xiv TO THE GROWN-UP—LEND A HAND! 
that the teacher must either remove by explanation or 
overcome by reason and example. 
It is very much the same with a bird. After being 
attracted to him and fixing upon his name as an individual 
his identity should be still further established by finding 
to what family he belongs and then later on placing this 
family in one of the great orders of the bird world. These 
two last should not be dwelt upon, however, until the iden- 
tity as an individual is established, but in the end it will 
help to keep the name in the memory to know the kinship 
of families as well. 
There are many little points of comparison, of scientific 
but not general value that cannot be seen unless the dead 
bird is held in the hand, and then only a wise man, per- 
haps, would be able to point them out. It is with the 
living bird, on the wing or in its nest in the bushes, that 
we are concerned; not with the poor little dead thing with 
its limp neck and bloody, rumpled feathers. 
We should not learn enough from such a bird to in any 
way make up for taking its life; it would be both wasteful 
and against the law. So we must be content to believe 
what the Wise Men say, who must study the dead birds in 
order to preserve the scientific knowledge of their structure 
and keep them in public museums, that they may teach the 
world how wonderful a thing bird-life is, and show us that 
we must do all we can to protect it. For the Wise Men 
know very well that — 
You cannot with a scalpel find the poet’s soul, 
Nor yet the wild bird’s song! 
M. O. W. 
