i8 Bird- Lore 



• 



played with most tumultuous enthusiasm and eager interest in a cer- 

 tain New York school of poor children. The teacher says : 



"Let's play ' Lm thinking of a bird.' All shut your eyes tight 

 and think. Now, I'm thinking of a bird nearly as large as a Pigeon ; 

 he is brownish, with black barring on the back, black spots all over 

 the breast," etc., etc., giving a description of the Yellow Hammer, 

 or Flicker, but leaving the characteristic marks until the end of the 

 description. Before the teacher -has gone far, a dozen hands are wav- 

 ing wildly and several vociferous whispers are heard, proclaiming in 

 furious pianissimo: "/ know," "/ know what it is." Then the child 

 who gets it right is allowed to describe a bird for the class to guess, 

 and if the description fails in any point the class may offer correc- 

 tions. 



This appeal to the play instinct excites great interest, which is 

 the thing chiefly to be desired. 



When a number of birds have been learned in this way, a trip to 

 the Natural History Museum would be of very great value, especially 

 noticing the wonderful reproductions of actual scenes from bird-life 

 there displayed. In this way city children could see in a single day 

 more real bird-life than they could otherwise get in a year, as their 

 few country days are generally populous picnics, from which the birds 

 flee aghast. 



The children should take their kindergarten principles of observa- 

 tion and conversational description to the Museum with them, and,, 

 on returning to school, should draw and color some bird they have 

 seen. To observe and describe and, perhaps, draw each new bird 

 whose picture is shown in the classroom is also a good thing. The 

 writer passed a mounted Flicker through a class of fifty children of 

 kindergarten age, let them look and carefully handle, and then asked 

 for "stories" about it. One child said: "I know — Oh — I know 

 seven stories — no, eight — nine stories about Mr. Yellow Hammer," 

 and she really did know her nine "stories." 



When they have gone as far as this, most bird stories will 

 interest them, especially if the birds are humanized for them by the 

 teller of the tale. 



To sum up, it may be said that the best way to begin is to teach a 

 few birds well, — a dozen or so, — by connecting with the child's expe- 

 rience, in some way, the information to be given, and then employing 

 the play instinct .by having bird games of various kinds, both kinder- 

 garten bird games and others ; observation, description and drawing 

 of birds may follow, and first and last, and all th'e time, all descriptions 

 and stories given to children should be in terms of human nature. 



