisfied with nothing short of personal acquaintance with 

 them in the field. They give, therefore, only such hints of the time 

 and place for finding them, of their characteristic notes and habits, 

 as will equip the student for outdoor work. Beginning in February 

 with the winter population, — permanent residents, winter residents 

 and visitants, — they constitute with the advance of the season a 

 running calendar of the successive arrivals. Besides serving as formal 

 introductions, they aim also to make the student more thoughtful, 

 by presenting subjects of more general interest, — as migration, nest- 

 ing, the adaptation of structure to habit and environment, and 

 classification. Mounted specimens illustrate these talks, but, since 

 they cannot easily be seen across the room, they are supplemented 

 by colored crayon pictures drawn two or three times life size. 



A second means of facilitating the field work is the frequent 

 laboratory practice in description and identification. After each lec- 

 ture specimens of the arrivals for that week are arranged in small 

 glass cases, which admit of their being viewed from all sides. They 

 are then placed where they will be accessible to all, and the col- 

 ored pictures hang near, so that each one has a chance to become 

 familiar with every bird. At irregular intervals their names are 

 covered, they are rearranged in the cases, and there follows a test in 

 rapid identification which is either the delight or the despair of the 

 would-be ornithologist. The student learns at the start, and remem- 

 bers by later practice, how to describe correctly a bird's appearance. 

 She learns in addition how to identify by the aid of keys, partic- 

 ularly such as can be used in the field. These exercises in the 

 laboratory, by training the eye, save much time in the recognition 

 of birds, and this is essential for one so busy as is the college girl. 

 Besides this ' rapid-fire ' practice in description and identification, 

 there are at intervals quizzes, both oral and written, which cover 

 points of structure, of adaptation to habit and environment, and the 

 general characters of the most important orders and families. 



Since Wellesley is naturally so favored, it is worth our while to 



