72 



Bird Notes and News 



additional paper, written either at home or 



at school. 



* * * 



The following letter with regard to Bird 

 and Tree work comes from the country 

 school which took honours in the 1916 Com- 

 petition, and represents the opinion of both 

 a Master and a Mistress of experience and 

 success : — 



" I am commissioned to state my Avife's 

 opinion on the Bird and Tree Scheme. With 

 it I entirely concur : — 



1. It is something which all can do. 



2. It brings children into intimate con- 

 tact with the beautiful, Avhich must have a 

 refining influence. 



3. It gives children their first start in 

 Self -Education. They will notice as they 

 go through life ; every day their perspective 

 will broaden ; attention will be arrested by 

 seeming trifles, subjects of interest ^dll never 

 be lacking ; they will possess eyes to see 

 and ears to hear ; they will discover that 

 whatever their station in life there is some- 

 thing they can do and do well ; they will 

 cultivate a habit of noting details ; and 

 surely all these things must have a tremend- 

 ous influence on character. 



4. In the hands of a Teacher of strong 

 personality and enthusiasm it may be made 

 the lever wherewith to lift a school out of 

 the rut of inefficiency and want of interest 

 into which it may have fallen. That is 

 admittedly the case here. 



5. It brings parents, and elder brothers 

 and sisters who have long left school into 

 contact with school life ; and a very desir- 

 able thing this is, in the interests both of 

 Teacher and children. 



6. It will write "finis " to that tendency 

 toward cruelty which I am afraid lurks 

 somewhere in the back corners of every boy's 

 character. Here in 1914-5 the essays and 

 note-books were one long heart-breaking 

 record of destroyed nests and eggs, of dead 

 young birds, of destruction of plant life. 

 This year (and I have read through all notes 

 and essays) it was very different. There 

 was hardly a record of a " pulled " nest ; 

 if eggs Avere broken it was by the birds' 

 natural enemies. If there was destruction 

 of plant life it never came to our ears. 



7. The influence of Bird and Tree upon 

 other subjects in the School curriculum is 

 most marked. The interest aroused spreads 



everywhere and bears fruit in nearly every 

 subject - spelling, writing, composition, 

 drawing, painting, everywhere in short. In 

 this School drawing and painting (which 

 had not been touched for some years) are 

 the direct outcome of Bird and Tree work. 



8. The effect on the children's minds is 

 immense. Two years ago we encountered 

 dull, uninteresting, and uninterested country 

 children, possessing little school discipline 

 and fewer manners. The change to-day is 

 extraordinary. They are orderly, polite, 

 keen, alert-minded, taking proper pride in 

 their work and in themselves. Undesirable 

 language is something long since dead. The 

 upward progress dates entirely from the 

 beginning of the Competition." 



No doubt some of this transformation 

 must be attributed to the new Teacher 

 rather than to the Competition ; but it ia 

 enough that it should have formed so valu- 

 able a lever. The writer adds that the 

 subject demands keen interest and en- 

 thusiasm on the part of the Teacher in order 

 to inspire the children. It is pleasant to 

 know from other Teachers that the scheme 

 itself was able to inspire them with that 

 enthusiasm, even though their own know 

 ledge of Birds and Tree had not been great 

 to begin with. 



Save the Food-crops. 



Save our Bird Allies. 



BIRDS, INSECTS & CROPS : 



A War-time Leaflet for all Growers 

 of the Nation's Food Supplies. 



Write for copies to the Secretary, Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds, 23, Queen Anne's Gate, 

 S,W. 1. 



Also published by the Society : " OUR ALLY 

 THE BIRD," Illustrated Leaflet, Pd.'jfpr dozen ; 

 "FARM, GARDEN, AND BIRDS' : How to 

 protects crops without destruction of Bird-life | 

 price Sixpence. 



Bird Notes and News (issued quarterly) will 

 be sent post free to any address for Is. per annum, 

 payable in advance ; single numbers, 3d. 



To Members of the Society subscribing 58. and 

 upwards per annum it is forwarded gratis and post 

 free. 



Printed by Witherby & Co., 326, High Holborn, W.C, and 

 published by the Royal Society for the Protecticw of Bihus, 

 23, Queen Anne's Gate, S,W. 



