6 
NATURE NOTES 
458. Plieasants. — In some of the keepers’ cottages round here the fire- 
grates are constructed for burning wood only. The keepers are allowed to cut all 
the wood they require, and use no coal at all. Pheasants are said to have such a 
dislike to the smell of coal smoke that they will not remain where coal is used. 
Friends have frequently told me how they noticed the smell of a coal fire on their 
return to England after staying in a house in Ireland, where peat was used. Can 
it be that pheasants discriminate between the smoke of coal and of wood ? Here 
the keepers say that they do. 
Sotilhacre, Swa^ham. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
459. School Children and the Study of Nature. — Some readers 
may possibly be glad to know how great an interest is taken by many of our 
village children in the study of Nature. This has been greatly owing to the 
help and encouragement given to them by our schoolmaster, Mr. R. C. Turner. 
Portions of Nature Notes (which I lend to him each month) are read aloud to 
the children during school hours, and discussion is invited. During the summer 
I receive frequent visits from the children (both boys and girls) with the request 
Phoiograph by R. C. Turner.] 
Figure z.—A Tit’s Nest in a Letter-Box. 
that I will please “ name this plant ” for them. We then proceed in the follow- 
ing manner. I write the English and Latin name on a card, and attach it to 
the specimen in question, adding, perhaps, a few remarks. It is then taken to 
the school, where Mr. Turner enters it, together with date, place where found, 
and name of finder, in a special book kept at the school for this purpose. The 
children are taught not to gather specimens ruthlessly, and to be especially careful 
with regard to any plant which presumably is a rare one. The boys are, many 
of them, much interested in the habits of birds. Our pretty school garden 
abounds in blackbirds’ and thrushes’ nests, which are unmolested, and often a repoit 
is made to Mr. Turner of the discovery of some specially interesting nest in the 
hedgerows ; the secret of its whereabouts being carefully guarded from any 
companion not considered wholly trustworthy in such matters. One day I 
was taken to see a robin’s nest in a little-frequented lane-way, and to my great 
delight I found scraps of bread and butter placed round it by the boys, as a 
contribution to the family larder. Mr. Turner has taken a remarkably good 
photograph of a tit’s nest (Figure 2 ), which was constructed inside a letter- 
box, the hen bird sitting and hatching her family, in spite of the dropping in of 
letters, and daily clearing of the box. 
Kopley, Hants. 
Marie S. Hagen. 
