ANIMAL LIFE IN THE WOODS 155 



jay. If you have taken your rambles in the woods and 

 fields of afternoons, you must change your habits and start 

 out in the morning at about sunrise or before it, and you 

 will be surprised at the display of gay plumage with which 

 the woods are alive; while your ears will enjoy the music 

 of Nature's orchestra at its best. Return to the same spot 

 in the afternoon, and you will see little of the birds and 

 hear less. We shall now study a few of the birds we so 

 frequently meet on our walks and rambles. If possible, 

 good pictures or mounted birds should be at hand to 

 impress shape and color upon the children's mind; where 

 this material cannot be had, close outdoor observations 

 must suffice, as it is not advisable to bring freshly killed 

 song birds before a class of children. We shall begin our 

 bird studies with the catbird, which is as common in gar- 

 dens and orchards as in the woods. 



NOTE. Supply the time for the spring arrival and the fall depart- 

 ure of birds from your own observations. The time given in the text 

 refers to central Minnesota. Cheap and good colored plates of our 

 common birds and of many foreign birds have been published in 

 the magazine: Birds, Nature Study Publishing Co., Fisher Building, 

 Chicago. These illustrations are perhaps the best colored plates 

 accessible to common schools. A common opera-glass is a great help 

 in the outdoor study of birds. 



7. The Catbird. 



MATERIAL : As suggested above, disinfected nests of the last sea- 

 son ; insects and fruits on which catbirds feed. Observed outdoors : 

 Nest-building, song, and feeding of catbirds. See Farmers' Bulletin, 

 No. 54, about the food of all our common birds. 



Description. Along the edges of woods, in bushes near 

 roads, in orchards and shrubbery about your homes, you 

 often saw a dark, slate-colored bird, smaller and more slen- 

 der than the robin and more graceful in his movements. 



Observations. Continue to observe the mammals mentioned previously. 



