THE APPEAL OF THE BIRD 



53 



If we can reach them — under twelve at most — they are won 

 for the birds forever. Later* sophistication has begun its indu- 

 rating work. The adolescent boy and girl are absorbed in other 

 matters. I meet with the indifference or tepid interest of high 

 school pupils constantly. It is significant that our recruits 

 are largely from the primary grades. 



(The speaker then gave details of her method of presenting 

 her matter to children, adapting it to their ages.) 



All classes are captivated by the romance of bird life and ex- 

 hibition of the emotions. One picture of a combat between an 

 enraged mother Great Blue Heron and a Fisher (Mustela Canaden- 

 sis) enthralls them. The suggestion of movement on the screen 

 arrests attention. Action certainly is more effective than im- 

 mobility. Incidents of the domestic life and relations of birds 

 also captivate all grades. The big school boys who operate my 

 lantern in the addresses to the successive classes, often confess 

 that they enjoy most the pictures shown to the little children 

 and the accompanying stories. 



Thus the analogies of bird life with their own experiences 

 impress the children deeply. The recognition of the joys and sor- 

 rows of the bird, and of its memory of its home and human friends, 

 endears these beings to humankind. It is the evidence of their 

 possession of so many qualities in com.mon with our own that 

 makes up a large part of the appeal of birds to children. 



Then, the melody and merriment of our song birds make these 

 most attractive for study to children. This explains the popular- 

 ity of the Robin, of the Baltimore Oriole, of the House Wren 

 and of the jolly Flicker. 



Novelty also has an appeal in such species as the Common 

 Loon, the Marsh Hawk, the Screech Owl and the Fish Hawk. 

 Bright colors in the pliimage entrance the children. Contrasted 

 size, as between the Albatross and the Humming-bird, the Crow 

 and the Brown Creeper, im.presses them greatly. I sometimes 

 pass around the skin of the last-named tiny bird, one I picked 

 up under a telegraph wire and had preserved. 



The sea-birds do not appeal to the inland child, and I never 

 now show the auk, puffin, penguin and like species to children. 

 They notice only their grotesqueness. 



