214 Bird - Lore 



A good time to begin this kind of work is in the early fall, when nesting- 

 boxes are best put up and lunch-counters arranged. 



In many places, cooperation with city park commissioners, village improve- 

 ment societies and civic leagues could be advantageously sought. — A. H. W. 



Note.— Reports along this line are invited by this department. 



FOR TEACHERS 



During vacation days, when the teacher is seeking change by travel, or 

 increased efficiency in summer-school training, why not mull over the regular 

 school program at odd moments, and see what impetus might be gained by 

 correlating nature study with other branches, in the interests not only of 

 the school, but also, of the community. 



In a recent article entitled, "What Nature Study Does for the Child and 

 for the Teacher," one of the most experienced investigators of this problem 

 sums up the results of introducing nature study into the public schools, first, 

 from the point of view of its actual effect upon pupils, and second, with refer- 

 ence to its possibilities for teachers. 



The conclusions drawn by this observer that nature study, well taught, 

 lays the foundation for a keen interest in science, gives a superior preparation 

 for advanced work, stimulates the imagination, fosters truthful perceptions 

 and accurate observation, aids in expression, cultivates a love of the beautiful, 

 and puts the child into a proper relation with nature by emphasizing nature's 

 laws, on the one hand, and the joy of companionship with nature, on the other, 

 are verified in a most helpful and practical manner, by a teacher of art and 

 literature, whose inspiring work in a public school of our largest city is de- 

 scribed in the following communication. 



Those teachers who feel that there is neither time nor suitable opportunity 

 for taking up nature study, under present conditions, will find many suggestive 

 ideas in this extremely workable plan, based on correlation. — A. H. W. 



Editor of School Department of Bird-Lore: 



In the March-April number of Bird-Lore you write, "With all the money and effort 

 now expended to educate the children of the land, very little has yet been done to bring 

 them into vital touch with the world in which they live." I endorse this statement with- 

 out reservation. The world around us is not properly correlated with the school cur- 

 riculum, and that is perhaps one reason why such an important subject as conservation 

 is not of vital interest to the average citizen of today. In school the boy did not feel 

 that "vital touch," and in the school of life the man never tried. 



Feeling the lack of this correlation, some three years ago I began, in a small way, 

 to bring home to the hearts and minds of the children under my tutelage a knowledge 

 of some of the forces agitating the world around us. I began with bird conservation. 

 In mechanical drawing, the boys stopped making "the dry-as-dust" plans of racks, pin- 

 trays, match-boxes, pen-wipers, ad nauseam, and began to draw plans of bird-houses 

 nstead. Having a working knowledge of the habits and enemies of the Wren and the 



