XLIV INTRODUCTION. 
and green verdure, is advancing and—last but not least—to their great usefulness in 
the household of nature.— The training in our schools is, as yet, very deficient in this 
particular. Mr. George M. Minchin, of the Royal Indian Engineering College, expresses 
himself as follows in regard to the same deficiency in the schools of England: 
“To anyone who knows something of the habits and names of birds, the ignorance 
displayed by many of his friends concerning their very names, size, color, etc., is often 
astounding. Several of my friends, for instance—men of physical science, skilful meta- 
physicians, literary men—do not know the difference between a Goldfinch and a Bull- 
finch, or between a Grouse and a Pheasant! The same ignorance extends to the animal 
kingdom generally ; and although it seems to be tolerated, and indeed rendered necessary 
by the ordinary course of education in schools, it is, in reality, a scandalous blot on 
our educational system. The remedy is extremely simple. Introduce among the school 
books a short manual of natural history, dealing rather with the interesting character- 
istics of animals than with the science of their structure—just those things which 
interest you without producing a strain on the intellect—and the result will be a far 
more widely spread knowledge of the inhabitants of our fields, streams, and woods 
than that which now prevails. Another result will be a greater sympathy with the 
non-human portion of ‘life, and a diminution of that cruelty to animals which is one of 
the very worst characteristics of our people, a cruelty which is, sometimes at least, a 
result of some infinitely absurd superstition.... Indeed, the omission of the teaching of 
natural history (in an easy and interesting shape) in our schools fits ill with the vast 
importance now attained by biology, a science of immense possibilities, and one which 
is ‘advancing by leaps and bounds.’” 
In 1886 the “American Ornithologists’ Union” appointed a “Committee on Pro- 
tection of Birds,’’ consisting of the following well-known and leading ornithologists: 
Mr. Geo. B. Sennett, Mr. E. P. Bicknell, Mr. Wm. Dutcher, Dr. J. A. Allen, Prof. Wm. 
Brewster, Mr. Montague Chamberlain, Mr. L. S. Foster, Col. N. S. Goss, Dr. Geo. Bird 
Grinnell, and Dr. J. B. Holder. This committee did good work for our birds. Circulars 
for the protection of our native birds were distributed all over the country. Under its 
influence the law, ‘“‘For the Preservation of Song and Wild Birds,” was passed by the 
legislature of New York. Much good work was also done by the proprietors and the 
editorial staff of the well-known paper, ‘Forest and Stream.”’ These gentlemen founded 
the “Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds,” and issued the “Audubon Maga- 
zine,”’ a periodical edited in an ideal and enthusiastic manner, which did good work in 
arousing a public sentiment in favor of our native birds. Unfortunately this periodical 
did not find the support it so eminently deserved, and with the close of the second 
volume it was discontinued. 
