SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by A. A. ALLEN, Ph.D. 

 Address all communications relative to the work of this 

 department to tiie Editor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. ¥« 



A BIRD IN THE SCHOOLROOM 



Readers of Bird-Lore and bird-lovers in general are always much more 

 interested in wild free birds than they are in captive specimens, and naturally 

 so. A bird in a cage^ unless it be a Canary or some semi-domesticated species, 

 is not happy, is not itself, and spends most of its time in an effort to escape. 

 Even if it eventually becomes contented, observations made on its habits in 

 captivity do not make the appeal that would the same observations if made in 

 the field. The tendency, therefore, when a wild bird comes into one's possession, 

 in one way or another, is to release it immediately without any attempt to 

 learn from it. This is highly commendable unless one has a satisfactory place 

 to confine it, but because of this feeling many a splendid opportunity has slipped 

 through the fingers of teachers who would like to interest their children in the 

 study of birds. For the captive bird offers opprrtunities for observation quite 

 different but quite as valuable as those of the bird in the open. The wonderful 

 adaptation of the bird to the life which it is designed to lead can scarcely be 

 appreciated until it is observed at close range and even handled. In no better 

 way can the parts of the bird and the arrangement of the feathers be learned 

 and the lessons be given which lead to careful and accurate observation in the 

 field. 



Objection is sometimes raised to the keeping of a bird in the schoolroom on 

 the grounds that it will distract the attention of the children from their lessons, 

 but those who have tried it tell us that it works the other way. It often proves 

 the best source of discipline for unruly children who can be bribed to pay atten- 

 tion to their studies in no better way than by being told that they will be allowed 

 to watch the bird for a few minutes when the lesson is completed. The chief 

 objection comes from the lack of a suitable place in which to keep the bird, 

 but this is easily overcome when the schoolroom has what it ought to have, a 

 'terrarium,' a cage in which any sort of animal or plant may be kept. The 

 ordinary bird-cage is not satisfactory because the large spaces between the 

 bars permit the bird to get its bill and usually part of its head through and 

 encourage it to try to escape. Thus it wears the feathers from the base of its 

 bill and frays the feathers of its wings and tail and becomes a distressing sight, 

 in addition to being a continual distraction to the children. The terrarium, on 

 the other hand, which is a cage made of fly-screening, does not permit the bird 

 to injure itself and discourages the bird at the outset from trying^to escape. 



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