ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



33 



Bird Contest in Zoology Classes 



In a letter from Mr. Harold B. Shinn of the Karl Schurz High 

 School, Chicago, there is an interesting reference to the scheme he has 

 been using to stimulate bird observations among the two hundred fifty 

 zoology students of that school by utilizing their play instinct. If this is 

 of value in a large city high school it would seem to be of all the more 

 value where conditions are more ideal for bird study. We take the liberty 

 of copying Mr. Shinn's memorandum. 



"Over a large board, about 18 x 48 inches, we tacked a white cheese- 

 cloth. The pupils in the drawing department made on. this a colored chalk 

 picture of a landscape having fields and a river in the foreground and 

 mountains in the background. Crossing the river is a road which winds 

 into the distance and climbs the mountain side. When a pupil has re- 

 ported 5 birds his name is written on a small pennant (paper) and he is 



started on the trail. 10 birds carry him over the river and into the second 

 field; 20 birds carry him over the fence into the third field, 30 birds into 

 the next field, etc. We have seven sections of pupils and therefore use 

 seven different colors of paper for the pennants and these are affixed by 

 means of small pins stuck through the cheesecloth." 



"The landscape is quite well done and large enough to attract attention. 

 The parti-colored pennants add to the interest of the picture. The climax 

 is gained by the rivalry between sections and between pupils as they watch 

 their pennants progress across the board. We have used the board two 

 seasons and it has put more life into the reporting of field work than 

 anything else I have ever tried or seen others try." 



"Various means of getting the reports can be used. We give the pupils 

 large sheets, each printed into 8 blank records. The pupil colors the 

 printed diagram of the bird with his own crayons, fills in the data and 

 hands in each record as he makes it. The records are kept and tabulated, 

 then returned to the pupil who now pastes them into his laboratory note- 



