28 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



Bird Study at a Normal School 



A letter of inquiry from a student at the Slate Normal School at Bell- 

 ingham, Washington, as to bird sanctuaries or reservations, led to some 

 correspondence with the teacher of nature study in that institution, Miss 

 Ida Agnes Baker, who has written for the Illinois Audubon Society an in- 

 formal memorandum of the work of bird study in her classes. Lack of 

 space entails the presentation of only a summary of the report. Since 

 the students are all prospective teachers, methods and illustrative material 

 are constantly used that will readily carry over into school room work. 

 The first study of the bird, for example, has to do with a chicken as usually 

 the most available bird. A pet rooster was brought in for use in the class 

 this Fall and after submitting to the indignity of a physical examination 

 the "bird" climbed on his box and crowed to express his nervous reaction. 

 Games stressing the quick identification of birds from pictures or the ac- 

 curate observation of characteristics of form and outline are freely used. 

 At the beginning of the course the students are given a list of standard 

 books written by nature lovers from which they are to select at least six 

 for careful reading. To this are added one half a year's numbers of Bird- 

 Lore and the Nature Study Review. They have the quarter in which to do 

 this reading. Miss Baker does not require written reviews of the students' 

 reading. It is reading for inspiration, she tells them, not an English lesson. 

 She prefers that they read more books rather than write reviews. 



A lecture on the Economic Value of Birds introduces the use of govern- 

 ment bulletins, the fact that the birds of the Pacific are not yet thoroughly 

 known hampering this work to some extent. Bird sanctuaries are next 

 treated and each member of the class is expected to investigate and report 

 in detail upon some project of this sort. No two students in the same 

 class may have the same topic and as there are 38 students in each class 

 the whole range of the literature of bird conservation is covered to provide 

 material for these reports, which are presented from time to time in the 

 form of oral class room reports. A Nature Study News Book hangs on the 

 class room wall and here are entered over the observer's signature the 

 dated notes of special interest, migration and nesting data, etc. At the 

 end of the quarter each student hands in a dated record of birds ob- 

 served, occasionally illustrated with drawings and accompanied with 

 written observations. 



In the Fox Lake Preserve 



Inspector Edward St. Clair reports enormous flights of wild-fowl in 

 the Fox Lake Preserve during the past few weeks. Early in the season 

 thousands of coots came into the protected area. Later mallards, red- 

 heads, canvasbacks and other ducks appeared, sometimes in astonishing 

 numbers. One hunter who was permitted to play only the role of inno- 

 cent bystander reported sadly that he saw one flight of mallards "five 

 blocks long and four blocks wide." Visitors came in auto loads to enjoy 

 the unique experience of seeing several thousand wild ducks at close range 

 in one day. November 21a flock of 600 wild geese was on the lake at 

 one time, this being the record visitation for a number of years. As late 

 as December 10 a large flock of canvasbacks lingered in the area. 



