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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by 
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bird Day; How to prepare for it
+
+Author: Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
+Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21266]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRD DAY; HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT ***
+
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+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Library of Congress)
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+
+                               BIRD DAY
+
+                        HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+
+                   CHARLES A. BABCOCK, A.M., LL.B.
+
+         _Superintendent of Schools, Oil City, Pennsylvania_
+
+
+
+
+
+                     SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+
+                       NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1901,
+
+                    BY SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+
+TO THE LOVERS OF CHILDREN
+
+AND OF BIRDS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTE
+
+
+The aim of this book is to assist school children in the accurate
+study of a few birds. It is believed that if this be attained, further
+study of birds will take care of itself.
+
+Thanks are due the Audubon Society, ornithologists, educators, and
+legislators, for the generous approbation and assistance which they
+have given the Bird Day movement.
+
+Special thanks are due the Department of Agriculture for permission to
+use the illustrations in this volume. Those on pages 65, 67, 69, 71,
+73, 75, 77, 79, 85, 87, 89, 93, and 95 are printed from electrotypes
+from the original illustrations appearing in "Farmer's Bulletin," No.
+54. Those on pages 81 and 83 are from the Yearbook of the Department
+for 1899, and that on page 91 from the Yearbook for 1898. All these
+publications are issued by the Department.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I.      HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"
+
+II.     THE VALUE OF BIRDS
+
+III.    THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS
+
+IV.     PLAN OF STUDY
+
+V.      FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
+
+VI.     DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK
+
+VII.    PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY
+
+VIII.   THE POETS AND THE BIRDS
+
+IX.     OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY
+
+X.      SOME REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+BIRD DAY. HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+BIRD DAY
+
+HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"
+
+
+In the spring of 1894 the writer's attention was attracted to the
+interest of the children in that part of their nature study which
+related to birds. Their descriptions of the appearance and habits of
+the birds they had observed were given with evident pleasure. They had
+a strong desire to tell what they had seen, not in the spirit of
+rivalry, but with the wish of adding to the knowledge of a subject in
+which all were equally interested.
+
+It was thought that this work would be done with even more
+effectiveness if a day were appointed to be celebrated as "Bird Day."
+With the hope of making a memorable occasion of the day for those
+taking part in it, several of the noted friends of birds were asked to
+write something to the children, and to give their opinion of the
+introduction of "Bird Day" into the schools.
+
+Secretary J. Sterling Morton, the father of "Arbor Day," responded
+with the following earnest letter, which was at once given to the
+public through Washington dispatches, and later was sent out from the
+Department of Agriculture, in circular No. 17:--
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., April 23, 1894.
+
+MR. C. A. BABCOCK, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, OIL CITY, PA.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--Your proposition to establish a "Bird Day" on
+     the same general plan as "Arbor Day," has my cordial
+     approval.
+
+     Such a movement can hardly fail to promote the development
+     of a healthy public sentiment toward our native birds,
+     favoring their preservation and increase. If directed toward
+     this end, and not to the encouragement of the importation of
+     foreign species, it is sure to meet the approval of the
+     American people.
+
+     It is a melancholy fact that among the enemies of our birds
+     two of the most destructive and relentless are our women and
+     our boys. The love of feather ornamentation so heartlessly
+     persisted in by thousands of women, and the mania for
+     collecting eggs and killing birds so deeply rooted in our
+     boys, are legacies of barbarism inherited from our savage
+     ancestry. The number of beautiful and useful birds annually
+     slaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundreds
+     of thousands, and threatens, if it has not already
+     accomplished, the extermination of some of the rarer
+     species. The insidious egg-hunting and pea-shooting
+     proclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread and
+     destructive. It matters little which of the two agencies is
+     the more fatal, since neither is productive of any good. One
+     looks to the gratification of a shallow vanity, the other to
+     the gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure of
+     boyish energy that might be profitably diverted into other
+     channels. The evil is one against which legislation can be
+     only palliative and of local efficiency. Public sentiment,
+     on the other hand, if properly fostered in the schools,
+     would gain force with the growth and development of our boys
+     and girls, and would become a hundredfold more potent than
+     any law enacted by the State or Congress. I believe such a
+     sentiment can be developed, so strong and so universal that
+     a respectable woman will be ashamed to be seen with the wing
+     of a wild bird on her bonnet, and an honest boy will be
+     ashamed to own that he ever robbed a nest or wantonly took
+     the life of a bird.
+
+     Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without their
+     unremitting services our gardens and fields would be laid
+     waste by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt even
+     than this, for the study of birds tends to develop some of
+     the best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among them
+     we find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of the
+     love of mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities.
+     Their industry, patience, and ingenuity excite our
+     admiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music and
+     poetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appeal
+     to our ęsthetic sense; their long migrations to distant
+     lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire
+     into the causes of these periodic movements; and finally,
+     the endless modifications of form and habits by which they
+     are enabled to live under most diverse conditions of food
+     and climate--on land and at sea--invite the student of
+     nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.
+
+     The cause of bird protection is one that appeals to the best
+     side of our natures. Let us yield to the appeal. Let us have
+     a Bird Day--a day set apart from all the other days of the
+     year to tell the children about the birds. But we must not
+     stop here. We should strive continually to develop and
+     intensify the sentiment of bird protection, not alone for
+     the sake of preserving the birds, but also for the sake of
+     replacing as far as possible the barbaric impulses inherent
+     in child nature by the nobler impulses and aspirations that
+     should characterize advanced civilization.
+
+Respectfully,
+
+J. STERLING MORTON,
+
+_Secretary of Agriculture._
+
+Other friends of the birds responded cordially to the request, as will
+be seen by the following letters:--
+
+WEST PARK, N. Y., April 22, 1894.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--In response to yours of the seventeenth, I
+     enclose a few notes about birds to be read upon your "Bird
+     Day"--just an item or two to stimulate the curiosity of the
+     young people. The idea is a good one, and I hope you may
+     succeed in starting a movement that may extend to all the
+     schools of the country.
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+628 HANCOCK STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y., April 25, 1894.
+
+MR. C. A. BABCOCK.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--Yours of the nineteenth is received. I am
+     delighted to know that your school children are to have a
+     "Bird Day." I wish I could be there to tell them something
+     of the delight of getting acquainted with their little
+     brothers in feathers; how much more interesting they are
+     when alive and doing all sorts of quaint and charming things
+     than when dead and made into "skins" or stuffed; and how
+     much greater is the pleasure of watching them to see how
+     they live, where they get their dinner, how they take care
+     of themselves, than of killing them, or hurting them, or
+     even just driving them away. If the boys and girls only try
+     keeping still and watching birds to see what they will do, I
+     am sure no boy will ever again want to throw a stone at one,
+     and no girl ever to have a dead bird on her hat.
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+OLIVE THORNE MILLER.
+
+CLINTON, April 30, 1894.
+
+     _My Dear Sir_,--It strikes me that your idea is a
+     particularly happy one. Should you institute a "Bird Day,"
+     the feathered tribe ought to furnish music for the occasion.
+     A chorus of robins and thrushes and a few other songsters
+     would be more appropriate than an orchestra. With thanks for
+     your cordial good wishes, I am,
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+CLINTON SCOLLARD.
+
+From the Department of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania this
+encouraging letter was received:--
+
+HARRISBURG, April 27, 1894.
+
+SUPERINTENDENT C. A. BABCOCK.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--In your plan to inaugurate a "Bird Day" you
+     have struck a capital idea. When in the name of agriculture
+     a scalp act can be passed resulting in a year and a half in
+     the payment of $75,000 by the county treasuries of
+     Pennsylvania for the destruction of birds that were
+     subsequently proved to belong to the feathered friends of
+     the farmer, it is high time to make our pupils acquainted
+     with the habits and ways of the feathered tribes. Some birds
+     remain with us the whole year, others are summer sojourners,
+     still others are only transient visitors. How much of the
+     beauty of our environment is lost by those who never listen
+     to the music of the birds and never see the richness of
+     their plumage!
+
+     May success attend you in carrying out your new idea of a
+     "Bird Day."
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER,
+
+_Superintendent of Public Instruction_.
+
+Bradford Torrey gives an additional title to the day, showing his
+appreciation of it:--
+
+WELLESLEY HILLS, MASS., April 21, 1894.
+
+     _Dear Mr. Babcock_,--Your young people are to be
+     congratulated. "Bird Day" is something new to me--a new
+     saints' day in my calendar, so to speak. The thought is so
+     pleasing to me that I wish you had given me its date, so
+     that in spirit I might observe it with you. Tell your pupils
+     that to cultivate an acquaintance with things out of
+     doors--flowers, trees, rocks, but especially animate
+     creatures, and best of all, birds--is one of the surest ways
+     of laying up happiness for themselves; and laying up
+     happiness is even better than laying up money, though I am
+     so old-fashioned a body and so true a Yankee as to believe
+     in that also.
