The Audubon Societies 



143 



in preceding seasons. Thus data of value are put into permanent form, open 

 to the inspection of visitors, or available for the use of bird-students in any part 

 of the world. 



Individual work consists in special problems of varying degrees of difficulty, 

 fitted to the ability of the student, as, for example, a daily record of the order 

 of morning and evening song with reference to decHne and molt, observation 

 of the home-life of birds in the nest, feeding-movements of different species 

 frequenting the inner harbor, distribution of a single family such as the Fly- 

 catchers or Vireos, in the study plot, and study of feeding habits either of a 

 single species or a comparative study of several species. These problems are 

 not stereotyped, but are thought out to meet the occasion, with a view to 

 encouraging original research and developing initiative on the part of the 

 student. Record-taking and record-making are required, but again, the 

 student is given much liberty in the choice of the method employed. Weekly 

 symposia, at which each student presents a resimie of work done and methods 

 used, with criticisms from other students and the instructors, serve to correlate 

 individual work with the general work of the class, and to unify the course as 

 a whole. 



Result-of "a bird-house contest in Lisbon, Ohio. pTizes were awarded on Arbor Day 

 to each'bf the grades for houses designed and made'by any boy or girl. Each pupil who 

 entered the contest received credit according to the merit of the design and workman- 

 ship of the bird-house presented. (Courtesy of the Rollins Studio.) 



