106 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



bird can go in. When the woodpecker has gone in 

 five inches or so — show distance by a mark on the 

 board — he begins to work downward, making the 

 hole larger and larger as he goes down ten or twenty 

 inches — show by line.) [If not possible for the 

 children to see a nest, the teacher should give them 

 a clear idea of it by a diagram on the board.] You 

 have learned that the mamma robin sometimes 

 builds the nest alone. Which is the harder to make, 

 the robin's nest or the red-headed woodpecker's? 

 (The red-head's.) Will the mamma have help, do you 

 think? (Yes, the papa bird does half of the work.) 

 Can they work together? Why not? (The mamma 

 bird often works just about as long as the time you 

 spend in this class, — twenty minutes, — then she 

 flies to an upper limb and calls her mate in her 

 shrill voice. When he comes she seems to tell him 

 how much she has done, and they talk over their 

 plans together. Then the papa bird flies to the nest 

 and works about as long as the mamma worked, 

 while she flies away for food and rest. Then the 

 papa bird calls the mamma bird and tells her about 

 his work, etc.) How do they get the chips out of 

 the nest? (Carry the coarse ones out with their 

 bills.) How is the nest lined? (The fine wood or 



