194 NEW ZEALAND NATURE-STUDY BOOK 
with soft warm down which gradually disappears as the 
permanent feathers increase in size. 
The Pigeon lives entirely on fruit, the bush furnishing 
a plentiful supply of nutritious berries. Its flesh is very 
palatable, a fact which largely accounts for the rapidly 
diminishing numbers of this beautiful bird. | 
Norre.—A good deal of what has already been said on the 
subject of birds applies to this and the following chapter ; hence, 
although under certain circumstances useful and interesting 
lessons on native birds could be given in what are known as town 
schools, still the work is more suitable for country schools within 
reach of the bush, where the animals may be seen amidst their 
natural surroundings. When good living or preserved specimens 
are procurable, or where the school is within reach of a museum 
containing the forms under review, native-bird study should 
certainly find a place in the course. 
Good pictures and drawings form a valuable aid, and should be 
made use of in illustrating and impressing points of importance. 
Here, again, it is habits rather than structure to- which 
attention will be directed ; hence the work will deal largely with 
outdoor observations. This, as has already been mentioned, is. 
the kind of work to which a study of bird-life, especially of native. 
bird-life, most naturally lends itself; and it is just for this reason 
that birds and their habits form such an excellent and fascinating 
part of Nature-study. The observations made, in most cases, are 
altogether the pupils’ own ; and, although in the subsequent 
“tall” children may require assistance in correctly interpreting 
what they see, yet the consciousness of having found out some- 
thing without aid from anyone will serve as a valuable incentive 
to further enquiry. The fact of the observations being under- 
taken voluntarily indicates the interest surrounding the subject, 
an interest, moreover, which will deepen as knowledge of the 
subject grows. 
