Bird Notes and News 



83 



Managers and by the Head Mistress, Miss 



Firbank. 



" Arbor Day " at Newburgh C.E. School, 



First Prize Winner in the Open Class, was 



duly signalised by the planting of a Horse- 



Chestnut tree in the playground by the 



senior essayist, and the singing of the 



Planting Hymn. Afterwards the prizes were 



presented by the Vicar (Rev. C. Harris), 



who hoped that next time more Lancashire 



Schools would enter, so that they might 



have a County Challenge Shield. The 



Headmaster, Mr. Halton, in a review of the 



work done, remarked that, though healthy 



competition was good, to win prizes was not 



all. The study of nature should not only 



quicken the mental faculties but should 



bring the child nearer to the Creator of all 



things. 



[Judging by the interest shown in the 

 Competition by the Director of Education 

 (Dr. Lloyd Snape) and a good number of 

 Schools, there seems every probability of a 

 Lancashire Shield being instituted this year.] 



The Warwickshire Shield was presented to 

 Dosthill School by Mr. T. F. Cheatle, J.P., 

 and the Rev. A. H. Bell made an appeal to 

 ladies present on the plumage question. A 

 lantern entertainment followed. 



At Princes Risboro', the Rector gave an 

 interesting account of birds and trees of 

 other lands and of the Canadian Arbor Day. 



Mogerhanger had a capital concert, 

 Mr. Leeds Smith spoke most helpfully and 

 encouragingly to the children. 



From a large number of interesting and 

 encouraging letters received from competing 

 Schools must be quoted three typical 

 extracts. The Headmaster of a northern 

 School writes : — 



" I find that the joy of watching ' My 

 Bird ' at nesting-time gives far more real 

 pleasure to the boys and girls than any 

 wanton destruction of eggs, etc., could 



ever do. Many of the bigger children 

 become real champions for the birds, and 

 I have had to turn out only one of our 

 cadets for destroying a nest. The rest of 

 them were disgusted at a lad who could 

 not stick to his word." 



The Headmistress of a village school 

 sends the following Bird anecdote : — 



" We have had a little Greenfinch staying 

 with us — an invalid. A boy brought it 

 one morning, having picked it up under the 

 telegraph wires. It was bleeding and seemed 

 dying. However, after being revived with 

 water it was coaxed to peck, and hardly 

 left off pecking the fortnight it stayed ! 

 If my children studied birds with half as 

 much interest as that Greenfinch studied 

 us we should be the champion school every 

 year ! It was particularly interested in 

 the harmonium, and when I played used to 

 watch my fingers with breathless attention. 

 I had only a miserable little cage to offer it, 

 but it used the boys' cloak-room for flying 

 practice whenever possible, and was very 

 good about going back to the cage when 

 told to do so. It is wonderful how soon a 

 perfectly wild animal or bird learns to be 

 trustful. It got stronger each day, and 

 at last we let it go." 



The third letter is written by a member 

 of a south-country team who have been 

 winners of the Shield : — 



" I think the Shield is a splendid trophy 

 for the Society to send to the Schools. We 

 are proud to have our name on it. I wrote 

 my essay for the competition on the 

 Nightingale. I got fond of the pair I 

 watched, and was sorry when they went 

 away. I used to know a bird-fancier who 

 kept many birds. One day he caught a 

 young Nightingale and tried to keep it 

 through the winter, but the poor little bird 

 died. He used to keep Goldfinches and 

 Linnets, and many other pretty wild birds, 

 and also a few Canaries, and when I saw 

 him he told me about them. I felt sorry 

 for the poor prisoners, and told him he 

 ought not to keep them caged, it was cruel. 

 He promised me he would let them go, and 

 as he lived in Manchester I could not go to 

 his house to see if he kept his promise, 



