PLAN OF THE COURSE AS A WHOLE 7 



the larvae. Climbed up and secured the punctured scales for 

 my collection. At this rate how many might a woodpecker 

 eat in a year ? Wish I could follow him and discover how 

 many he actually destroys in a day. Put marrow bones and 

 suet in the apple trees to attract woodpeckers to the orchard. 



DEC. 6. Refer to Lab. Book, p. 41 (sketch of larva, etc.). 



APRIL 12. Hunted one hour again for larvae ; found only 8, but 

 have observed the woodpeckers working on the trees all 

 winter, and counted 179 punctured bark scales from which 

 the larvse had been removed. Those found were still in the 

 larval stage. 



MAY 15. Apple trees in bloom. Hunted one-half hour; found 

 1 larva and 2 pupae (Lab. Book, p. 42). 



JUNE 11. Apples about the size of marbles. 8 P.M., hung a lan- 

 tern in a tree where apples were thickest. Caught a moth 

 in act of laying an egg on an apple. As I raised my net to 

 catch another, a bat flitted by and snapped it. Tried to 

 catch bat but he was too quick for me. 



The main laboratory for this course is the out-of-doors, 

 the yard, garden and orchard, streets and roadsides, pastures, 

 fields, woods, streams, lakes, hills, and swamps. Thousands 

 of interesting things are happening out there all the while, and 

 it is there the student must go if he would really learn his 

 lessons. With definite assignments of what to seek or to study 

 and observe, most of this field work should be done either 

 singly or in small groups of two or three. In addition to 

 this there should be individual problem-working and lesson- 

 learning for discussion and demonstration of the more general 

 problems, such as the study of habitats ; the struggle for life 

 as seen in a dense woods ; the distribution of a number of 

 the types studied in the course ; migration of birds ; recog- 

 nition of trees, birds, common plants. A number of special 

 field trips also should be arranged. The success or failure of 

 these will depend upon the teacher's knowledge of the locality 



