SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



We regret extremely to be obliged to announce that continued ill health 

 has forced Mrs. Walter to resign the editorship of this Department. For 

 nine years her helpful editorials and correlated studies have stimulated 

 and directed the labor of teachers of bird-lore throughout the country. It 

 will be exceedingly difficult to find some one who can adequately fill 

 her place. — Ed. 



THE STUDY OF BIRD -LIFE IN THE SCHOOLS 

 OF NEW JERSEY 



Dr. Robert G. Leavitt, instructor in botany and zoology in the State Normal 

 School at Trenton, has prepared a pamphlet for the Department of Public 

 Instruction of the state of New Jersey, which teachers everywhere will find 

 of value. 



In an introductory 'Foreword,' Calvin N. Kendall, State Commissioner of 

 Education, writes: 



"The study of birds has been recognized for a long time as an important 

 feature of public-school work. Large numbers of teachers are interested in it, 

 and their work has been productive of excellent results. It is said that the 

 number of birds is increasing, and this is largely due to efforts teachers have 

 made to give pupils, particularly boys, a higher appreciation of bird-life. It is 

 not necessary to make any argument for the conservation of birds. It has come 

 to be recognized that many birds are of economic value in the raising of crops. 

 An understanding and observation of birds has come to be widely recognized 

 as a means of pleasure and recreation." 



Under the heading 'Why We Should Study Birds in All Elementary Schools,' 

 Dr. Leavitt writes (after a statement of the economic value of birds): 



"Outdoor activities are a rich source of high pleasure in life. The child is 

 born with a nature, instincts, tastes, potential interests, which have a deep 

 relation and correspondence to the nature, forms, and processes of the world 

 into which he is Ijorn. We have no right to cheat the child out of a fair oppor- 

 tunity to enjoy this world of surrounding influences, from which he is entitled 

 by the fact of his birth to draw comfort, inspiration, happiness. The school 

 that does not lead its boys and girls to enjoy outdoor life, to love the sights 

 and sounds of nature, to take pleasure in mountains, woods, trees, flowers, 

 birds, wild animals, the sky and clouds, the stars, the sea — that school is not 

 the ideal school, however well it may teach arithmetic antl English. Enjoy- 

 ment of nature is to be counted among the great durable satisfactions of life, 



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