+
+     All the naturalists I have known have been men of sunny
+     temper. Let your boys and girls cultivate their eyes and
+     ears, and their hearts and minds as well, by the study of
+     living birds, their comings and goings, their songs and
+     their ways; let them learn to find out things for
+     themselves; to know the difference between guess-work and
+     knowledge; and they will thank you as long as they live for
+     having encouraged them in so good a cause. With all good
+     wishes for the success of your first "Bird Day"--and many to
+     come after it,
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+BRADFORD TORREY.
+
+The first observance of "Bird Day," May 4, 1894, is briefly set forth
+in the following paragraph from the _New England Journal of
+Education_:--
+
+     The day was observed in the Oil City schools with a degree
+     of enthusiasm which was good to see. The amount of
+     information about birds that was collected by the children
+     was simply amazing. Original compositions were read,
+     informal discussions were held, talks by teachers were
+     given, and the birds in literature were not forgotten or
+     overlooked. The interest was not confined to the children,
+     one gentleman surprising the classes in which his children
+     celebrated the day by presenting to them artistic programs
+     of the exercises.
+
+     It seems to those interested that the idea simply needs to
+     be made known to meet with a warm welcome, akin to that with
+     which we greet our first robin or song sparrow in the
+     spring.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE VALUE OF BIRDS
+
+
+Probably few people understand the value of birds or comprehend how
+closely and yet how extensively their lives are interwoven with other
+forms of life. The general sentiment in regard to them, at the best,
+has been that they are harmless, even interesting and beautiful
+creatures; but the idea that they are one of the most important
+classes of creation, a class upon which the existence of many other
+classes depends, has never been widely prevalent. Suppose we were
+asked which is of more use to man, the fishes of our waters or the
+birds of our forests and fields? Many of us would unhesitatingly
+answer in favor of the fishes.
+
+If all of these denizens of the rivers, lakes, and seas should be
+destroyed, it would be a stupendous calamity. Mankind would
+universally deplore it; and if the nations of the world should, at any
+time, become convinced that such a thing might occur, how quickly they
+would take all possible means to prevent it! All civilized people now
+have laws to preserve this food supply and are making expensive and
+laborious efforts to increase it. Any one who should destroy thousands
+of tons of these edible swimmers, simply for their heads and tails, or
+fins and scales, would be regarded as a dangerous person. But if our
+supposition were realized, if every fin and gill were to disappear
+from the waters of the globe, what would be the result? A misfortune,
+truly, for the fins represent a large part of the world's supply of
+food, and this loss would be felt more deeply as time went on, because
+the ocean will not raise its rent, however crowded may be the
+population of its shores. The effort to secure the fish might be
+applied, however, in other directions and be equally remunerative.
+Harvest would still follow seedtime; the gold of autumn still reward
+the shallow mines of spring.
+
+But suppose we were forced to the dreadful alternative of choosing
+between the birds and the quadrupeds, again, the most of us would
+probably decide against the birds. If the four-footed beasts should
+disappear from the earth, it would be a much greater disaster than the
+destruction of the fishes. A much larger fraction of the food supply
+would be lost; while many of these animals contribute to man's comfort
+and necessities in almost innumerable ways. Most nations have learned
+to cherish their friends with hoofs and horns, and even some of those
+with claws. Cruelty to animals is now generally forbidden by law; and
+their wanton destruction would be regarded with horror. No one would
+be permitted to slaughter large numbers of them because he might wish
+to sell their horns or ears or the tips of their tails.
+
+By the departure of the quadrupeds the life of man would be rendered
+much more difficult, but would still be possible. From fish and fowl
+he could obtain a supply of meat limited in variety, yet sufficient
+for his needs. The treasures of the vegetable world would still be
+his, though he would miss the help of his animal allies in securing
+them; but his ingenuity would help him to supply this loss, in part,
+at least.
+
+Consider now what would be the effect of the total destruction of
+birds. Birds are nature's check to the amazing power of insects to
+increase. If insect life were allowed free course, it would soon
+overpower vegetation; and plant life--and, therefore, animal life,
+including that of man--would be impossible upon this globe. This is an
+astounding conclusion, but it is sustained by the judgment of every
+man of science who has investigated the subject. How long could the
+ravages of insects be stayed were the birds gone? We should have to
+depend upon a few predaceous beetles, the bats, and upon the sprayers
+and squirtguns which throw insecticides. Think of the ęsthetic loss in
+substituting these agencies for the "sweet spirits" of the wood and
+field! Besides not being musical or charming in action, they would
+not prove efficient. Birds are therefore essential to the life of man.
+
+Their preservation is not merely a matter of sentiment, or of
+education in that high and fine feeling, kindness to all living
+things. It has a utilitarian side of vast extent, as broad as our
+boundless fields and our orchards' sweep. The birds are nature's
+guarantee that the reign of the crawlers and spinners shall not become
+universal. The "plague of locusts" shall be upon those who sin against
+them.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS
+
+
+From almost all sections of the country comes the plaint that the song
+birds are fast disappearing. Less and less numerous are the yearly
+visitations of the thrushes, warblers, song sparrows, orioles, and the
+others whose habits have been so delightful and whose music has been
+so cheering to their open-eyed and open-hearted friends. Many, who
+when listening to the hymn-like cadences of the wood thrush have felt
+that the place was holy ground, are now keenly regretting that this
+vesper song is so rare; the honest sweetness of the song sparrow
+mingles with the coarser sounds less often in the accustomed places.
+Not many now find "the meadows spattered all over with music" by the
+bobolink, as Thoreau did.
+
+John Burroughs says that the bluebird is almost extinct in his section
+of country. The writer, though a frequent visitor to the fields and
+woods, has succeeded in seeing only one pair of these beautiful birds
+in two seasons, where they were abundant a few years ago, when almost
+every orchard bore a good crop of them. A friend who is a good
+observer has had the same experience. A careful exploration of the
+country within a radius of five miles resulted in the discovery of
+only two pairs of bobolinks, having their nests luckily in the same
+field. The males sang together in friendly rivalry. The sparkling,
+tinkling notes seemed to come in a rippling tumble, two or three at a
+time, from each throat. Each started his song with his feet barely
+touching his perch, his body quivering, his wings half extended, as if
+he were almost supported by the upward flow of his melody. After
+circular flights he alighted first upon one frail, swinging perch,
+then upon another, the wonderful sounds not ceasing, as if he were
+tracing magic rings of song round his home, and making them thick in
+places. It was a musical embodiment of the love of life and of its
+joyousness.
+
+The brown thrush is also absent from places where once there were
+many. A farmer in this neighborhood states that a few years ago the
+treetops near his house seemed to be filled with these fine singers.
+Now he hears only one or two during the season. Last May the writer
+found three nests at least a mile apart, but they were destroyed
+before the time of hatching, and the birds went about silent as if
+brooding upon their trouble. It is doubtful if they will build next
+season in that vicinity. No doubt the clearing away of the forests and
+the settling up of the country are responsible for the scarcity of the
+birds in part, but only in part. If they were let alone, many of the
+most interesting and useful birds would build near even our city
+homes, and our gardens and fields would again become populous with
+them.
+
+The wearing of feathers and the skins of birds for ornament is the
+chief cause of the final flight of many of our songsters. It is stated
+that a London dealer received at one time more than thirty thousand
+dead humming birds. Not only brightly colored birds, but any small
+birds, by means of dyes, may come at last to such base uses. It is
+estimated by some of the Audubon societies that ten million birds were
+used in this country in one season. All these bodies, which are used
+to make "beauty much more beauteous seem," are steeped in arsenical
+solutions to prevent their becoming as offensive to the nostrils of
+their wearers as they are to the eyes of bird lovers.
+
+The use of dead birds for adornment is a constant object lesson in
+cruelty, a declaration louder than any words that a bird's life is not
+to be respected. It is currently reported that a million bobolinks
+were destroyed in Pennsylvania alone last year to satisfy the demand
+of the milliners. If this "garniture of death" is in good taste, then
+our North American Indian in his war paint and feathers was far ahead
+of his time.
+
+Let us hope that some oracle of fashion will decree that if the
+remains of animals must be used for adornment, the skins of mice and
+rats shall be offered up. Their office seems to be principally that of
+scavengers, and their gradual but certain extinction would not matter
+if the Christian nations should become, _pari passu_, more cleanly.
+The squirrel could also be used effectively, mounted as if half
+flying, with his hind feet fastened to the velvet pedestal, or sitting
+upon his haunches with a nut between his fore paws. The squirrel's
+main concern seems to be to prevent the undue extension of the
+nut-bearing trees--an office man has already well taken upon
+himself--and besides, he destroys fruit, injures trees, and is a great
+enemy of birds. His gradual extinction would be tolerated by a
+civilized nation.
