2G THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



trated with his own slides and was highly entertaining and instructive to 

 the school children and teachers alike. Since Prof. Gilbert did the heavy 

 work I made only a few closing remarks. 



In my own lecture work I used three colored charts obtained from the 

 National Audubon Society of New York. After a short preliminary talk 

 on the benefit of the birds, and calling attention to the laws protecting the 

 same with certain exceptions, I would ask the pupils to name either twenty- 

 five or fifty of our native song birds, the number depending upon the age 

 of the pupils to whom I was talking. In questioning the children, I found 

 them quite ready in identifying birds from the charts. Some schools made 

 a much better showing than others, and I found individual pupils excep- 

 tionally well posted on birds and their habits. I always asked the boys, 

 at least old enough to handle an air rifle, to name the birds permitted to be 

 killed by law, and most of them named the list completely. 



As a rule I found both teachers and pupils very much interested in the 

 study of birds, but one important thing was lacking, and that was a text 

 book on the subject, or charts, etc., to work with. Both the superintendents 

 and teachers were of the opinion that the colored charts were of vital im- 

 portance in the study of the birds, being the most effective method of 

 familiarizing the pupils with the different species. The sentiment seemed 

 to be unanimously in favor of better and more instruction on the birds. 



I am not familiar with the courses of study in the various schools, or the 

 state requirements pertaining to the same, but my brief experience as a 

 bird lecturer convinced me that a regular course should be established and 

 made compulsory to give instructions on the values of our feathered friends. 

 Start with the primary grades where the youngsters can be taught to iden- 

 tify the different species of the birds by means of the charts, and other 

 details may be added as the children advance. In making my rounds I 

 found one primary teacher who had been giving much attention to the 

 birds, and it was surprising how easy it was for many of these "infants" 

 to name the common ones shown on the chart. 



In every school I found some attention had been given to the bird's, 

 but mostly in a- desultory manner, due to the lack of a fixed program and 

 proper material. It is true that we have laws protecting the beneficial 

 birds of our country, but I believe we can do more real good by instilling 

 in the hearts of the people a love for them, and the place to start is in the 

 schools. If it were left for me to say, I would go further and make it 

 compulsory to study our wild life in general. I would teach the pupils 

 why it is necessary to protect our game and fish and explain the state and 

 federal laws. The state could provide a corps of special lecturers to help 

 spread the wild life propaganda. 



In addition to the schools we ought to seek publicity through the news- 

 papers, magazines and movie theatres. I have found that the editors of the 

 newspapers are always willing to give space to short articles on the value of 

 the birds, and perhaps they might be induced to have a department on this 

 subject, the matter to be furnished by a regular press bureau. To make it 

 all the more interesting items pertaining to our game and fish should be 

 included. For the purpose of getting the boys especially interested Wild 

 Life Clubs could be organized, and Bird Clubs for the girls, which would 

 mean frequent hikes to the "Tall Timber," with a good lunch on the side. 



When Chief Warden Bradford started the system of spreading the bird 



