§4 Bird- Lore 



lowly listening' she too might hear the right word — the message 

 nature holds for each human heart. 



This is important to emphasize now, when bird work, undertaken 

 at first by nature lovers in a spirit of enthusiasm, is now, from its 

 value, coming to take rank with other nature studies and be reduced 

 to their formal basis. In learning the Latin names, let us not forget 

 the live bird. The advance of ornithology, as well as our own good, 

 demands this, for while the Latin names are already set down in the 

 books, the knowledge of the life histories of even our common birds 

 is painfully meager. Sympathetic, trustworthy observation and record 

 of the habits of the living bird is what is most needed now. 



Individual work is, of course, richest in results, but the enthu- 

 siasm roused by field classes should lead to that. In individual work 

 the habits of the student will prevail. In field classes the plan fol- 

 lowed will be modified by the possibilities in each case, for the 

 classes will not always be formal ones, connected with a university 

 course. At Smith, for instance, where the work was wholly apart 

 from the curriculum, it was impossible for the two leaders to take 

 out all those who wanted to go birding, so picking out the best 

 observers, the leaders gave them special training, so that they were 

 able to take out classes themselves. While perilous in one way — 

 may the birds forgive the names given them ! — this plan succeeded 

 in giving a larger number an insight into nature work, and when at 

 the end of the spring, the girls exclaimed with earnest gratitude that 

 their eyes and ears had been unsealed, that a new world had been 

 opened to them, it seemed that the work had not been in vain. 



And since the college days I have learned that even a single 

 walk afield may be worth while. On one such walk in New England, 

 taken while the dew was on, at half past six by the town clock, the 

 class included a man on a bicycle, two women in a carriage, and a 

 blind lady. But the songs identified for the quick-eared blind lady, 

 and the new interest put within the reach of those who could only 

 ride to the woods, was surely worth the effort. 



Regular classes are, of course, much more satisfactory in every way, 

 for the student teacher is always haunted by the desire for results. 

 When one can choose, field classes should begin in early spring, 

 not too early, when the distracted leader drags her class miles over 

 hill and dale to find one Junco, and comes home with a horrible 

 feeling that it was all her fault the birds disregarded the calendar ! 

 Not too early, but not too late. Just earl}' enough to find a few of 

 the first spring birds, enough to arouse enthusiasm without giving 

 the discouragement that comes to a beginner with the later confusion 

 of tongues. In this event, even if the class meets but once a week, 