+
+All these things may take the hues of the rainbow and are capable of
+infinite variety of arrangement. There certainly seems to be no good
+reason why in a few years some combination of them may not be
+considered as effective as a row of dead humming birds. The world may
+be saved in this way from presenting a spectacle that should excite
+the pity of gods and men--the spectacle of the destruction of one of
+the most beautiful, the most harmless, and the most useful classes of
+creation, at the command of the senseless whims of fashion.
+
+Then, too, the sportsmen's guns and the small boys' slings and
+shooters of various sorts are constantly bringing down numbers of the
+feathered songsters. In many parts of our country men and boys roam
+the fields, shooting at every bird they see, and their action is
+tacitly approved by the community. This survival of the barbarous
+instinct to kill is condoned as "sport." If these people were to spend
+this time in following the birds with opera glass and notebook to
+study them, they might not be so readily understood--they might even
+be taken for mild lunatics, so utterly is public sentiment perverted
+on this subject.
+
+A little consideration shows this destruction to be more disastrous
+than at first appears. According to the latest biological science,
+every species of animals must have long ago reached the limit beyond
+which it could not greatly increase its numbers. However great its
+tendency to increase might be, its natural obstacles and enemies
+would increase in like proportions till at last the two would balance
+each other, and there could be no further increase in the number of
+individuals of that species. All classes of animals in a state of
+nature must have reached this balanced condition generations ago. This
+is true of the birds. Their natural enemies are capable of preventing
+their increase; that is, they can and do destroy every year as many as
+are hatched that year. Now if man be added as a new destructive
+agency, the old enemies, being still able to destroy as many as
+before, will soon sweep them out of existence. Warnings have been sent
+out by the United States Department of Biology that several species of
+birds are already close to extinction. We know that this is true of
+the passenger pigeon. This bird used to come North in flocks so
+extensive as sometimes to obscure the sun, like a large, thick cloud.
+Now they come no more. Italy is practically songless, we are told.
+
+If man would right the wrong that he has done, he must not only stop
+destroying the birds, but he must take all possible means to preserve
+them and to protect them from their natural foes.
+
+Laws for bird protection have been passed in many of our states; but
+these have been found effective only where they were not needed. They
+are, however, right, and will help in the development of correct
+sentiment. What is most needed is knowledge of the birds themselves,
+their modes of life, their curious ways, and their relations to the
+scheme of things. To know a bird is to love him. Birds are beautiful
+and interesting objects of study, and make appeals to children that
+are responded to with delight.
+
+Children love intensely the forms of nature--the clouds, the trees,
+the flowers, the animals--all of the great beautiful world outside of
+themselves, and it is their impulse to become acquainted with this
+world; for this they feel enthusiasm and love. Marjorie Fleming, the
+little playmate of Scott, who at the age of six could recite passages
+from Shakespeare and Burns so that the great bard would sob like a
+child or shout with laughter, may be taken as the universal voice of
+childhood. She writes in her diary, "I am going to a delightful place
+where there is ducks, cocks, hens, bubblejacks, two dogs, two cats and
+swine which is delightful." In another place she says, "Braehead is
+extremely pleasant to me by the company of swine, geese, cocks, etc.,
+and they are the delight of my soul."
+
+The waste of time in our public schools has been commented upon and
+some of the causes have been pointed out; but is not the chief reason
+the fact that much of the work of the school is unrelated to the world
+of the child? At least the child does not see the connection. He
+leaves at the threshold the things which he loves and desires
+intensely to investigate, and begins his intellectual development with
+abstractions, with "the three R's." It is said that teachers cannot
+succeed unless they love their work. How can we expect children to
+succeed and not waste time, not become disheartened at work that, so
+far as they can discover, has little more relation to their interests
+than to the mountains of the moon?
+
+We look to nature study to supply the missing links between the
+child's life and his school work; to afford opportunities for the
+interested observation of things, and to furnish a strong impulse
+toward expression. It has been well said that the best result of the
+primary schools is the power to use correctly one's own language. The
+chief obstacle in the development of this power is the want of an
+impulse to express. What can afford a stronger tendency to describe
+than the attempt to report observations that have been made with
+interest, even with delight?
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+PLAN OF STUDY
+
+
+Begin as soon after the first of January as possible. Assign two
+periods a week of from ten to twenty minutes each for bird study in
+the school. Continue the work during these periods until after the
+celebration of Bird Day in May.
+
+If no other bird is to be found, the English sparrow will answer.
+Place the following questions upon the blackboard:--
+
+THE ENGLISH SPARROW
+
+     How long is this bird from the tip of its beak to the end of
+     its tail?
+
+     What is the color of its head? Of its throat? Of its breast?
+     Of the underparts of its body? Of its back? Of its wings?
+
+     What is the length, shape, and color of its bill?
+
+     What is the color of its legs and feet? How many toes upon
+     each foot, and which way do they point? Does it walk, hop,
+     or run upon the ground? Is its tail square, or notched? Is
+     its flight even and steady, or bounding? What is the
+     difference in appearance between the male and female?
+
+The children should be directed to answer these questions from their
+own observation, at the next period of study. For the lowest grades
+two or three questions will be enough for the first attempt, and even
+then the variety of answers will be surprising.
+
+No other questions should be taken until the first are answered
+correctly.
+
+The teacher should have an opera glass or a small field glass with
+which to make her own observations. It is obvious that the more
+glasses there are among the children, the better. It is advisable for
+the teacher to make short excursions with the children to the streets
+to assist them in answering these questions. These can be made at the
+close of school. As a preparation, have some crumbs or seeds scattered
+where the birds have been seen.
+
+Continue work with these questions until each one can give a
+reasonably accurate description of the appearance of the bird and of
+its movements. Have the older pupils write this. It will make a good
+language lesson.
+
+The next questions should have reference to the life and
+characteristics of the bird. What does it eat? Put out crumbs or
+scraps of meat and see if the bird will eat them. What sounds does the
+bird make? Does it sing? Imitate as many of its sounds as you can.
+Determine from its actions what its disposition is. For example--Is it
+courageous? Is it quarrelsome? Is it inclined to fight? Is it selfish?
+
+Frequently a single incident in a bird's life will furnish an answer
+to several of these questions. Two sparrows were seen attempting to
+take possession of the same straw. Each held firmly to his end of the
+straw. A regular tug of war ensued. They pulled one another about for
+some time on the top of an awning, and finally, becoming tired of
+this, they dropped the straw and furiously attacked each other. They
+fought with beak and claw, paying no attention to the spectators, and
+fell exhausted to the sidewalk, where they lay upon their backs until
+able to hop slowly away from each other. It was some little time
+before they recovered strength to fly in opposite directions,
+conquering and unconquered.
+
+Early in March advise the children to watch the direction of the
+sparrows' flight. They will discover that some of them are carrying
+straws or feathers or other material for nest building. Notice the
+position and style of these nests. Those built early in the season are
+always in protected places, under the eaves of houses or in holes in
+trees or in bird boxes. Some of those built later are in exposed
+places, clumsy affairs, but well thatched with straw, having an
+entrance on one side. This nest building may be watched during the
+entire season, for the English sparrow raises more broods than any
+other of our birds.
+
+The interpretation of the actions which indicate any of a bird's
+characteristics is a valuable part of the study on account of its
+exercise of the imagination and the reason.
+
+A plan similar to the foregoing should be followed with each bird that
+is studied. With almost all other birds the study will be far more
+interesting. The English sparrow may be considered as the A B C of
+birds in his appearance and in the kind of life he leads. He is
+therefore a good subject to begin with. But even he will be found to
+exhibit unexpected individuality.
+
+After a few days of this study, or at least before the spring birds
+begin to arrive, direct the children to try the following experiments.
+Scatter crumbs where they may be seen from the windows. Nail cups in
+the trees containing sugar and water, and others containing seeds.
+Nail up a bone or two, and a piece of suet as large as your two hands.
+This last will be relished by the birds, for it provides the kind of
+food most needed in cold weather.
+
+Watch carefully the birds that are attracted by the food. After
+feeding awhile they will become quite tame and may be closely
+approached. Write a description of each bird upon the plan used for
+the English sparrow. Encourage the children to add any observations of
+their own which throw light upon the habits and character of the
+birds, since one object of this study is the development of right
+feeling toward them.
+
+Among the first to arrive will probably be the blue jay, chickadee, or
+black-capped titmouse, and one or more of the woodpeckers. These all
+show individual character and are well worth studying.
