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Bird Notes and News 



to select final competitors ; and there is 

 some charmingly fresh and sincere work 

 from North Perrott (another newcomer), 

 and Wembdon, two Schools that are bound 

 to come to the front if they persevere. 

 Chillington, the youngest and one of the 

 most promising teams in the county ; 

 Winsham ; Fivehead ; Wookey Hole ; and 

 Weston Zoyland secure well-merited awards. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Challenge Shield : Mancetter C.E. School. 



There is a great variety in the work from 

 Warwickshire, and as a whole it is of excellent 

 quality. Seeing that the county is an ideal 

 one for such studies, there should be a 

 larger number of entrants, though no doubt 

 present educational methods miUtate against 

 the taking up of such eminently suitable sub- 

 jects in country schools. The two Schools 

 which led the way last year, Mancetter 

 and Middleton (Tamworth) hold the same 

 proud position this time, and have many 

 of the same children in the Teams. Their 

 work shows much painstaking observation 

 and they have selected a capital variety 

 of subjects ; the papers from Mancetter 

 are nicely illustrated, and Middleton com- 

 petitors display the artistic faculty no 

 less in appreciative descriptions of Trees 

 and Birds, the latter including Wliitethroat 

 and Garden- Warbler. Three other schools 

 are scarcely behind these two. Dosthill, 

 especially remarkable for closeness and 

 thoroughness of work, demonstrates a rapid 

 advance that does great credit to Team and 

 Teacher. This School sends in two Teams, 

 in itself a sign of strength. The Murray 

 Boys' School, Rugby, who always turn out 

 good Nature studies, are better than usual this 

 time. With Haselor, Trees are the specially 

 strong subject, and drawings a strong feature 



in the Tree study. Here again there are 

 two Teams, one of boys and one of girls, 

 and both do good and pleasant work. The 

 Stratford-on-Avon papers are very short 

 and seem to lack personal enthusiasm, but 

 there are some nice touches in the Trees. 

 Minworth's essays are also brief but are 

 pleasingly written. Among new competitors, 

 Bedworth (Leicester Road) Team are 

 highly commended for the brightness and 

 intelligence of their Hvely compositions ; 

 here birds are regarded not as " objects " 

 but as individuals with a Hfe and character 

 of their own, and this is as it should be. 



OPEN CLASS. 



The entries in this class are far more 

 numerous than in previous years, coming from 

 Derbyshire, Lancashire, Berkshire, Suffolk, 

 Surrey, Sussex, and Devon. The work, as 

 might be expected, is unequal, but much is 

 highly promising. The two principal prizes 

 go to FeUxstowe Ferry (Suffolk), and 

 Newburgh C.E. (Lancashire). The former 

 follows up a successful first appearance 

 last year, but Newburgh is a newcomer 

 and must be congratulated on the genuine 

 observation and artistic feeling evinced in 

 half-a-dozen excellent essays. Both these 

 sets are prettily illustrated with sketches. 

 Next come Hinton Waldrist, with fresh and 

 sincere papers, agreeably written on well- 

 chosen subjects ; Cartmel Fell, whose essays 

 are indicative of outdoor study, recounted 

 in a nice, natural way ; Wimbledon (Dun- 

 donald Road Boys) with interesting papers 

 which, however, do less justice to the keen- 

 ness and originahty of the writers than do 

 the admirable notebooks ; and Totley, 

 evidencing much painstaking work on the 

 right lines. The careful and conscientious 

 essays from Heage (Central School) reach 



