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Bird Notes and News 



Bird-and-Tree (Arbor) Day. 



The option given this year to Elementary- 

 Schools to send in Bird-and-Tree Essays 

 either before or after the holidays, has 

 necessarily somewhat delayed the judging, 

 as it is impossible finally to place any Team 

 until the last of the papers has come in 

 and has been read and considered in 

 relation to the rest. The alternative has, 

 however, enabled at least a score of 

 schools to compete who would otherwise 

 have found themselves out of the running 

 through one cause or another, and has given 

 all who wished it, the advantage of pursuing 

 their open-air studies through the holidays 

 and following up their own particular 

 birds and trees to the verge of autumn. 

 Reports will as usual be sent to every 

 competing school, as soon as the Examiners 

 have made their awards ; a limited number 

 of copies will also be available for 

 friends of education who like to know 

 what is being done in their respective 

 counties. An abridged report will be pub- 

 lished in the Winter Number of Bird Notes 

 and News. 



The Council of the R.S.P.B. make a 

 special appeal to bird-lovers and to all 

 interested in education and in children, to 

 give encouragement and help m the festivities 

 of " Arbor Day." The verdict of Teachers 

 and Inspectors and (it must not be forgotten) 

 of the children, has made it plain that in 

 devising and developing the Bird-and-Tree 

 scheme, the Society has done something that 

 was well worth the doing from a dozen 

 different points of view, something of benefit 

 at once to the mind, the body, and the 

 character of boys and girls. Full success 

 is however impossible without local stimulus ; 



and it was never intended that the awards 

 given by the Society should be the only 

 recognition of the work of the Teams. It is 

 in villages and parishes where mfluential 

 residents interest themselves in the efforts 

 of the children, in the prize-giving, and in 

 the festivities, that the competition flourishes, 

 and it cannot be supposed that the schools 

 of Hampshire and Northants and Norfolk, 

 for instance, would ever have shown the 

 keenness that characterises their work, but 

 for the splendid support given by the County 

 authorities and by private individuals in 

 arranging for public celebrations of well- 

 earned successes. 



A collection of songs, plays, and recitations 

 suitable for festivals is being formed at the 

 R.S.P.B. office ; these, and also lantern 

 slides, will be gladly lent to teachers and 

 others, and additions to the list will be 

 welcomed. Tliree musical plays are especi- 

 ally appropriate for the more ambitious 

 schools : " Bird and Tree Pageant " and 

 " Midsummer Eve," both by Mrs. Suckling, 

 and "The Revolt of the Birds," by the 

 Rev. G. Edward Young. Words and music 

 of these can be had on loan, on application. 



CHILDREN AND BIRDS. 



The following letter to the R.S.P.B. may 



suggest to bird-lovers what can be done to 



set children on the right track, and 



advantage might well be taken of the 



Bird-and-Tree competitions in combination 



with such excellent personal work : 



" We have many nests on our ground, 

 and we have been distressed at finding 

 them disturbed, in many cases completely 

 destroyed or, as was the case with a Gold- 

 crest's nest, taken away from the branch 



