TO THE GROWN-UP—LEND A HAND!  Xxiii 
whether the knowledge passes from the school to the home 
or the home to the school, the process is the same. The 
walk between the rural school and home along bushy lanes 
and tree-bordered highways, however, is an important 
link in the chain. 
For children so placed the birds and every possible 
motive for wanting to know them lie at hand, but for this 
very reason the public library wherein the books to answer 
questions may be found is perhaps many miles away and 
it is not possible for every school or home to own the 
necessary bird books or charts. 
It must not for a moment be thought that any attempt 
is made to say anything new or add to the infor- 
mation given in the many excellent and complete 
books now in circulation, but merely to condense in a 
simple form things that have been said. Not detailed 
descriptions and tabulated facts —for these repel the 
beginner and seem but the spelling-book or multiplication 
table in a new form—but to record the doings of some 
children who were eager to know; together with a few hints 
upon the migrations, winter feeding, and protection of 
some of our common birds, and the stories of their lives, 
that may lead both teacher and pupil to more detailed 
study when opportunity offers. 
When a strange child comes to school, the first desire of 
his mates is to know his name and nationality, from 
whence he came, where he lives, whether he is merely a 
visitor or to be a permanent resident in the community. 
All this must be weighed and well considered before the 
newcomer is admitted to the friendship of his mates, and 
it may be that there will be some prejudices against him 
