264 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Where? Any near the school? What colors and size were 

 the squirrels (determine species). Copy squirrel tracks seen 

 in snow or mud. Watch a sqiiirrel bury a nut, then see if 

 you can find it. See who can find oak trees and nut trees 

 near the school or near his home. 



2. Here is a picture of a bird's nest with young in it. In 

 April and May each child should find such a little family and 

 watch it and report on it, bringing the nest to school after 

 the family have left. Where was the nest ? How fastened in 

 the tree or elsewhere? What is it made of? Where did the 

 mother bird get the material? 



3. Notice this tree in the picture. Is its shape like any 

 here about the school? I wonder what kind it is? 



4. Have you seen the moon look like that? When it is 

 that shape next in our evening sky, we will notice whether 

 its points are turned just as in this picture. Is there always 

 a big bright star close to the moon? Watch outdoors and 

 see. Then tell me. 



6. See those beautiful clouds in the picture. I wonder if 



we ever have clouds like those in our sky. We shall watch 



out of our window for them every day, and perhaps we shall 



see other beautiful kinds. 



Now what of the use to be made out of the nature literature 



selections of the advanced readers ? Some of the prose sections are 



direct excerpts from the writings of naturalists and should always 



be used to stimulate teacher and children to explore in their yards, 



parks, fields and woods. And what of nature poetry? 



Many of the poets are nature-seers, in two meanings of the 

 word: they have been good observers and they have distilled wisdom 

 from their observations. While there is m^uch fancy in nature 

 poetry and sometimes error, there is enough truth and more than 

 enough inspiration to lead anyone who wills into a better knowledge 

 of nature. There are some writers on nature-study who ridicule 

 this correlation of nature-study and literature, stating that it 

 spoils both the poetry and the science. But the writer 

 of this article believes that this correlations an effective 

 stimulus to observation and indispensible to the full appreciation 

 of nature literature. To condemn this correlation is no more 

 justified than to condemn the writing of nature poetry itself. 



