1 1 8 ORNITHOLOG Y IN OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 



Still there remains much to be done. Thousands of school- 

 children, especially those living in our largest cities, do not 

 know the Robin from other Thrushes. The screech of that 

 filthy scavenger, the House Sparrow, and the carol of the 

 Wood Thrush, are all the same to them. In consequence 

 of this ignorance, the boy turned loose from school commits 

 indiscriminate slaughter. A few wholesome lessons on 

 bird-life would result not only in the protection of song- 

 birds, but in the development of nobler and more intelligent 

 young men. This instruction should be given by every 

 teacher in our common schools : at first in popular language 

 readily understood by children in the primary grades, but 

 in the more advanced grades some of the technicalities 

 should be introduced. 



Allow me here to name some of the phases of the subject 

 most worthy of the attention of our teachers. 



1. The value of the music of our song-birds. What joy, 

 romance and beauty is brought into our lives on the wings 

 of bird-songs ! 



2. Their value as insect-destroyers. Some naturalists 

 contend that were it not for birds — especially song-birds — 

 our orchards and fields would become almost entirely 

 unproductive. 



3. Their forms, colors, motions, habits, and migrations — 

 in a word, their life-histories. 



4. Their place in poetry, romance, and folk-lore ; legends 

 of the Stork, Dove, Phoenix, and many other birds, in the 

 traditions of ancient and modern nations ; the origin and 

 meaning of these legends. 



5. The chief enemies of song-birds, namely : Crows, Jays, 

 Hawks, Owls, Shrikes, House Sparrows, rats, snakes, 

 weasels, air-guns, shot-guns, egg-collectors, specimen-hunters, 

 (not the college professor who obtains a special license to 

 gather eggs and collect birds), stupid pot-hunters, and last 

 but not least women with barbarous tastes who wear birds 

 on their hats. 