+
+The blue jay by his striking appearance and outlandish voice
+challenges attention. He will be found to possess some gentlemanly
+traits. To illustrate, a number of blue jays were seen taking turns,
+waiting in line, to feed upon a bone where there was room for only
+one at a time. There was no scramble, no hurrying of the one who was
+eating. The blue jay is a most devoted parent, though not considered a
+good citizen by other birds. Contrary to the usual belief, he has a
+beautiful song. It is sweet and low and almost as varied as the
+catbird's, and can be heard only a short distance. It has a
+reminiscent character, as if he were thinking of past joys.
+
+The black-capped titmouse or the chickadee is noticeable for his
+sprightliness and cheeriness, and for his trim, tailor-made
+appearance. Emerson's poem worthily celebrates his brave spirit. He
+flits around a limb and clings to it with his head up or down, with
+his feet up or down, as if his movements were not physical exertions,
+but mental efforts. His simple little song rings out at all hours of
+the coldest day.
+
+The woodpecker gives himself freely to study. One winter we frequently
+counted from twelve to fourteen children standing under the tree on
+which a little sapsucker was at work. The upturned faces of the
+children did not disturb him at all, although he was only a little
+above their heads. He drilled away as if his work in the world was the
+work which must be done. A downy woodpecker with a slightly wounded
+wing was brought into one of our schoolrooms, where he lived
+contentedly for several days, pecking a dead treetop, which the boys
+brought in for him after a good deal of thought and several
+excursions. The only food he seemed to like was sweetened water,
+although the children brought him a great variety to choose from. No
+visitor to a schoolroom ever produced a better effect. His presence,
+instead of interfering with the regular order, pleased the children,
+and they did their work even better than usual. When his wing was
+healed he was dismissed from school through the window, and his flight
+to a neighboring treetop was anxiously watched.
+
+Upon many other occasions wounded birds have been brought into our
+schools. Some recovered and others died, but each visit was an epoch
+in the life of the school.
+
+The other birds most likely to visit this feast during January are the
+flicker, crow, purple finch, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch,
+snow-flake; American crossbill, white-throated sparrow, tree sparrow,
+junco, winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, and even
+the solitary robin. The sparrow hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk may
+visit the vicinity to feed upon the other feeders. On the first of
+January I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the spire of a church in the
+heart of a city of eighteen thousand people. After selecting a victim
+from the sparrows on the street below, he calmly spread his wings and
+pounced upon him, or with no effort at concealment chased the bird
+whose flight was nearest.
+
+A female sparrow hawk wintered in the eaves of an apartment house in
+Morningside Park, New York City. English sparrow was its principal
+diet, and every morning and afternoon an observer might have seen the
+hawk soar to the park grounds on its hunting trips.
+
+A few years ago a sharp-shinned hawk visited our yard. Apparently he
+lived upon the sparrows there for several days. There was no skill in
+his hunting or effort to take the game unawares. When he wanted a bird
+he simply left his perch and captured it by speed of wing. His ease of
+flight was remarkable; as a little boy said, "He just opened his wings
+and sailed away." He stayed until the sparrows left the neighborhood.
+
+As the season advances the birds will come in greater numbers. On the
+first of April a little girl in one of our schools had identified and
+described seventeen different species of birds which she had seen in
+her yard. The same child fed a family of chipping sparrows; they
+became so tame that they would come to meet her when she came with
+crumbs, and would pick them up even when they dropped close to her
+feet. The next year this family evidently came again and raised
+another brood and brought them along to be fed, for seven and
+sometimes eight would come when she called. The English sparrow came
+also, and the little maid drove them away without the chippies being
+disturbed. A boy from one of our schools was even more fortunate. In
+his yard were a number of trees in which ample provision had been made
+for the birds. Late in April, with other kinds a pair of scarlet
+tanagers and a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks visited the trees.
+These stayed and soon seemed to feel quite at home. To the great
+delight of their neighbors, the house-dwellers, they built their
+nests, the grosbeaks in a tree near one side of the porch, the
+tanagers in one near the opposite side. They became so friendly that
+sometimes when the boy came out upon the porch and played softly on a
+mouth organ, the grosbeak's silvery warble and the tanager's loud,
+clear voice joined him.
+
+Brief written descriptions should be made by the pupils, similar to
+the following:--
+
+     BLUEBIRD.--Length, six and a half inches; extent of wings,
+     about twelve inches; color, back, azure blue; throat,
+     breast, and sides, dull crimson; underpart, white; bill and
+     legs, blackish; eye, brown; arrives early in March; leaves
+     in late November. Song, soft and pleasing warble; sings both
+     in flight and at rest; nests in holes of trees or posts, or
+     in bird houses.
+
+     CHICKADEE.--Length, about five and a half inches; extent of
+     wings, about eight inches; legs, bluish gray; bill, black;
+     back, brownish gray; throat, chin, and top of head, black;
+     sides of head, white; underparts, whitish; wing and tail
+     feathers margined with white; nests in holes in trees and
+     stumps. The common name arises from their familiar note of
+     "chic-a-dee-dee."
+
+     CATBIRD.--Length, nine inches; extent of wings, eleven and a
+     half inches; bill and feet, black; eye, brown; color, slate
+     color, somewhat lighter beneath; top of head and tail,
+     black; reddish under the wings; arrives in May, leaves in
+     October; nests in bushes; lives in gardens and woodside
+     thickets; has a sharp cry not unlike the mewing of a cat,
+     but is a gifted songster.
+
+     MEADOW LARK.--Length, about ten and a half inches; extent of
+     wings, about sixteen and a half inches; female is smaller;
+     body, thick and stout; legs, large; hind toe reaches out
+     beyond the tail, its claw twice as long as the middle one;
+     bill, brown, lighter at the base, dark towards the point;
+     feet and legs, light brown; throat, breast, and edge of
+     wing, bright yellow; breast with a large black crescent;
+     nests on the ground in the open field; clumsy in flight and
+     in walking; song, a plaintive whistle; arrives in March,
+     leaves in October.
+
+     BARN SWALLOW.--Length, six and three fourths inches; spread
+     of wings, twelve and a half inches; bill, black; legs and
+     feet, light brown; color, upper parts glossy steel blue;
+     tail, very deeply forked, outer tail feathers much longer
+     and narrower than the others; forehead, chin, and throat,
+     deep chestnut; rest of the underparts lighter; nests usually
+     in barns.
+
+     WOOD THRUSH.--Length, eight inches; spread of wings,
+     thirteen inches; legs and feet, flesh-colored; bill,
+     blackish, lighter at base; upper parts cinnamon brown,
+     brightest on top of the head, and shading into olive near
+     the tail; lower parts white and marked with roundish, dusky
+     spots; arrives the first of May, leaves in October. Song
+     consists of sweet, ringing, bell-like notes.
+
+Later these outlines should be expanded into free descriptions,
+containing all that the pupil has learned about the bird, his habits,
+his character, and his life.
+
+Each school should aim to possess a bird manual, for the
+identification of the species. The following are recommended as
+sufficient for the purpose: "Birds of the United States," by A. C.
+Apgar; "Birds of Eastern North America," by Frank M. Chapman; "Bird
+Craft," by Mabel Osgood Wright; "Birds of Pennsylvania," second
+edition, by Warren (this may possibly be obtained at second-hand
+bookstores); "Our Common Birds and How to Know Them," by Grant. The
+report of your own state upon birds, if there is one, will also
+furnish valuable information.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
+
+
+Direct the children to put up boxes for martins, bluebirds, and wrens.
+These may be also put up around the schoolhouses, if fortunately there
+is a yard with trees. Boxes for the martins should be large,
+containing fifteen or more compartments, each ten inches high by eight
+wide and eight deep, and each having a separate entrance. The martin
+box or house should be placed twenty feet from the ground, upon the
+top of a strong post or platform sustained by four smaller posts. If
+vines are planted at the foot of the supports, they will be ornamental
+and will make the houses more attractive to the birds. The English
+sparrows will occupy these compartments; but if the martins conclude
+to take possession they will push out the sparrows and their
+belongings without assistance. Every spring I am amused in watching
+the summary process of ejectment which the martins serve upon the
+sparrows that have taken possession of their houses. In the morning
+the sparrows may be in undisturbed possession, but by afternoon the
+martins occupy their old quarters, having pushed out the nests of the
+sparrows with their eggs or young.
+
+The boxes for bluebirds and wrens should be smaller and have only one
+compartment. They should be nailed in the tops of trees. If the
+English sparrows build in them their nests should be broken up; and
+this repeatedly, so long as they persist in building. If this is not
+done the wrens and bluebirds will not come. They are incapable of
+coping with the sparrows.
+
+Note when the different birds arrive in the spring, making in this way
+a bird calendar.
+
+Notice also when the birds gather together into flocks in the late
+summer or autumn, preparatory to taking their leave. The last bird of
+his kind to leave should be as carefully noted as the first to arrive
+in your calendar. Distinguish carefully the birds of passage that stop
+only a short time to rest on their journeys north and south, and those
+that stay and help to make the summer.
