SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



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

 Address all communications relative to the work of this 

 department to the Editor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF BIRDS 



In the days when the Editor of this department of Bird-Lore went to 

 school, geography was a very impersonal, abstract subject. It consisted of 

 memorizing the names of the foreign countries and the states of the Union, 

 the largest cities, the largest rivers, the mountain chains, and as many 

 unrelated facts about each as the teacher herself could master or read from 

 a book. Today all is changed. Our educational schemes call for but little 

 of this pure memorization. Foreign countries are studied as made up of 

 living people whose work and play can be compared with ours. Reasons 

 for the locations of cities, and effects of rivers and mountains upon the 

 climate and industries are learned that make geography a much more 

 personal, concrete study. Whenever possible the facts of geography are 

 linked up with the stories of history or current events which tend to make 

 it a living vital subject, and it retains its important place in the curricula 

 of our schools. 



The field of bird-study is seldom called upon to enliven other subjects. 

 It is used more often to freshen the general routine, to furnish a necessary 

 relaxation, and, of course, above all, to give to the child that knowledge of 

 birds which will be a constant resource to him. There are certain features 

 in the migration and distribution of birds, however, that can well be 

 utilized in the geography lessons which will at the same time make for a 

 better understanding of bird life. Birds are our greatest travelers, and 

 what better way is there of learning geography than from those who have 

 actually visited the lands which we would study? The journeys of our 

 North American birds are fairly well known today, and most authoritative 

 bird books, like Chapman's 'Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America,' 

 or Mrs. Bailey's 'Birds of the Western United States,' give the summer 

 and winter ranges of all birds. With one of these books before him, the 

 teacher can plot fairly accurately on a map of the two continents the 

 summer and winter ranges of any bird in which the children have become 

 interested. Better still, the children can be supplied with outline maps of 

 North and South America and can block in with colors the ranges and 

 indicate the probable route of the bird's migration, the details depending 

 upon the grade in which the work is done. When the one map has been 

 completed it would be well to compare the ranges of other common birds 



