Teaching Ornithology 15 



are reserved for special study later. This drill upon mere names and 

 characteristics is accompanied by the exhibition of specimens, by 

 field study where possible, and by personal reminiscences of habits 

 in general, but even then savors of mathematical formulae, and is 

 little to the taste of most students. One may ask why it might not 

 then better be omitted. It is the drudgery of the subject, and must 

 therefore come some time. Without a thorough knowledge of the orders, 

 which form the most natural divisions of the whole class of birds, 

 artificial keys and other helps would be well nigh out of the question. 

 Experience has shown that this drill is the best preparation for the 

 work that follows. 



In the study of the Passerine group attention is concentrated 

 upon habits and characteristics of the common local species of each 

 family, using these species to illustrate and fix the family characterist- 

 ics. In this study special stress is laid upon peculiarities of color, 

 habits, environment and song, as aids to the determination of the 

 species. Here field work is essential to any correct knowledge of 

 the species, and much time and effort is expended in the field. This 

 field work is the surest test of the student's ornithological ability 

 and perseverance. Most students enter upon the work with a hazy 

 picture or image of a generalized bird and with a few generalized bird- 

 songs in mind, without the slightest conception of the largeness of the 

 subject and of the training necessary before the panorama of pass- 

 ing forms and the medley of voices can be resolved into the individuali- 

 ties of the bird world. It is therefore a common experience for even the 

 more able students to definitely decide, after the first few trips afield, 

 that there is nothing in the subject for them ! I am glad to put 

 on record that in every case where the student has stuck to the 

 work to the end he has come out of it an enthusiastic ornithologist. 

 It must needs be so. 



The field work begins during the first week of the term — 

 about April 10 — and continues to the end. As an aid to learning 

 the names of the birds, each student keeps a 'day-book' of the 

 work in which the vernacular names of the birds seen are correctly 

 written, and a field-book in which the names cf all the birds seen on the 

 individual trips are written, this constituting the list for the day. 

 This mechanical repetition of the names is a great help in fixing 

 them in the memory. 



The value of the field work to the individual student is in 

 inverse ratio to the number of persons participating in any one 

 trip, both on account of numbers and on account of divided atten- 

 tion. The diiftculty can be partly overcome by divisions and sub- 

 divisions of the class to the limit of time and endurance of the 