+
+You will need to make frequent excursions afield, always taking your
+notebook. Take first a small area and master the birds in that; then
+gradually extend your territory. You can take no more healthful or
+happy exercise. It will greatly increase the interest of children in
+all their school duties if their teachers make occasional bird
+journeys with them. Limit the size of the party to that number which
+will keep still as a mouse while in bird-land. Encourage the children
+also to make frequent excursions by themselves, in parties of three or
+four. Instruct them to have the sun at their backs and to carry if
+possible one glass with each party. Reports of these excursions can be
+made in school, while particular attention should be given to the
+exchange of the knowledge of bird haunts. This can be done during the
+period devoted to bird study.
+
+Direct the party of excursionists to observe the same birds, notebook
+in hand, and let each one immediately put down what he actually sees.
+Afterward compare results. In this way improvement will be made in
+rapidity and accuracy of observing.
+
+There are two ways by which birds may be closely approached. The first
+is to go to some locality where birds have been seen and to stand or
+sit in perfect quiet and wait for them to come. We have known some of
+the shyest wood birds to come within a few feet of the motionless
+observer. It is not an uncommon thing for one who waits to be able to
+look directly into the eyes of the American redstart, the
+chestnut-sided and golden-winged warbler, the wood thrush, catbird,
+and of almost any other of the birds.
+
+If one can imitate the owl and make a fair "hoot," otherwise keeping
+still, he may attract many birds that will feel bound to settle the
+question of his identity. A young friend of mine, by a good imitation
+of a blue jay's quack, finds many little woods' folks peering at him
+from the trees which he might not otherwise see. The "smack" which is
+produced by violently kissing the back of the closed fingers will call
+many birds from their hiding places, especially during the nesting
+season. The sound is similar to that of a bird in distress.
+
+The second method is to follow a bird very quietly and slowly, being
+careful not to make any motions which would startle him. In this way a
+shore lark has been followed all over a field, the observer gradually
+coming near enough to the bird to see what he was doing, and to watch
+his movements as he pulled the larvę of beetles out of the ground,
+cracked their cases, and ate the contents. All birds that feed in the
+fields, the meadow larks, the plovers, and the sparrows, may be
+studied in the same way.
+
+It is commonly thought to be difficult to get close to the veery. On
+one occasion, while the writer and a companion were resting from a
+long ramble, the air was suddenly suffused with the songs of veeries.
+The music seemed to fill the woods, as an organ seems to fill the
+church with sound. It was weird and suggestive and never to be
+forgotten. The still, deep woods seemed like enchanted ground where
+nothing evil could come. After some search we saw one of the birds in
+a tree not far from us. As we approached him he flew to another tree.
+We humbly followed on foot from tree to tree, when to our surprise he
+stopped on a low tree on the outskirts of the wood and allowed us to
+come almost within reach of him, and to stand wonder-stricken while he
+sang in answer to his companions. We stayed for twenty minutes
+motionless. It was difficult to believe that this bird was singing.
+His notes had a ventriloquous effect, his beak was scarcely parted,
+and it was only by the trembling of the feathers of his throat that we
+were sure the song came from him. Since this time we have frequently
+found the veeries; in fact one locality is known to us as Veeryville.
+
+It is not necessary to live in the country in order to be a bird
+student and to carry out the suggestions here given. All the large
+cities have parks where birds may be observed and be encouraged to
+become friendly to the observer. Central Park in New York is the home
+of a great variety of birds. Bronx Park is said to be a paradise for
+them. On Boston Common most of the birds which come to that latitude
+have been seen. There is no city so poor that it cannot boast of a few
+birds in its vicinity.
+
+Great interest and delight may be added to the study of birds by the
+use of the camera. If the teacher or one of the older pupils is so
+fortunate as to have a kodak and will take it when visiting the woods,
+or will focus it upon birds in the dooryard, the pictures may possess
+much value. To attempt to "take" a bird in flight is, of course, a
+difficult matter, though it may be done; but birds upon the nest,
+birds feeding their young, or in the trees above the nest, evidently
+protecting it, have been successfully taken. Birds' nests with the
+eggs in make most fascinating pictures. At an entertainment given by
+the Pennsylvania Audubon Society in Philadelphia in December, 1898,
+the audience with one accord cheered the picture of a nest which was
+thrown upon a screen.
+
+Work of this kind is especially adapted for high schools, and there
+are sure to be several painstaking amateurs among the pupils. To
+possess genuine value from the point of view of the naturalist, the
+pictures should not be touched up, no matter how much artistic beauty
+might thus be given to them; they should be entirely true to nature.
+
+On no account should children be encouraged to make collections of
+birds or of eggs. The only objection the author has felt to the very
+fine bird manuals before the public is that they contain minute
+directions for the preparation of dead birds for purposes of mounting
+and preservation, and also for the collection and preservation of
+birds' eggs. If this were to cause the school children of the country
+to set out to make collections of birds and of eggs in order to study
+them, the study would better be omitted. Nothing more deadly than an
+opera glass should be aimed at a bird for a generation. The utility
+of a collection is not so great; a dead bird's plumage is not as
+beautiful as in life, and he loses every attitude and movement which
+makes him an individual. A corpse is not a bird. Persons who can
+identify birds by one glimpse of them through the trees, or by a few
+notes of their song, or by their flight are frequently at a loss to
+identify the same birds when they are dead, unless they are familiar
+with the dead birds.
+
+The only collection the children should be encouraged to make is that
+of nests after the birds are through with them; and especially of
+nests with whose family history they are acquainted. These may be
+brought into the schoolroom. In one of our school yards the children
+discovered a pair of red-eyed vireos building. The nest was so
+situated that it could be seen from one of the upper schoolroom
+windows. After the young had left, the nest was taken down, and to the
+pleasure which the children had enjoyed in watching its builders and
+their family was added another. They found in the bottom of the nest
+little bits of the papers they had used in school with their letters
+and figures upon them.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK
+
+
+Have the children give anecdotes about birds that they have observed.
+Let them describe actions which they saw them perform, paying
+particular attention to the ways of birds in eating. For example,
+sparrows were observed carrying hard crusts of bread to a little pool
+of water, formed in a dent in a tin roof, to soften before attempting
+to eat them. Day after day crusts were put out, and the water was
+renewed.
+
+_Written descriptions of birds feeding their young._--Young birds live
+entirely upon insect life. It has been computed that a bird during the
+first few weeks of its life consumes nearly one and one half times its
+weight of insects daily. Note the amazing amount of insect life that
+will be destroyed by the birds of a neighborhood in a single season.
+Give, if possible, illustrations from your own observation. A robin
+was noticed feeding one of its young, which sat on a limb with its
+mouth open, crying for more, except when it was stopped with food. The
+parent came with her beak filled with worms twenty-seven times in less
+than as many minutes, and then left her child seemingly as hungry as
+ever, for he complained and hopped along the limb, keeping a sharp
+lookout for several minutes. That chick must have been as full of
+worms as a fisherman's bait-box. Picture the condition of our lawns,
+gardens, and groves if all the birds were suddenly banished and the
+insects held full sway. In this connection, the writer should study
+and make quotations or abstracts from "The Birds of Killingworth," by
+Longfellow.
+
+In a recent lecture, Prof. Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia, cited many
+facts to show that birds are nature's great check on the excess of
+insects, and that they keep the balance between plants and insect
+life. Ten thousand caterpillars, it has been estimated, could destroy
+every blade of grass on an acre of cultivated ground. In thirty days
+from the time it is hatched an ordinary caterpillar increases 10,000
+times in bulk, and the food it lives and grows on is vegetable. The
+insect population of a single cherry tree infested with aphides was
+calculated by a prominent entomologist at no less than twelve million.
+The bird population of cultivated country districts has been estimated
+at from seven hundred to one thousand per square mile. This is small
+compared with the number of insects, yet as each bird consumes
+hundreds of insects every day, the latter are prevented from becoming
+the scourge they would be but for their feathered enemies.
+
+Mr. E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist of the Board of Agriculture of
+Massachusetts, states that the stomachs of four chickadees contained
+1,028 eggs of the cankerworm. The stomachs of four other birds of the
+same species contained about 600 eggs and 105 female moths of the
+cankerworm. The average number of eggs found in twenty of these moths
+was 185; and as it is estimated that a chickadee may eat thirty female
+cankerworm moths per day during the twenty-five days which these moths
+crawl up trees, it follows that in this period each chickadee would
+destroy 138,750 eggs of this noxious insect.
