126 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



room from books, mounted specimens of birds, etc., and from 

 various other specimens which are kept in a small aquarium in 

 the room or are in some other wa}^ available ; outside of school in 

 the zoological park, the botanical garden, the public parks, the 

 aquarium, and the museum. 



2. The suburb, where a happy medium exists. Here the 

 pupils in school possess not only all of the classroom facilities of 

 the city children, but just outdoors can obtain first-hand knowl- 

 edge which inspires both the teacher and the scholars. 



3. The country, where ideal conditions for nature study exist, 

 but where the least use (in many cases) seems to be made of 

 them. I have pointed out one or two slight advantages that the 

 city has over the country, but these are not to be compared with 

 the overwhelming wealth of material that crowds about the very 

 dooryard of the country school. 



The desirability of nature study in the schools cannot fail to 

 be recognized, for the future conservation of our remaining nat- 

 ural resources in all three of the great kingdoms depends largely 

 upon the proper education of the rising generation. But un- 

 fortunately there seems to be a lack of knowledge on the part of 

 many school teachers and a scarcity of satisfactory books on 

 natural history for practical use in the schoolroom. For instance, 

 about two weeks ago a school teacher called my attention to a 

 small volume entitled Stories from Birdland, written in 1896, 

 which was designed for use in the lower grades. Although the 

 book has for fifteen years been used as a reader in the primary 

 grades, and has no doubt been read by many children in the 

 libraries, yet it abounds in errors of no minor degree, both in the 

 text and the illustrations. Some of these mistakes were so no- 

 ticeable that I could not refrain from noting them here. 



If the author had had any experience searching for the nest 

 of the yellow-breasted chat she would have known better than to 

 state "he is in this bush, close beside his little nest." He is 

 anywhere but beside the nest when anyone is near. And, after 

 the nest is located (if one is fortunate enough to find it), it will be 

 discovered to be not a " little " nest, but quite a bulky one. Speak- 



