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Bird Notes and News 



desolation of the earth and the slaughter of its 

 joyous wild life by man. In this occur the 

 lines : — 



Behold, Lord, what we bring — this last proof in our 



hands, 

 Their latest friendliest spoil from Thy fair tropic lands, 

 The birds of all the earth unwinged to deck the heads 

 Of their unseemly women ; plumage of such reds 

 As not the sunset hath, such purples as no throne. 

 Not even in heaven, showeth — hardly, Lord, Thine 



own ; 

 Such azure as the sea's, such greens as are in spring. 

 The oak-tree's tenderest buds of watched-f or blossoming, 

 Such opalescent pearls as only in Thy skies 

 The lunar bow revealeth to night's sleep-tired eyes. 

 Behold them. Lord of Beauty, Lord of Reverence, 

 Lord of Compassion, Thou who meetest means to ends, 



Nor madest Thy world fair for less than Thine own 



fame, 

 Behold Thy birds of joy, lost, tortured, put to shame 

 . . . These dead wing cry to Thee ! 

 Arise, Lord, and avenge ! 



Mr. Blunt, who entered on his 83rd year in 

 August last, died at Shipley, Horsham, but it 

 was with Crabbet Park, near Three Bridges, 

 that he was associated as host to many friends, 

 and as horse-lover. He married Lady Anne 

 Noel (grand-daughter of Byron), afterwards 

 Baroness Wentworth, who shared his desert 

 wanderings and dwellings in Arabia and 

 Egypt. He became a Vice-President of the 

 R.S.P.B. in 1906. 



Bird and Tree Challenge Shield Competition 



LECTURES AT OXFORD 



In connection with the Short Courses of In- 

 struction for Teachers in Elementary Schools, 

 arranged by the Board of Education, the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds was asked 

 to supply two lectures on Nature-Study, with 

 special reference to the Bird and Tree Scheme. 

 These were associated with the Rural Science 

 Course held at Oxford, July 1st— 15th, 1922, 

 and were kindly undertaken by Mr. J. R. B. 

 Masefield, M.A., a member of the Council of 

 the Society. The Course was under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. W. K. Spencer, H.M.I. , and more 

 especially devoted to plant physiology and 

 botanical research work, twelve lectures being 

 given by Dr. Keeble, Professor of Botany in the 

 University. The teachers invited were limited 

 to a certain number from each county. 



Mr. Masefield's lectures, which were illus- 

 trated by lantern slides, were given on July 4th, 

 in the Hall of Balliol College, and on the 11th 

 in the theatre of the University Museum. 

 They covered a wide field, dealing with lost 

 and vanishing species, and the reasons for their 

 decrease and disappearance, migration, sanctu- 

 aries, the economic value of birds, the work of 

 the Society, legislation and education, inter- 

 spersed with personal experiences and stories. 

 On each occasion there was a large and in- 

 terested audience ; and votes of thanks were 

 given to the lecturer on the proposition of 

 Mr. H. M. Richards (Chief Inspector, Board of 

 Education) and Dr. Spencer, respectively. 



In addition to these lectures, a delightful 

 talk on birds was given in the laboratory of the 

 Botanic Gardens, by Mr. T. Johnson, H.M.I., 



who has had some experience of Bird and Tree 

 work in Somerset, and who set forth its aims 

 and objects admirably, while giving suggestions 

 for the education of young children preparatory 

 to the essay-writing stage. (This Mr. Johnson 

 put at 11 — 13, but capital papers frequently 

 come from children of nine and ten.) The 

 teacher, he remarked, was apt to say "Another 

 subject ! " for a curriculum already full, and 

 his answer to this was that no teacher should 

 put in a subject unless he thought it the right 

 thing to do and should never do so against 

 his inclination. The next objection was likely 

 to be, " Shall I have any weight of public 

 opinion behind me ? " and in reply to this he 

 would read a leading article which appeared 

 (June 3rd, 1922) in the Manchester Guardian, 

 reminding them that what the Guardian 

 thought on Monday Manchester thought on 

 Tuesday and the rest of England thought on 

 Wednesday ! To consider, first, how not to 

 do it, Mr. Johnson referred to the study of 

 Nature in the old way by the set lesson of half 

 an hour, on the Sparrow, for instance, with 

 total disregard of the live bird chirping on the 

 window ledge ; and to the wretched things 

 called object lessons, in which a mass of in- 

 struction was poured out which the child was 

 supposed to assimilate, and didn't. The true 

 way was in the interested observation of the 

 living thing ; as an accomplished inspector 

 had said to him, he would regard that as a 

 successful lesson on the spider if the boys had 

 learned to watch and not to squash it. It had 

 been said that children came to school ignorant 

 and curious and left it ignorant but incurious ; 

 and this, if true in any sense at all, was a 



