88 NATURE STUDY REVIEW (10:3— Mar., 1914 



II. General habits. 



1. Song. 



a. Varied or monotonous. 

 a. Loud or soft. 



c. Musical or unmusical. 



d. High or low pitch. 



e. Location of bird when song is given. 



2. Nesting habits. 



a. Location of nest. 



h. Phase of nesting in which engaged. 



c. Date. 



3. Habitat. 



Last summer a special study was made of a pair of house wrens 

 which were nesting in a box on the writer's grounds. The class 

 was divided into ten sections and the activities of the wrens were 

 watched from sunrise to sunset, each section watching for an 

 hour and a half. Records were kept of the number of times the 

 young were fed, whether by male or female, and as far as possible, 

 of the kind of food brought. 



As a part of a spring nature calendar kept by all the class, is 

 included a bird calendar showing the dates of first arrivals, and 

 in the weekly summary is recorded a list of the birds nesting and 

 of birds with young. 



As optional studies, students may make continued observations 

 on some nesting birds which can be easily observed. 



In the class discussions, special attention is paid to the following 

 topics: Economic value of birds, esthetic value, bird habits, 

 methods of studying birds, bird enemies, bird protection, and 

 methods of attracting birds. For the study of these topics the 

 library is supplied with most of the standard books on birds and 

 with the bulletins published by the Bureau of Biological Survey. 



The school is equipped with large collection of lantern slides 

 of which frequent use is made to illustrate the various topics. 



Each student makes an exhaustive library study of some one 

 bird and uses a map of United States to show its breeding range 

 and its winter range. 



In connection with each large topic discussed by the class, a 

 few students are assigned to make special reports on some particu- 

 lar phase of the subject which the remainder of the class have not 

 time to look up. 



