BRANCH CHORD AT A; CLASS AYES: THE BIRDS 3 6 9 



retreat but even find an advantage irf man's seizure of the 

 land, obtaining food from his fields and gardens ? 



Make a map on large scale of the locality of the school, 

 showing on it the topographic features of the region, such 

 as streams, ponds, marshes, hills, woods, springs, wild 

 pastures, etc., also roads and paths, and such landmarks 

 as schoolhouses, county churches, etc. On this map in- 

 dicate the local distribution of the birds, as determined 

 by the data gradually gathered; mark favorite nesting- 

 places of various species, roosting-places of crows and 

 blackbirds, feeding-places, and bathing- and drinking- 

 places of certain kinds, the exact spots of finding rare 

 visitants, rare nests, etc., etc. The making of such a 

 zoogeographical map will be a source of great interest 

 and profit to the students. 



As already mentioned, many of the birds of a locality 

 are "migrants," that is, they breed farther north, but 

 spend the winter in more southern latitudes. These 

 migrants pass through the locality twice each year, going 

 north in the spring and south in the autumn. They are 

 much more likely to be observed during the spring migra 

 tion than in the fall, as the flight south is usually more 

 hurried. The observation of the migration of birds is 

 very interesting, and much can be done by beginning 

 students. Notes should be made recording the first time 

 each spring a migrating species is seen, the time when it 

 is most abundant and the last time it is seen the same 

 spring. Similar records should be made showing the 

 movements of the birds in the fall. A series of such 

 records covering a few years will show which are the 

 earliest species to appear, which the later, and which the 

 last. Such records of appearance and disappearance 

 should also be kept for the summer residents, those birds 

 that come from the South in the spring, breed in the 

 locality, and then depart for the South again in the 