+
+A pamphlet issued by the Department of Agriculture of the United
+States says that the cuckoo, which is common in all the Eastern
+States, has been conclusively shown to be much given to eating
+caterpillars, and, unlike most birds, does not reject those that are
+covered with hair. In fact, cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillars
+that the hairs pierce the inner lining of their stomach and remain
+there, so that when the stomach is opened and turned inside out, it
+appears to be lined with a thin coating of hair. This bird also eats
+beetles, grasshoppers, sawflies, and spiders. It turns out from the
+investigations of the department that the suspicion with which all
+farmers look upon woodpeckers is undeserved by that bird. These birds
+rarely leave an important mark upon a healthy tree, but when a tree
+is affected by wood-boring larvę the insects are accurately located,
+dislodged, and devoured. In case the holes from which the borers are
+taken are afterward occupied and enlarged by colonies of ants, these
+ants are drawn out and eaten. Woodpeckers are great conservators of
+forests, and to them more than to any other agency is due the
+preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.
+
+The department defends the much-abused crow and states that he is not
+by any means the enemy of the farmer, in which rōle he is generally
+represented. The pamphlet shows that he is known to eat frogs, toads,
+salamanders, and some small snakes, and that he devours May beetles,
+June bugs, grasshoppers, and a large variety of other destructive
+insects. It is admitted that he does some damage to sprouting corn,
+but this can be prevented by tarring the seed, which not only saves
+the corn, but forces the crow to turn his attention to insects.
+
+_Insects injurious to vegetation._--Essays may be written describing
+some of the insects injurious to fruit trees; also the birds that feed
+largely upon these insects--the warblers, thrushes, orioles, wrens,
+woodpeckers, vireos, and others. Tell, if possible, from your own
+observation, of their curious, but effective, ways of finding their
+food. Describe how the birds inspect the trees, limb by limb and bud
+by bud, in their eager search for the eggs, larvę, and mature forms of
+insects. Note, especially, the oriole as he runs spirally round a
+branch to the very tip, then back to the trunk, treating branch after
+branch in the same way, till the whole tree has been thoroughly
+searched, almost every bud having been in the focus of those bright
+eyes. It is hard to describe which is the more beautiful--their
+brilliant, flaming colors or their bugle-like bursts of music. Is the
+woodpecker's drumming, and apparent listening with the side of his
+head turned to the tree, all for fun, and nothing for reward?
+
+_Birds that feed upon the potato beetle._--The grosbeaks and the
+tanagers. Describe these. Why are these and other brightly colored
+birds so shy? What has been the effect of the extensive killing of
+them for ornament, and the equally cruel practice of securing their
+young to be kept in cages? Note how much more attractive our fields
+and gardens would be if these beautiful beings were common in them,
+and by their quaint ways were "teaching us manners."
+
+_Personations of birds._--Ask the children to write "personations" of
+birds, as if the writer were the bird. Give them the following
+directions: Write in the first person. Describe yourself as accurately
+as you are able, without telling your name. Tell of your habits and
+manner of life, your summer and winter homes, your home cares--your
+nest building, your parental joys and anxieties, the enemies you have
+to avoid. Mention at some length the trouble you take to give your
+little ones a good start in life, and to enable them to earn their own
+living. Describe your songs, and try to indicate why they differ, and
+what you mean by each one. Try to present a somewhat complete picture
+of the bird and its life, from the bird's point of view. At the close
+of your personation the hearers may vote upon the name of the bird
+presented.
+
+A family of birds may also be described, as if they were persons,--and
+are they not? A very fine model of this kind of work is "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.
+
+Have essays written upon the following subjects:--
+
+     Are there birds that do not sing?
+
+     What is the attitude of other birds to the owl?
+
+     Is any country too cold, or any too warm, for birds?
+
+     Have birds individuality?
+
+     What is the largest bird of North America?
+
+     The smallest?
+
+     What laws has your state made about birds?
+
+     Ought the "government to own" the birds? (That is, make laws
+     for their protection.)
+
+     Is the blue jay wicked?
+
+     What birds walk?
+
+     Do birds travel at night, during their migrations?
+
+Beginning in March, note for several days the different kinds of birds
+you see, which were not seen the day before. Make at least two
+observations daily, one in the morning and one after school. When is
+the greater number of new birds seen, in the morning or in the
+afternoon? Or, if you live in a comparatively quiet neighborhood, even
+in a large city, go out at night and listen for bird sounds in the
+air. You need not go far to make this trial--your own back door "opens
+into all outdoors."
+
+     What states have established a Bird Day by law?
+
+     Is woman cruel or only thoughtless?
+
+     Do robins raise more than one brood in a season? If so, do
+     they use the same nest twice? If they raise two broods, what
+     becomes of the first, while the mother is sitting upon the
+     eggs for the second?
+
+Watch for a robin leading out his family. Notice the feeding, after
+the birds are large enough to run and fly fairly well. The young birds
+are placed apart, and kept apart by the parent, who visits each one in
+turn, and rebukes any who tries to be piggish, sometimes rapping it
+with his bill when it runs out of turn. Notice this parent teaching
+the young to sing. It is a very interesting sight.
+
+     What birds have you heard sing at night?
+
+More birds sing at night than is commonly supposed. The female robin
+calls to her mate frequently during the night, and he responds with a
+song. The catbird also sings at night. Last May one was heard to sing
+three nights in succession from eleven o'clock until daylight in
+response to little complaining calls from his mate. The song sparrow,
+warblers, and many other birds sing at night. Their songs at these
+times sound as if the bird were sleepy and reluctant to sing, or as if
+he were startled and were hurrying through the performance. Make a
+note of songs heard at night and try to determine the cause. Learn to
+distinguish the call of the female from the song of the male.
+
+_The kinds of nests._--What birds are weavers? What ones are masons or
+plasterers? What ones are tailors, in the construction of their nests?
+
+Find a pair of birds engaged in nest building; robins may generally be
+found. Learn to distinguish the male from the female in appearance, as
+well as voice. Notice what materials they are using. Which bird takes
+the lead in building? What does the other bird do? Does he ever carry
+material, or does he simply act as escort? Does he ever protect his
+mate from other birds?
+
+Write this out, carefully drawing your conclusions from your own
+observations. After the young birds have left the nest and have no
+further use for it, you may take the nest and examine it closely. You
+will find that while there is a similarity in the nests of the same
+kind of birds, they differ considerably in the materials of which they
+are composed. For example, the typical robin's nest consists of straws
+and hairs plastered together with mud and lined with some soft
+material, but others have been found made entirely of raveled rope;
+others of carpet rags. The bird evidently is not guided in this matter
+by blind instinct, but uses its reason in adapting materials that are
+at hand.
+
+If you are fortunate you may find a pair of orioles building their
+nest. Place some bright-colored yarn or string in pieces of convenient
+length where the birds will see them. Some of them are almost sure to
+be woven into the nest. The oriole's nest may be attached to a limb by
+two or more cords; if it is, notice how it is prevented from swinging
+by side ropes. You will find it guyed against the prevailing winds.
+The oriole frequently ties several twigs together, and so uses these
+to suspend his nest. Notice the nest pouch; those built near houses
+are quite shallow; those near forests are much deeper. Can you tell
+why?
+
+_The wings of birds._--Describe the different kinds, as short and
+round, or long and slender, and the effect of the wing-shape upon the
+bird's motion in the air. Describe the flights of different birds.
+
+_Songs of birds._--Write the syllables which seem to you to express
+the different songs of birds. Notice the different songs of the same
+bird. A song sparrow was observed to have twelve different songs. He
+sang each one several times over, as if each song had a number of
+verses. Then changing his position, he would sing another. To most
+ears the robin's song is always the same, but close attention
+discovers that there are variations. Many birds are genuine musicians
+and compose as they sing, not having formal songs.
+
+_Free description of birds._--Write description of some bird of your
+acquaintance, noting the following:--
+
+_Its appearance._--Color, gait, flight, size from tip of beak to end
+of tail, spread of wings.
+
+_Its common name._--Why given?
+
+_Time of arrival and departure._
+
+_Character._--Is it trustful, or shy and retiring?
+
+_Song._--Season when song is most frequent, also times of day. Does it
+consist of many or only a few notes? Is it cheery, like the robin's,
+or tuneful, like the thrush's, or rollicking and rapturous, like the
+bobolink's, or a Romanza, like the catbird's? Notice the different
+emotion sounds, the notes of fear, of parental or conjugal reprimand,
+of joy, of anger, of deep sorrow, made by the bird at times.
+
+_Food._--Insects (kinds), seeds, fruit, etc.
+
+_Nest._--Where placed, how made?
+
+_Incidents._--From the writer's knowledge of the bird.
+
+_This bird in literature._--What writers have described, what poets
+have immortalized him? How did they characterize him?
+
+Some of the following books are almost indispensable to one who wishes
+to know the birds:--
+
+"Wake Robin," John Burroughs; "Birds and Poets," John Burroughs; "The
+Birds and Seasons of New England," Wilson Flagg; "Upland and Meadow,"
+Charles C. Abbott; "Bird Ways," Olive Thorne Miller; "Birds through an
+Opera Glass," Florence A. Merriam; "Birds in the Bush," Bradford
+Torrey; "The Birds About Us," Charles C. Abbott; "From Blomidon to
+Smoky," Frank Bolles.
