60 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 5 : 2 -feb., , 9 o 9 



The June meeting is given to a bird contest, for determining 

 which child is most thoroughly acquainted with the birds. 

 The prizes, five-dollar gold pieces, are offered by one of the bird- 

 loving citizens of the town. For a month before the contest every 

 hour of the day sees eager children in front of the bird cases, 

 and the words most familiar to the director are, "Please can 

 you tell me what this bird is ? He has a brown back," and then 

 follows a description, remarkably accurate when one remembers 

 the age of the observer, and usually the members of the office 

 staff, with wits sharpened by constant guessing, are able to lead 

 the questioners to a specimen and receive a satisfied, "Yes, 

 that's just the bird!" 



The interest in insects is not so universal as that in birds. 

 Still, each September and October sees the caterpillar boxes 

 well inhabited by the "crawlers" the children have brought. 

 These cages are placed on tables in the main hall, and are the 

 center of interest during the autumn. Caterpillars are made the 

 subject of a Museum lesson, and in preparation for it, the classes 

 have specimens in their schoolrooms. Here, they provide a 

 variety of leaf food for their captives, see which kinds are eaten, 

 how the creature feeds and moves and some of them have seen 

 caterpillars spin cocoons or change to chrysalis form before 

 their wondering eyes. After the lesson, the class adjourns to the 

 main hall of the Museum to inspect the caterpillar cages. These 

 lessons so interest the young people that hardly a day of August 

 and September goes by without several crawlers being brought 

 to the Museum for identification and for information in regard 

 to their care. In the spring, butterflies and moths are brought 

 in large numbers, but after confining these for a day or so, for 

 purposes of observation, they are liberated, — save in the case 

 of some rare insect much needed to complete the Museum 

 collection. 



One instance of the home study of insects may be noted: A 

 child of ten, with a little help from his aunt, and some special 

 good fortune from Dame Nature, has followed the life cycle from 

 caterpillar to caterpillar of the white tussock moth, keeping the 

 second generation until they molted for the third time. 



Loan collections of minerals, birds and insects, are sent out to 

 the schools of St. Johnsbury and of the surrounding towns. 

 The general course of study in a grade, as well as the nature 



