198 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8:5— May, 1912 



slides is repeated, and the birds are named by the instructor with 

 their saHent characters. This phase of the work is most help- 

 ful in preparing students for recognizing birds in the field, and 

 it develops analytical ability. 



Bird work at The University of Chicago is favored greatly 

 by the proximity of parks where many species of birds are to be 

 found during the migrations. It is possible to study about one 

 hundred species during a single spring, in Jackson Park less than a 

 mile distant. Land birds sometimes fairly swarm there, and a 

 surprisingly large number of water birds occur on the lagoons. 

 Outside of the city there are excellent places for bird study. Oth- 

 er large cities also have advantages for bird work, fortunately, 

 and a country location is not necessary. 



The required field work for the writer's classes is done dur- 

 ing the spring in Jackson Park. When a summer course is given, 

 birds must be sought outside the city. City parks furnish a great 

 variety of birds only during the migrations. The field periods 

 begin sharply at 7 :40, and they end at 9 :10 in order to give time 

 for a return to a 9 :30 class. Plenty of birds are found during 

 this period without the strain that hours before breakfast involve 

 for many people. It is the writer's opinion that very early rising 

 for bird work is often overdone with classes, and it is certainly 

 not advisable if the work can be done as well at a later hour. 

 When birds are studied and not simply glanced at, Jackson Park 

 furnishes material enough to make a very full period at any time 

 of the morning during the spring migrations. After several years' 

 trial of a period from 6 :00 to 7 :30, a change was made to the later 

 period. This shift made the course much more popular, and. birds 

 were seen fully as frequently and as well, as before. There was 

 not even a loss in the number of species or of unusual forms. 



The class is divided into sections of ten each, and the instruct- 

 ors in charge of each section have definite circuits to avoid the oc- 

 currence of many people in one place. The sections are shifted 

 each morning so that each student has an equal number of field 

 trips with the instructor and his assistants during the course. It 

 is made clear that the scheduled field periods are serious class ex- 

 ercises and not picnics, a result which is not hard to obtain when 

 the instructor is business-like and provides a well ordered pro- 

 gram. 



Much care has been given to the selection of territory for field 

 trips. Only the best places to see birds and the l>est dates are 

 worth considering at all, if a large class of young people are to be 

 kept thoroughly interested. The average student can not be ex- 