+
+Recent magazines should be searched and the current ones scrutinized
+for articles by any of the above-named writers.
+
+_Destruction of birds._--Find out how many birds are annually
+slaughtered in the United States, and for what purposes.
+
+In the report of the American Ornithologist Union published in 1886,
+it was estimated that about five million birds were annually required
+to fill the demand for the ornamentation of the hats of the American
+women. In 1896 it was estimated that the number thus used was ten
+million. "The slaughter is not confined to song-birds; everything that
+wears feathers is a target for the bird butcher. The destruction of
+40,000 terns in a single season on Cape Cod, a million rail and reed
+birds (bobolinks) killed in a single month near Philadelphia, are
+facts that may well furnish food for reflection. The swamps and
+marshes of Florida are well known to have become depopulated of their
+egrets and herons, while the state at large has been for years a
+favorite slaughter ground of the milliners' emissaries." An article in
+_Forest and Stream_, speaking of the destruction of birds on Long
+Island, states that during a short period of four months 20,000 were
+supplied to the New York dealers from a single village.
+
+The Audubon Society of Massachusetts has looked up the figures and
+reports that "it is proved that into England alone between 25,000,000
+and 30,000,000 birds are imported yearly, and that for Europe the
+number reaches 150,000,000. Hence, the fashionable craze has annually
+demanded between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 birds. From the East
+Indies alone a dealer in London received 400,000 humming birds, 6,000
+birds of paradise, and 400,000 miscellaneous birds. In an auction
+room, also in London, within four months, over 800,000 East and West
+Indian and Brazilian bird skins, besides thousands of pheasants and
+birds of paradise, were put up for sale."
+
+This demand for birds has been going on for a quarter of a century,
+and billions of rich-plumaged creatures have been slaughtered to meet
+it, and several of the feathered tribes have been exterminated.
+
+Write to the following for literature upon the destruction of birds:--
+
+Humane Education Committee, 61 Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.;
+George T. Angell, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the Massachusetts
+Audubon Society, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the New York Audubon
+Society at New York; Secretary of the Department of Agriculture,
+Washington, D. C.; Secretary of the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania at
+Philadelphia; also write to the Department of Agriculture of your own
+state.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY
+
+
+A Bird Day exercise, in order to have much value educationally, should
+be largely the result of the pupils' previous work, and should not be
+the mere repetition of a prepared program taken verbatim from some
+paper or leaflet. It is, of course, better to have the pupils recite
+this leaflet or list of statements than it would be to have it ground
+out of a phonograph. The program should be prepared by the pupils
+under direction of the teacher.
+
+The following general suggestions are offered:--
+
+1. For the first observance of this day by a school it would be well
+to have some pupil read Senator Hoar's petition of the birds to the
+Legislature of Massachusetts.
+
+PETITION OF THE BIRDS
+
+_Written by Senator Hoar to the Massachusetts Legislature_
+
+The petition which was instrumental in getting the Massachusetts law
+passed, prohibiting the wearing of song and insectivorous birds on
+women's hats, was written by Senator Hoar. The petition read as
+follows:--
+
+     To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of
+     Massachusetts: We, the song birds of Massachusetts and their
+     playfellows, make this our humble petition. We know more
+     about you than you think we do. We know how good you are. We
+     have hopped about the roofs and looked in at your windows of
+     the houses you have built for poor and sick and hungry
+     people, and little lame and deaf and blind children. We have
+     built our nests in the trees and sung many a song as we flew
+     about the gardens and parks you have made so beautiful for
+     your children, especially your poor children to play in.
+     Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping all
+     the time where the sun is bright and warm. And we know that
+     whenever you do anything the other people all over this
+     great land between the seas and the Great Lakes find it out,
+     and pretty soon will try to do the same. We know. We know.
+
+     We are Americans just the same as you are. Some of us, like
+     you, came across the great sea. But most of the birds like
+     us have lived here a long while; and the birds like us
+     welcomed your fathers when they came here many, many years
+     ago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their best to
+     please your fathers and mothers.
+
+     Now we have a sad story to tell you. Thoughtless or bad
+     people are trying to destroy us. They kill us because our
+     feathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls, who we
+     should think would be our best friends, kill our brothers
+     and children so that they may wear our plumage on their
+     hats. Sometimes people kill us for mere wantonness. Cruel
+     boys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our young
+     ones. People with guns and snares lie in wait to kill us; as
+     if the place for a bird were not in the sky, alive, but in a
+     shop window or in a glass case. If this goes on much longer
+     all our song birds will be gone. Already we are told in some
+     other countries that used to be full of birds, they are now
+     almost gone. Even the nightingales are being killed in
+     Italy.
+
+     Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this and will save
+     us from this sad fate. You have already made a law that no
+     one shall kill a harmless song bird or destroy our nests or
+     our eggs. Will you please make another one that no one shall
+     wear our feathers, so that no one shall kill us to get them?
+     We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls are pretty
+     enough without them. We are told that it is as easy for you
+     to do it as for a blackbird to whistle.
+
+     If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times over. We
+     will teach your children to keep themselves clean and neat.
+     We will show them how to live together in peace and love and
+     to agree as we do in our nests. We will build pretty houses
+     which you will like to see. We will play about your garden
+     and flower beds--ourselves like flowers on wings, without
+     any cost to you. We will destroy the wicked insects and
+     worms that spoil your cherries and currants and plums and
+     apples and roses. We will give you our best songs, and make
+     the spring more beautiful and the summer sweeter to you.
+     Every June morning when you go out into the field, oriole
+     and bluebird and blackbird and bobolink will fly after you
+     and make the day more delightful to you. And when you go
+     home tired after sundown, vesper sparrow will tell you how
+     grateful we are. When you sit down on your porch after dark,
+     fifebird and hermit thrush and wood thrush will sing to you;
+     and even whip-poor-will will cheer you up a little. We know
+     where we are safe. In a little while all the birds will come
+     to live in Massachusetts again, and everybody who loves
+     music will like to make a summer home with you.
+
+The signers are:--
+
+Brown Thrasher,
+Robert o' Lincoln,
+Hermit Thrush,
+Vesper Sparrow,
+Robin Redbreast,
+Song Sparrow,
+Scarlet Tanager,
+Summer Redbird,
+Blue Heron,
+Humming Bird,
+Yellowbird,
+Whip-poor-will,
+Water Wagtail,
+Woodpecker,
+Pigeon Woodpecker,
+Indigo Bird,
+Yellowthroat,
+Wilson's Thrush,
+Chickadee,
+Kingbird,
+Swallow,
+Cedar Bird,
+Cowbird,
+Martin,
+Veery,
+Chewink,
+Vireo,
+Oriole,
+Blackbird,
+Fifebird,
+Wren,
+Linnet,
+Pewee,
+Phoebe,
+Yoke Bird,
+Lark,
+Sandpiper.
+
+It should be noted that the result of this petition was the passage of
+a law by the Legislature of Massachusetts forbidding the wearing of
+parts of wild birds. A bill forbidding the transportation of feathers
+or the skins of birds from one state to another was also introduced by
+Senator Hoar in the United States Senate.
+
+2. At this first exercise it would be well to have read "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.
+
+3. The best essays that have been written by the pupils during their
+preliminary study may be given. If the school has not made this
+preliminary study, select subjects and have essays written according
+to the directions already given, allowing as much time as possible for
+original observations.
+
+4. Have recitations from the poets. These will add a peculiar charm to
+the occasion. A short list of suitable poems will be given. Many
+others may be found in a book called "Voices of the Speechless,"
+published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+The works of John Burroughs, Bradford Torrey, Maurice Thompson, Mrs.
+Olive Thorne Miller, and Dr. C. C. Abbott abound in passages which are
+excellent for recitation. It is surprising how familiar the best-known
+novelists have been and are with birds. In appreciation of them they
+are second only to the poets. Charles Reade's description of the
+lark's song in the mines of Australia, in "Never Too Late to Mend," is
+an inspiring recitation.
+
+5. Short quotations from well known authors should be given, if
+possible, by every pupil in the school. We give a few taken almost at
+random:--
+
+     Away over the hayfield the lark floated in the blue, making
+     the air quiver with his singing; the robin, perched on a
+     fence, looked at us saucily and piped a few notes by way of
+     remark; the blackbird was heard, flute-throated, down in the
+     hollow recesses of the wood; and the thrush, in a holly tree
+     by the wayside, sang out his sweet, clear song that seemed
+     to rise in strength as the wind awoke a sudden rustling
+     through the long woods of birch and oak.--WILLIAM BLACK, in
+     _Adventures of a Phaeton_.
