Nature Stories as Nature-Study Material 



Lewis M. Dougan 

 Public School Principal, St. Louis, Mo. 



A group of us recently helped to take our local Christmas bird 

 census. We were glad to find so many tufted titmice and were 

 especially pleased by their cheery behavior on a somewhat gray 

 and gloomy day; but we were perplexed by the apparent blue 

 color of their backs. One suggested that we must be mistaking 

 bluebirds for titmice, but that suggestion was rejected because the 

 bluebird has no crest. Another, that our trouble might be due to 

 a bias of individual vision. No, all saw the blue. Had we read 

 the description wrong? No, Chapman clearly states it: "Back 

 ashy-gray." Was it an effect of certain conditions of the atmos- 

 phere acting on the light? Perhaps; but it appeared distinctly 

 blue in all lights as far as observed. In whatever way the matter 

 may be settled, our experience was fairly typical of that of Nature 

 students in the field. We went afield with a purpose. We ob- 

 served. We discovered a problem. Hypothetical explanations 

 occiured to us. We observed further. We rejected all sugges- 

 tions, but presently we shall come upon the right solution which 

 will stand the testing. 



How did we come by this method ? Most of us agreed that it came 

 largely thru imitating some wise field leader whose enthusiasm we 

 had caught. Partly of course, by the use of books of reference as 

 helps in the solution of some problem which had arisen in the field. 

 Partly, perhaps, from nature stories. Note the perhaps. 



In contrast with the training we received, the children of our 

 large cities, removed from wild nature are largely dependent on the 

 nature stories now so much exploited as supplementary reading. 

 How shall this story stuff serve our purpose? Shall we use it 

 merely as reading matter largely for its emotional value? Hardly 

 so. It ought to be enjoyed but it ought to promote systematic 

 observation and straight thinking outdoors. 



Let me briefly analyze a typically useful specimen — a well- 

 known fox story. In this is clear accurate description couched in 

 good diction calculated to strengthen rather than blur the image 

 derived from Nature; and it has plot. By plot in literature we 

 mean somewhat the same as the project problem of recent pedagogy 



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