ABRAHAM H. BATES. 117 
ORNITHOLOGY IN OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 
BY ABRAHAM H, BATES, CHICAGO. 
OF all those creatures that we are pleased to call dumb 
animals, birds are the most vivacious and interesting. Their 
wisdom instructs; their color and motion charm us; their 
songs are delightful. If the dappled lily should please, 
how much more the dappled Thrush with its thrilling song 
and graceful movement. If the blue violets of spring are 
charming, how much morte the Bluebirds of spring with their 
caressing song and matchless hue. On the ground of 
utility, song-birds are not less worthy of consideration ; for 
beauty and song have a value beyond calculation. 
As I go through a great forest, scarcely a sound disturbs 
the stillness save the cry of the boding Owl, or the scream of 
some diurnal bird of prey; but as I approach the orchard, 
the garden, the hedgerow, and the shade trees, the air is 
vocal with the ecstasy of bird music. This means that 
birds approach man’s abode for protection, and in return 
will amply repay their protectors with song that lasts from 
break of day till dewy eve. 
That our little feathered friends shall be duly understood 
and appreciated, we must begin by teaching every child 
something of the nature and value of song-birds. Our state 
schools haye already made a beginning. A few scientific 
text books have been introduced ; and better still, reading 
lessons by John Burroughs and others. Some of our super- 
intendents and principals have taken the matter in hand. 
Seeing that ornithology was no part of the course of study, 
they have prescribed a number of valuable lessons on birds. 
