FAMILIAR WILD MAMMALS — BIRDS. 77 



observations that can be utilized as subjects for reflection and 

 occasions to extend or deepen the sympathies. Some of these 

 mammals can be tamed quite easily ; frequently living 

 specimens are kept for a short time caged or on a chain. But 

 a squirrel, for example, on a revolving wheel, except for the 

 opportunity of seeing it at close range, is a poor substitute, 

 from the Nature Study point of view, for a squirrel in a beech 

 tree. However, if opportunity offers to have a raccoon or fox, 

 squirrel or gopher, brought to the school-house for a half-day 

 it can be turned to good use. Some kinds of squirrels over- 

 come their fear of mankind if they are gently treated. A 

 teacher in Ancaster Township told me an interesting story of 

 a squirrel which her pupils studied. It made its home in the 

 woodshed, and evinced no fear of entering the school-house at 

 any time when the door was open. Silcox and Stevenson's 

 " Nature Study," pp. 4-27, gives a brief systematic account of 

 the common species of Canadian wild mammals. 



Birds. — The robin and crow, particularly the former, may 

 be made the subject of special study by nearly every school. 

 Sometimes the opportunity for the continued study of some 

 other species may be afforded by a bird-family's taking up its 

 residence in the school ground. Individual pupils may be 

 encouraged to make special studies of birds that nest near 

 their own homes in places easily accessible for observation. 

 In the educational exhibit at the Pan-American, Buffalo, the 

 most interesting of a series of lessons reproduced by cinemato- 

 graph and phonograph was a Nature Study one on the hen. 

 She was brought into the school-room in a crate, through 

 whose latticed sides she could be easily studied. In the parts 

 of the lesson where it was necessary to handle her, her remon- 

 strances were heard high above the children's voices, but they 

 did not interrupt or disconcert the lesson. The outlines for a 

 study of the hen in Forms I to IV will be found in " Public 

 School Nature Study," pp. 34-38. 



