SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Address all communications to the Editor of the School Department, National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, 141 Broadway, New York City 



How One School Made Bird Houses 



By JOHN D. HANEY. P.S. 5 Bronx, New York City 



UNDER the stimulus of suggestion from principal and teacher, the boys 

 of Public School 5, Bronx, New York City, became, last term, very en- 

 thusiastic over the idea of making bird-boxes or bird-houses. They 

 realized at once the very real character of the exercise, and the chance of putting 

 their handiwork actually to use in their own backyards and open spaces around 

 their houses, for the Bronx is still a part of the city that boasts of open lots and 

 haunts of Wren and Blue Jay. 



For those that wanted to make illustrations instead of houses, or for those 

 that wanted to make both, the teacher projected the making of posters, to an- 

 nounce the special exercises that the school would hold on Audubon's birthday 

 as a bird day; and these, along with the houses themselves, became part of the 

 exhibit for Audubon Day. 



The houses were made by the pupils when out of school, and from material 

 that they supplied themselves. The school, not having a shop or adequate 

 appliances for the work, and having no lumber for the construction, could give 

 the boys little in way of encouragement, except the spirit of the aim and the desire 

 to "make something." But this was sufficient. The teacher secured the pam- 

 phlets from the Audubon Society, and copies of Bird-Lore, that gave ideas 

 in regard to the building -of houses, and the pictures of the birds with the cir- 

 culars telling of their habitat and customs. The boys made a study of these data, 

 and tried to determine for themselves what kind of house would do for what 

 kind of bird. They were not always successful in this, because the real bird 

 was not present to be investigated; but with the stuffed and mounted specimens 

 from the Museum of Natural History, and with whatever information could be 

 gleaned from such books as those of Olive Thorne Miller, Chapman, Beebe, 

 Wright, etc., they made a start. 



They were compelled by the conditions of the competition, which was open 

 to all of the higher grades, to make working drawings of what they intended to 

 construct before they went about their other task. This was done partly so that 

 the work might count as an exercise with a real aim in working drawing (too 

 often an uninteresting drawing), and as an assurance that there would be no 

 getting of a house that would be a palpable misfit for the occupant in whose 

 interests it was being made. 



{223) 



