332 



Bird -Lore 



Most of these, and of the hundred or 

 more other photographs sent, are accom- 

 panied by letters describing a great diver- 

 sity of waj's in which the idea of Junior 

 Audubon educational work is utilized in 

 the schoolroom and out of it, and the 

 excellent training it affords. The joy of 

 the children in it is displayed in many 

 ways, and their moral and mental im- 

 provement is shown by an abundance of 

 testimony not only from the teachers and 

 Class-leaders but in the writings of the 

 Juniors themselves, which are inclosed in 

 many of the reports. Particularly notice- 

 able and interesting are the essays from 

 Junior members in the Friend's School 

 in West Philadelphia, and in the Orphan- 

 age, in Yonkers, New York; and it is a 

 great pity that our limited space will not 

 permit of quoting from these and many 

 other reports. 



We must, however, give ourselves the 

 pleasure of printing a class-birthday letter 

 from Miss Helen Ensign, teacher and 

 leader of the Sheridan No. 2 class at Dun- 

 kirk, New York, because it is full of useful 

 suggestions and encouragement: 



"Our Junior x'Vudubon Club has been 

 organized one year today. Out of the 

 seventeen bird-houses that were put up 

 when the class was first organized, four- 

 teen were occupied, — that is, if you may 

 count one Robin's nest built on the flat 



roof of a bird-house. This year we have 

 made twenty-five houses, some of which 

 are already 'rented.' This is what we 

 have learned in the year about bird-boxes: 



"i. The doors should not be on the 

 floor. 



"2. As a safeguard against English 

 Sparrows we must not use perches. 



"3. The boxes may hang so that they 

 will swing. 



"Our society meets weekly in the 

 nature-study period of twenty minutes in 

 our regular schoolday's program. We 

 study the Educational Leaflets, read 

 selections about birds, play bird-games, 

 have guessing contests, choose a bird for 

 a topic and let each pupil tell something 

 about it, or make bird-houses. 



"The children enjoy an initiation when 

 a new member comes in. This usually 

 consists of blindfolding the candidate and 

 leading him about, or asking him to sing or 

 to recite. Once or twice a year they have 

 a 'spread.' They take charge of all Bird 

 Day and Arbor Day exercises. 



"Last week we sent a petition to our 

 Game Warden to have our laws for the 

 protection of song birds enforced in our 

 vicinity. 



"Last year the children learned to recog- 

 nize the common birds, but this spring I 

 am delighted to see them searching the 

 books for further information. 



"If anyone is timid about undertaking 

 a class like this, he may lay his fears aside 

 and go at it. The children in their eager- 

 ness will carry it through, and teach him 

 many things in spite of himself. The 

 apparent failures in our eyes are often 

 successes in theirs." 



JUNIOR CLASS. HIGH SCHOOL, TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA 



