THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BIRD STUDY. 



3''*|^T is of advantage to know why a 

 I given occupation is profitable, 

 I why it is attractive or other- 

 I wise, to what sort of minds it 

 is best adapted, and how it 

 should be conducted to yield the best 

 returns. 



Other things being equal, the mind 

 acts most healthfully on what is most 

 pleasing. Children are attracted most 

 by things having life, character, color, 

 and rarity. Whatever has life appeals 

 directly to the young mind, especially 

 where the various stages of life are 

 apparent. Birth, infancy, the family 

 relation, society, paternity, sickness, 

 death, joy, sadness, homes, building of 

 nests, eggs, incubation, flying, singing, 

 fighting, foraging, searching covert 

 places, diggmg, boring, hammering, 

 wading, swimming, catching, devour- 

 ing, sentry duty, migration, gregari- 

 onsness, dress, difierences in appearance 

 of sexes and ages, moulting, mimick- 

 ing, special equipment for occupations, 

 anatomy, physiology, hygiene, useful- 

 ness to man, assistance in agriculture 

 and arboriculture, destructiveness to 

 noxious life, swiftness, deliberation, 

 expertness, stupidity, instincts for re- 

 markable performances, lack of judg- 

 ment in certain lines, loquacity, 

 vivacity, sympathy and mutual help- 

 fulness, resemblances to humanity and 

 differences, and apparent moral sensi- 

 bility, are among the leading features 

 of birds in general which make them 

 attractive to the youthful mind. 



Where any of these subjects may be 

 utilized in the ordinary instruction of 

 children the results are more perma- 

 nent and direct than where the same 

 sort of instruction has been attempted 

 with material that appeals less strenu- 

 ouslv to the soul of the learner. ' That 



which arouses the most intense activity 

 makes the most lasting impression. 

 Even where the impression is a painful 

 one the result endures ; as in old 

 England the memory of landmarks 

 was impressed upon young boys by 

 showing and flogging the boys at 

 once. The unreasoning pain and the 

 sight of the landmark remained for- 

 ever associated. Modern research has 

 found that pleasant sensation opens 

 the mind and that attention is easily 

 concentrated where inclination also 

 leads. Whatever is discovered by the 

 pupil while thoroughly aroused is of 

 most lasting value. The ideas which 

 school men have for centuries been 

 trying to beat into the minds of 

 children by senseless and dull repeti- 

 tion have been found to be easy of 

 acquisition and in many instances 

 matters almost of intuition if they may 

 first be brought into the consciousness 

 in a natural manner. 



The instructor who has not the 

 time nor the tact and invention needed 

 to open the minds of his pupils first 

 and then arrange matters so that self- 

 directed activity will follow, will have 

 a great deal of hard work before him 

 if he hopes to compete with those who 

 have found the secret of the mind's 

 growth and act upon it intelligently. 

 Such teaching cannot produce the 

 results which are now being acquired 

 in our best schools. 



A whole system of education could 

 be arranged with bird life as material 

 for arousing and fixing the interest of 

 the learner. But this is not our pur- 

 pose. A whole system should take in 

 all of the universe that is capable of 

 interesting the learner. Our purpose 

 is to take the most intensely absorbing 

 field and show how it mav be tilled. 



53 



