58 Bird -Lore 



One day, two or three years ago, I happened to be upstairs in my grand- 

 mother's house, and saw on the window-sash outside a Robin's nest with five 

 tiny Hght blue eggs in it. I w^atched every day, taking great care not to let the 

 birds see me. The female took care of the nest in the hot sun. 



Finally, one day about two weeks later, I happened to be looking at the 

 nest and saw five baby Robins. They were stretching their little necks and had 

 their mouths wide open, for they were very hungry. The mbther bird was 

 getting food for them; I watched longer, and soon she came back with some 

 w^orms for her babies. The babies were very thin and did not ha\-e any feathers. 

 I watched every day and they grew and grew, the feathers began to come out 

 and the birds got larger and larger, and the mother bird did not stay with them 

 all day, but she kept good watch over them, and fed them good things. My 

 grandmother put things outdoors from the table, and the mother bird came 

 and got them for her babies, for a week or two. Then they got large enough to 

 leave the nest, and one day one by one they flew away, following the mother 

 bird. They flew till I could see them no more, and the nest was left vacant 

 for ever. Finally, one stormy, snowy night the next winter, the wind blew the 

 nest down and it lay scattered on the ground. — Gertrude Mapes (aged 12), 

 7th grade, Chelsea, Mich. 



One day I was playing in some bushes and I saw a brown Thrasher or a 

 brown Thrush. It was quite a large bird and its color was brown, with two 

 bars on the wings and white specks on the breast. They build the nest of straw, 

 sticks, etc., and they build them on the ground under bushes. 



After the nest had little birds in it, the old Thrushes began to get food of 

 worms and insects. The little birds stayed in the nest for quite a long time, 

 and one day I looked in the nest and the little ones were gone. This year they 

 have not come back to build their nest there because the bushes are cut down. — 

 Gladys Spiegelberg (aged 12), 7th grade, Chelsea, Mich. 



[These three letters, selected from the 7th grade, which will be followed in another 

 issue by other letters from the same school, suggest first, the pleasure which young people 

 take in watching birds; second, the quickness with which they develop the power of 

 observation; and, third, the value of describing actual experiences in place of doing 

 routine exercises in the school-room. 



The little girl who saw the Brown Thrasher, and pictured the bird as brown ail over 

 with two white bars on the wings and white specks or* the breast, will learn later on to 

 see the white breast streaked with brown, a distinction of small importance as compared 

 with the observation that the bird and its mate did not return to their accustomed 

 nesting-place the following year because the bushes had been cut down. 



The young observer who followed the history of the Robin's nest from the time she 

 happened to find it until it was blown down in a winter storm made a discovery quite 

 worth while concerning the durabilitj^ and destruction of one kind of nests, besides 

 learning at first hand several interesting facts about young birds in the nest, especially 

 with reference to their growth; while the child who studied birds with her father and 

 attracted them to her sick-room will hardly forget her feathered friends and her many 

 happy experiences with them, as she grows older. 



The letters from this school contain an unusual number of personal observations, 

 and offer an excellent example of the interest which boys and girls naturally take in 

 the outdoor life around them. Other teachers will do well to encourage their pupils to 

 write about what they actually hear and sec in nature. — A. H. W.] 



