Jxf 4 7 
^ REMOTE 
I C^’^i EEiCisE 
PREFACE 
If all his lessons were as joyful as learn-^ 
ing to know the birds in the fields and woods, 
there would be no 
“ ... whining Schoole-boy with his Satchell 
And shining morning face creeping like Snaile 
Unwillingly to schoole.” 
N' 
K) 
S 
fN. 
> 
s 
A 
Long before his nine o’clock headache ap- 
pears, lessons have begun. Nature herself is 
the teacher who rouses him from his bed v/ith 
an outburst of song under the window and sets 
his sleepy brain to wondering whether it was a 
robin’s clear, ringing call that startled him from 
his dreams, or the chipping sparrow’s wiry 
tremulo, or the gushing little wren’s tripping 
cadenza. Interest in the birds trains the ear 
quite unconsciously. A keen, intelligent listener 
is rare, even among grown-ups, but a child who 
is becoming acquainted with the birds about 
him hears every sound and puzzles out its 
meaning with a cleverness that amazes those 
with ears who hear not. He responds to the 
first alarm note from the nesting blue birds in , 
the orchard and dashes out of the house to 
chase away a prowling cat. He knows from 
V 
