112 Bird -Lore 



Next, find someone who can write a bird-play, or else write it yourself, 

 basing it upon some phase of bird-life like the return of the birds in the spring; 

 the value of l)irds in the garden; the need for feeding the winter birds; the need 

 for bird-houses or bird-balhs, etc. The more local interest that can be woven 

 into it the bet I cv. Tlic talent to write a good play is scarcer than that to direct, 

 however, and it may l)e necessary to utilize one that has been used elsewhere, 

 'liobbiein Hird Land' that was ])rinted in Rikd-Lork Vol. XTX, No. 6 has 

 been presented successfully in a number of places and will be found quite easy 

 to costume and present in the ordinary school. 



A word of caution should be given to the one who is to write the play. 

 Above all else, use familiar American birds as the characters and have the facts 

 employed accurate. Do not introduce Skylarks, and Linnets, and Nightingales 

 and other foreign birds into an American landscape, and do not have summer 

 birds ap])earing in winter or winter birds in sunnner. It may well be that the 

 one in the community most familiar with birds is not the most capable of 

 writing the pkiy, but his knowledge should be used to correct any errors of 

 fact that arc likely to creep in through the desire of the author for additional 

 color or music in st)me scene. 



A very simi)le form of playlet for the younger children can be presented 

 very attractively by costuming them to represent different birds that are the 

 actors in well-known bits of bird-poetry or prose. Let each child recite that 

 ])ortion which refers to the bird which he represents. Such a playlet was 

 presented very successfully by the boys of St. Andrew's Natural History Club, 

 of Stamford, Conn., under the direction of Miss Albertina Schleinkofer, from 

 whom the details can be secured. Lines from Longfellow's 'Studying Nature' 

 and 'The Birds of Killingworth' were used, as well as 'The Song of the Birds' 

 by W. W. Caldwell, and parts from Tennyson and Whittier on the Blackbird 

 and the Ciray Parrot. Our bird literature is full of beautiful lines that could be 

 used in this way, and the expense of making costumes from crepe paper or 

 cheese-cloth is not great. No plot is necessary, each 'bird' entering, reciting 

 his piece, and retiring to the back of the stage. A song or a recitation by the 

 entire group makes a fitting conclusion. 



A somewhat more elaborate bird-play, entitled 'Nature's Follies,' was 

 presented very successfully by the Audubon Society of the Williamsport (Pa.) 

 High School, under the direction of Miss M. M. Bubb, from whom a copy of 

 the play can be secured. Describing it. Miss Bubb states: 



The play was written by Carolyn Wein, a member of the Society. The theme of the play 

 was to interpret the lives of birds, (lowers, and grasses into terms of everyday life, and in that 

 way to link the out-of-doors more closeh- with human life. The main plot dealt with the 

 domestic troubles of the Robin family. 



All the costumes were designed and made by those taking part in the play, with the assist- 

 ance of several members of the High School Parent-Teacher Association interested in the work 

 of the Society. Most of the costumes were made of crepe paper, and an endeavor was made 

 to ha\e the ciTect and coloring as natural as possible. 



