24 THEAUDUBONBULLETIN 



A Suggestion 



(A business man from DeKalb offers a very practical sug- 

 gestion. We trust this will be an effective appeal to many of 

 our readers and that reports of resultant experiences will be 

 furnished the Bulletin.) 



A few years ago I was a school teacher in the district school 

 and from that experience, I would like to offer a suggestion. 



The future of our song birds lies to a great extent in the 

 hands of the boys and girls of the farm and any plan that is 

 aimed to protect them must start with creating a love for the 

 birds in the hearts of the coming generation. The school is the 

 logical place to teach this love for our feathered friends but the 

 teacher is limited in time and often poorly equipped as to knowl- 

 edge. 



My method when teaching was to give bird talks once in a 

 while telling some facts concerning some common bird, and 

 then asking the children to use their eyes and ears during the 

 week. A few days later I would ask for any new information 

 that had been picked up by the pupils about the bird subject. 

 Beginning the first of the year, I would make an offer of a copy 

 of Bird Guide to the one who kept the best record of birds seen. 

 I did not say the most as that sometimes led to the habit of see- 

 ing things that were not. 



The suggestion in brief would be like this. Any bird lover 

 who feels that he or she is not doing all that should be done to 

 protect the birds, let me appoint as a committee of one to do 

 the following, filling in your own methods as to details : 



First : Find some country school that has not had the benefit 

 of a bird enthusiast as a teacher. (The County Superintendent 

 of Schools in any county will gladly give you such information 

 for the asking.) 



Second: Form a cooperation with the teacher. If you can 

 not do this personally, the mails will aid you. 



Third : Plan your own form of campaign to win some of the 

 boys and girls to a new love for the birds. 



Suppose that you use an hour a week for this purpose. I 

 will venture to say that you will find more pleasure for the time 

 and money spent than for any equal amounts that you have spent 

 in some time. Individuality is the thing that makes one person 

 so much more valuable than another. In making the above out- 

 line I left plenty of room for each one's individuality ; its value 

 and success depend on the effort, and the raw material in the 

 shape of the boys and girls that receive it. 



The big idea as I see it at present is to awaken the interest 

 of the children of the rural districts to the value of birds and 

 the necessity for their protection. Your work may not show re- 

 sults at first but flowers do not grow until the seed is sown- 



H. A. Maxwell. 



