The Audubon Societies 69 



a fifth grade class claimed my attention to inform me that she could crow like 

 a rooster. She was given an opportunity to try. Spring had arrived and the 

 windows were open. An evidence that Prudence was a. good crower was told 

 through the responses of all the cocks in the vicinity. A fine lesson in concentra- 

 tion occurred immediately, for we gave ourselves up to listening for the crow 

 farthest away. We learned that some of us could detect fainter sounds than 

 others. 



Our conversations developed in us love and sympathy for our feathered 

 friends. We gained the knowledge that we must provide homes for them and 

 feeding stations for the winter birds as well as fountains in dry places. Drawing 

 was introduced into all the grades the first year through the industrial problem 

 of making bird-cotes from working drawings and patterns. A thousand houses 

 for Bluebirds, House Wrens, or Chickadees were constructed. About 800 

 were made according to specifications. Experts in the manual training de- 

 partment reconstructed the 200 failures. 



The life of our junior naturalists' societies is assured, for the foundation was 

 constructed through directing the child to search for knowledge and then 

 followed the building of the societies by organizing the work to produce a union 

 of interests which has caused a union of minds. Unconsciously the children 

 have become teachers of the whole community through their discussions out- 

 side of school, for everyone is beginning to help. Business, always on the 

 alert, took up the subject. Publishing houses had constant calls for books. 

 Bird-glasses were advertised. All who could afford bought these helpful mate- 

 rials — yes, and those who couldn't afford found a way by doing without some 

 necessary article. 



The most delightful of our interesting experiences was our introduction 

 to the Audubon Societies. With very little effort, hundreds of us became 

 members of the junior clubs which entitle us to the bird leaflets and the maga- 

 zine, Bird-Lore. This literature of the great ornithologists who sacrifice them- 

 selves for the education of the masses enters the homes and is enjoyed by every 

 member of the family. The little children sit and look at the illustrations 

 while the older boys and girls read aloud. These leaflets are doing a great work 

 in the homes of the foreign element. While the contents of these series are 

 planned for the grade classes from the fifth through the grammar grades, we 

 find the fourth grade children enjoying them thoroughly because of the knowl- 

 edge through observation which they take into the text. Every year finds 

 500 to 600 new subscribers for the Audubon Societies. We have learned to 

 know that it is a great privilege to study under the directors of these societies 

 who are leading us to realize fully the responsibilities connected with the work 

 of protecting our natural resources. — Kate A. McCloskev. Supervisor of 

 Industrial Arts, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 



