BIRDAND-TREE (ARBOR DAY) COMPETITIONS. 



The Press. 



" Education from observation is true education, 

 and largely, thanlcs to the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds, many schools are now learning 

 far more from birds than from books. The 

 enthusiasm with which boys and girls enter into 

 the spirit of the thing are mystifying to those who 

 have been brought up midor an educational system 

 of decanted knowledge bottled in mental bins from 

 which it soon evaporates. The effect on children 

 of listening to the notes and watching the ways of 

 Birds and growing Trees must be seen to be believed. 

 Zeal for nature study is foiuad to be of the highest 

 educational value. Children thus taught no longer 

 destroy nests and eggs, but take a keen interest 

 in preserving them when they learn the truth 

 about Birds, and when they aro told off to choose 

 for themselves a Bird and a Tree, and to observe 

 these dvu-ing the spring and summer months. When 

 winter comes they write a paper about the Bird 

 and about the Tree. Observation, accurate know- 

 ledge, and first-hand information, not taken from 

 books, are the qualities that secure the prizes given 

 by the good wisdom of the Bird Protection Society." 

 — " Vanoc " (Arnold White) in the Referee, July 

 23rd, 1911. 



" Much help has been rendered to the natiu-e- 

 teaching in schools by the Bird-and-Tree scheme 

 of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 

 Into it competition in its most inoffensive form 

 has been introduced. The children are encouraged 

 to contest the possession of a shield in teams of 

 nine. Each competitor must select a Bird and a 

 Tree for study and observation. They are 

 encovtraged to keep a diary of their observations, 

 and at the end of the time they embody the results 

 in essays. . . The great feature is that the 

 systematic study of a Tree or a Bird provides 

 endless subjects for composition, and composition, 

 mark you, wliich is not vague, rambling, or laboured, 

 but, on the contrary, to the point in every respect." 

 — Country Life, July 8th, 1911. 



There is no question as to the larger moral 

 effect of this work. It is education in the true 

 sense ; not the mere memorizing of facts, but the 

 training of the child's mind and the development 

 of its faculties, its powers of observation, of judg- 



ment, and of sympathetic interest." — Eastern 

 Daily Press, December 2nd, 1910 



" The scheme is admirable, and capable of doing 

 an infinite amount of good." — The Editor op 

 Education. 



From Education Authorities. 



" Tlie Education Committee have the highest 

 opinion of the value and importance of observa- 

 tional lessons and studies in Elementary Schools 

 such as this competition seeks to promote, and are 

 very anxioas that wherever the circumstances of 

 the school will permit, teachers will encourage their 

 scholars to prepare and enter for the competition. 

 The Committee desire me very warmly to commend 

 the matter to you, and they hope to learn that your 

 school has been entered." — The Director op 

 Education for Bedfordshire to Head Teacliers of 

 Beds. Schools, April, 1910. 



' ' Some people think that only the three R's 

 should be taught in schools ; but great as know- 

 ledge is, the power of observation is an even more 

 important thing to acquire, and nothing develops 

 this better than the watching of Birds and Trees." — 

 The Education Secretary for Bucks, at Stony 

 Stratford Bird-and-Tree Festival, 1907. 



' ' Not only is the Society doing an extremely 

 useful work in endeavouring to prevent the exter- 

 mination of rare birds, and to make people imder- 

 stand the value and habits of birds, but this 

 particular effort is one wliich should be encouraged 

 by all interested in the real education of children, 

 in the development of their faculties and their 

 training for the occupations of after-life. It is 

 part of a movement for making school -teaching 

 less bookish than in the past, for dealing with real 

 things, and tlirowing the children upon their own 

 powers of observation and resource. The competi- 

 tion is good because in it the children are writing 

 of things with which they are acquainted and not 

 simply abstract things." — The Education Secre- 

 tary for Somerset at the Yatton Festival, 1907. 



"No subject is more valuable to the cliildren 

 than this study, which rouses their interest eind 

 their powers of observation. I hear a great deal 

 as to the effect which has been jiroduced by the 

 competition in encouraging kindness to animals." — 

 The Director of Education for Warwickshire. 



