The Audubon Societies 445 



Once more President Eliot's words should be recalled with reference to the difficulty 

 of describing the colors of a bird's plumage. As a test, see how many of us, teachers as 

 well as pupils, can describe with some degree of accuracy the colors and markings of 

 the Robin without consulting a book or picture. The School Department would 

 welcome a picture of the floating bird-bath as well as one of the Club who launched 

 it.— A. H. W. 



HOW W^E STUDY BIRDS IN OUR ROOM 



The way we study birds in our room is very interesting. Last fall we made 

 bird-books of colored paper. At the top we printed the word "Birds" and on 

 the bottom our own names. We selected a bird we liked, painted and cut it 

 out, then placed it in the center of our covers. Each week we add a plate to 

 our books. The plate consists of a piece of drawing paper with an inch margin. 

 We divide the paper into two parts, the upper half for the bird's picture and 

 the lower half for the description. We draw the bird and paint it in natural 

 colors. In the descriptions, we write out all we have learned about the color, 

 size, diet, use, habits, and range of the bird. We get a great deal of help from 

 the little sets of birds that Church and D wight Soda Company, of 27 Cedar 

 Street, New York, issues. By sending them six cents in stamps or money, they 

 will send a set of thirty colored birds, with descriptions. We took up a col- 

 lection in our room and bought a bird-guide. We also get help from Bird-Lore, 

 which we get because we are members of the Junior Audubon Society. On Fri- 

 days we have oral composition on the bird we drew. On the following Monday 

 we have written compositions on our bird. We pick out the best essay by vote 

 of class, and the winning ones are sent to the different local papers to be 

 published. It is a great honor to get your essay in the paper, so every one tries. 

 — Elizabeth Wyatt (age 12 years), Seventh Grade, Emerson School, May- 

 wood, III. 



[The teacher writes: "This plan has been such a success in arousing interest in birds, 

 and has caused the pupils to accumulate such a fund of information concerning birds, 

 that we decided to tell others about it through the pages of Bird-Lore. The special 

 advantage of this plan, it would seem, is the correlation of bird-study with composition 

 and hand work. Simple as the books may be which are thus made, they offer considerable 

 opportunity for skill and neatness, in addition to mental drill." — A. H. W.] 



SEEN FROM THE WINDOW OF A RURAL SCHOOL 



IN VERMONT 



To attract the winter-staying of birds, a doughnut had been slipped on to 

 an apple tree branch, far enough from the tip to prevent its being blown or 

 shaken off. This delectable morsel was duly discovered by the birds, who had 

 come to expect little feasts from crumbs, scattered by the school children, on the 

 top of a near-by stone wall. In a short time a lordly Blue Jay came to regard the 

 doughnut as belonging solely to him. One day an unusual commotion called 



