102 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



BIRD AND THEE CHALLENGE 



SHIELD COMPETITIONS. 



The Society's Bird and Tree Challenge Shield 

 Competitions, open this year to six counties, are 

 happily going on in quite the right way, and each 

 year show further improvement in the setting forth 

 of genuine observation in simple natural language. 

 Directed on the right lines by the teachers, to 

 whom the Society's best thanks are due, the study 

 evidently has the desired effect of stimulating 

 and developing the children's quickness, intelli- 

 gence, and sympathy. There is, however, still far 

 too much iteration of lessons and passages from 

 books, in some cases undigested, and in others 

 not even understood ; and it cannot be too well 

 impressed upon the teams that reproductions of 

 object-lessons are not what is wanted, and that 

 extracts from books given as part of the competitors' 

 own work are extremely likely to lead to the dis- 

 qualification of the team. Better the baldest little 

 notes, so that they be honest and true. 



Surely, too, a wider choice in the selection of sub- 

 iects might be shown. Where are the whitethroat, 

 willow-wren, corncrake, dabchick, pipits, wryneck, 

 jay, even the greenfinch ? to name a few familiar 

 species at random. But for some praiseworthy 

 exceptions it might be supposed that the only birds 

 known to country children were the thrush, black- 

 bird, lark, rook (no crow), and robin ; with in some 

 places a swallow (no swift), and in others a wren 

 (never a goldcrest). That the less ordinary birds 

 can be treated at least as successfully is proved by 

 the fact that four of the best essays sent up are 

 on the shrike, owl, nightjar, and coot. The total 

 number of species represented in the competition 

 s thirty-eight, Hampshire and Cumberland showing 

 the greatest variety. Of trees, thirty-four kinds are 

 included, but one essay in every ten is on either an 

 oak or a horse-chestnut. 



The awards are as follows : — 



Bedfordshire— Clophill School. 

 Berkshire— Buckland School (fourth year). 

 Cumberland— Kirkoswald School. 

 Hampshire— i, Privett School ; 2, Bitterne 



.. Park Girls ; 3, Sandown Boys.. 

 Somerset— Yatton School. 

 Westmoreland — Warcop School (third 

 year). 



The judges were Mr. Montagu Sharpe, Chairman 

 of Council, Mr. Ernest Bell, Mr. W. H. Hudson, 

 F.Z.S., Mrs. F. E. Lemon, F.Z.S.,and Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, F.Z.S. 



BEDFORDSHIRE. 



In reading the Bedfordshire essays the practical 

 and utilitarian quality either of the Bedfordshire 

 character or of the school-teaching is very striking. 

 Both birds and trees are looked at largely from 

 the point of view of their value as timber or their 

 tastiness in pies ! Even the beech and the oak, it 

 is hinted, are apt to be cumberers of agricultural 

 ground ; the blackbird is a thief, the sparrow 

 " low and cunning." Clophill, having made a 

 notable step forward in the twelvemonth, sends a 

 very good set of essays, careful and intelligent, 

 and winning the Shield and prizes. Two of the 

 writers attempt the autobiographical method, 

 which has commended itself to schools in several 

 counties this year, though almost entirely absent 

 before. It is not an easy style to manage success- 

 fully, but the little Clophill writers master it 

 very creditably and prettily. The Ashton Boys 

 (Dunstable) team express themselves remarkably 

 well, taking second place ; but Tempsford is even 

 more obviously working upwards in the right way, 

 and will probably bear off the Shield another year. 

 All these three schools, however, would do better 

 not to " lift " sentences from books. Leagrave 

 shows genuine observation, and Morhanger is a 

 notable new-comer, whose essays are fresh and 

 pleasant reading. Bisc.ot, Barton Manor, and 

 Eaton Socon also merit commendation, and Woburn 

 and Keysoe have promising teams. Sandy and 

 Colmworth, which took first and second places last 

 year, are missing from the list. 



BERKSHIRE AND WESTMORELAND. 



In Berkshire and Westmoreland the number of 

 competitors, never large, has fallen so far below 

 the minimum required by the conditions of the 

 competition that the Shields must have been 

 withdrawn but for the excellent quality of the 

 work sent in by the few competing schools, and 

 the hope that other schools may be encouraged to 

 take up the work next year. Warcop, indeed, 

 having won the Shield two years, offered to stand 

 aside this year, so as to give a better chance to 

 schools less well-equipped by long training in 

 nature-study ; but for 1905-6, at any rate, the. 

 trophy again goes to this school, whose essays 

 are on a high level for composition, fullness, and 

 accuracy. The trees indicate local study, but 

 better justice might be done to the interesting 

 birds of the district by the selection of more 

 uncommon species. The Beetham team write of 



