A Bird-Day Program 



BY ELIZABETH V. BROWN 



Washington Normal School 



memorial days, 



school ? 



IRTHDAYS, red letter days, 

 arbor days and bird days ! 



The two hundred days of the school cal- 

 endar are hardly sufficient to meet the special 

 demands made upon them in the interests of history, 

 literature, and philanthropy. After all, is not this call for 

 specialization something of -a reproach to both home and 

 If the child is symmetrically developed, harmoniously 

 educated, will not all these influences find their proper place and 

 expression in his life in the regular course of events ? 



But in the meantime since 'days' are ordained, it is highly im- 

 portant that they shall be celebrated in a manner to make lasting 

 impressions on the minds and hearts of children. The mental 

 hysteria resulting from the spasmodic, sentimental fervor worked 

 up for this cause to-day, and for that to-morrow, is to be strongly 

 condemned. 



As in every other subject, an interest in birds should be based 

 upon the knowledge gained by the child primarily through his own 

 observations and experiences, supplemented and enriched later by 

 what he reads or has told him. The interest thus aroused leads to 

 sympathy and love as enduring as life itself. 



Hence the Bird-Day program should mark the culminating rather 

 than the initial point of bird study for the year. 



The children should be led to anticipate it, and should be 

 prepared for it in as many ways and for as long a time as possi- 

 ble. All that nature lovers have written or poets sung will have 

 deeper significance after the child's contact with the birds of his 

 neighborhood, as seen in parks, woods, or fields. To see their pic- 

 tures is not enough. Field work alone can give the stimulus which 

 leads to fellowship, sympathy, love, and protection. 



For young children especially, interest is most readily aroused 

 through the study of the activities which ally bird and child. The 

 character and the adaptation of birds' clothing, foods and homes to 

 their peculiar needs and environment ; glimpses of nest-life ; charac- 

 teristic traits ; disposition ; the cleverness of the parent birds in 

 outwitting enemies and protecting the young ; the skillful uses of 

 tools — bills and claws — are all readily appreciated by the children. 

 Add to these, studies in protective coloration, migration, the relation 



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