+
+     We seemed to hear all the sounds within a great compass--in
+     the hedges and in the roadside trees, far away in woods or
+     hidden up in the level grayness of the clouds: twi, twi,
+     trrrr-weet!--droom, droom, phloee!--tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck,
+     feer!--that was the silvery chorus from thousands of
+     throats. It seemed to us that all the fields and hedges had
+     but one voice, and that it was clear and sweet and
+     piercing.--WILLIAM BLACK, _Ibid._
+
+     Silvia could hear the twittering of the young starlings in
+     their nests as their parents went and came carrying food,
+     and the loud and joyful "tirr-a-wee, tirr-a-wee, prooit,
+     tweet!" of the thrushes, and the low currooing of the wood
+     pigeon, and the soft call of the cuckoo, that seemed to come
+     in whenever an interval of silence fitted. The swallows
+     dipped and flashed and circled over the bosom of the lake.
+     There were blackbirds eagerly but cautiously at work, with
+     their spasmodic trippings, on the lawn. A robin perched on
+     the iron railing eyed her curiously and seemed more disposed
+     to approach than to retreat.--WILLIAM BLACK, in _Green
+     Pastures and Piccadilly_.
+
+     A jay fled screaming through the wood, just one brief
+     glimpse of brilliant blue being visible.--WILLIAM BLACK,
+     _Ibid._
+
+     And as they came near to one dark patch of shrubbery, lo!
+     the strange silence was burst asunder by the rich, full song
+     of a nightingale.--WILLIAM BLACK, _Ibid._
+
+     A sudden sound sprang into the night, flooding all its
+     darkness with its rich and piercing melody--a joyous, clear,
+     full-throated note, deep-gurgling now, and again rising with
+     thrills and tremors into bursts of far-reaching silver song
+     that seemed to shake the hollow air. A single nightingale
+     had filled the woods with life. We cared no more for those
+     distant and silent stars. It was enough to sit here in the
+     gracious quiet and listen to the eager tremulous outpouring
+     of this honeyed sound.--WILLIAM BLACK, in _Strange
+     Adventures of a House-Boat_.
+
+     Shoot and eat my birds! The next step beyond, and one would
+     hanker after Jenny Lind or Miss Kellogg.--HENRY WARD
+     BEECHER.
+
+     There on the very topmost twig, that rises and falls with
+     willowy motion, sits that ridiculous, sweet-singing
+     bobolink, singing as a Roman candle fizzes, showers of
+     sparkling notes.--_Ibid._
+
+This poet affirms that our bobolink is superior to the nightingale:--
+
+    Bobolink, that in the meadow,
+    Or beneath the orchard's shadow,
+    Keepest up a constant rattle
+    Joyous as my children's prattle,
+    Welcome to the North again,
+    Welcome to mine ear thy strain,
+    Welcome to mine eye the sight
+    Of thy buff, thy black and white.
+    Brighter plumes may greet the sun
+    By the banks of Amazon;
+    Sweeter tones may weave the spell
+    Of enchanting Philomel;
+    But the tropic bird would fail,
+    And the English nightingale,
+    If we should compare their worth
+    With thine endless, gushing mirth.
+
+--THOMAS HILL.
+
+     The mocking bird is a singer that has suffered much from its
+     powers of mimicry. On ordinary occasions, and especially in
+     the daytime, it insists on playing the harlequin. But when
+     free in its own favorite haunts at night, it has a song, or
+     rather songs, which are not only purely original, but are
+     also more beautiful than any other bird music whatsoever.
+     Once I listened to a mocking bird singing the livelong
+     spring night, under the full moon, in a magnolia tree; and I
+     do not think I shall ever forget its song.
+
+     The great tree was bathed in a flood of shining silver; I
+     could see each twig, and mark every action of the singer,
+     who was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as I
+     have never listened to before or since. Sometimes he would
+     perch motionless for many minutes, his body quivering and
+     thrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would drop
+     softly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached,
+     when he would rise, fluttering and leaping through the
+     branches, his song never ceasing for an instant until he
+     reached the summit of the tree and launched into the warm
+     scent-laden air, floating in spirals, with outspread wings,
+     until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree and
+     down through the branches, while his song rose into an
+     ecstasy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like a
+     clarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered the
+     widest possible compass; theme followed theme, a torrent of
+     music, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any two
+     bars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him; he
+     was singing when I went to sleep; he was still singing when
+     I woke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelong
+     night.--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+     Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered the rights of cattle,
+     and said that they should have a Sabbath. "Thou shalt not do
+     any work, thou, nor thy cattle." He declared with infinite
+     emphasis that the ox on the threshing-floor should have the
+     privilege of eating some of the grain as he trod it out, and
+     muzzling was forbidden. If young birds were taken from the
+     nest for food, the despoiler's life depended on the mother
+     going free. God would not let the mother-bird suffer in one
+     day the loss of her young and her own liberty. And he who
+     regarded in olden time the conduct of man toward the brutes,
+     to-day looks down from heaven and is interested in every
+     minnow that swims the stream, and every rook that cleaves
+     the air.--DEWITT TALMAGE, D.D.
+
+     And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! The
+     face beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems to
+     possess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, this
+     woman, for they are cheap enough and plentiful enough,
+     heaven knows; but she has them not, therefore she must wear
+     within things infinitely precious, namely, good sense, good
+     taste, good feeling. Does any woman imagine these withered
+     corpses (cured with arsenic), which she loves to carry
+     about, are beautiful? Not so; the birds lost their beauty
+     with their lives.--CELIA THAXTER.
+
+     I walked up my garden path as I was coming home from
+     shooting. My dog ran on before me; suddenly he went slower
+     and crept carefully forward as if he scented game. I looked
+     along the path and perceived a young sparrow, with its downy
+     head and yellow bill. It had fallen from a nest (the wind
+     was blowing hard through the young birch trees beside the
+     path) and was sprawling motionless, helpless, on the ground,
+     with its little wings outspread. My dog crept softly up to
+     it, when suddenly an old black-breasted sparrow threw
+     himself down from a neighboring tree and let himself fall
+     like a stone directly under the dog's nose, and, with
+     ruffled feathers, sprang with a terrified twitter several
+     times against his open, threatening mouth. He had flown down
+     to protect his young at the sacrifice of himself. His little
+     body trembled all over, his cry was hoarse, he was
+     frightened to death; but he sacrificed himself. My dog must
+     have seemed to him a gigantic monster, but for all that, he
+     could not stay on his high, safe branch. A power stronger
+     than himself drove him down. My dog stopped and drew back;
+     it seemed as if he, too, respected this power. I hastened to
+     call back the amazed dog, and reverently withdrew. Yes,
+     don't laugh; I felt a reverence for this little hero of a
+     bird, with his paternal love.
+
+     Love, thought I, is mightier than death and the fear of
+     death; love alone inspires and is the life of all.--IVAN
+     TOURGUENEFF.
+
+     The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger
+     hope than ever! The faint, silvery warblings heard over the
+     partially bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the song
+     sparrow, and the redwing, as if the last flakes of winter
+     tinkled as they fell!--H. D. THOREAU.
+
+     I heard a robin in the distance, the first I had heard for
+     many a thousand years, methought, whose note I shall not
+     forget for many a thousand more,--the same sweet, powerful
+     song as of yore.--_Ibid._
+
+     Walden is melting apace. A great field of ice has cracked
+     off from the main body. I hear a song sparrow from the
+     bushes on the shore,--_olit, olit, olit--chip, chip, chip,
+     che char--che wis, wis, wis_. He, too, is helping to crack
+     the ice.--_Ibid._
+
+     The bluebird carries the sky on his back.--_Ibid._
+
+6. One of the most interesting features of a Bird Day program will be
+the personations of birds.
+
+The following was given by a boy in the seventh grade:--
+
+     One day in February a gentleman and his wife stopped beside
+     the wall of old Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, to listen to
+     my song. The sun was shining brightly, and little white
+     flowers were blooming in the green turf about the old fort.
+     It was not time yet to build my nest, so I had nothing to do
+     but sing and get my food and travel a little every day
+     toward my Northern home.
+
+     I am about as large as a robin, and although there is
+     nothing brilliant in my plumage I am not a homely bird. I
+     like the songs of other birds and sometimes sing them. I
+     frequently sing like my cousins, the catbirds and robins and
+     thrushes. But I have my own song, which is unlike all the
+     others. My mate and I build a large nest of small sticks,
+     pieces of string, cotton, and weeds, in thick bushes or low
+     trees. We have five eggs that are greenish blue and spotted
+     with brown. We eat many beetles, larvę, and many kinds of
+     insects which we find feeding upon plants. The worst enemy
+     we have is man. He steals our children almost before we have
+     taught them to sing, and puts them in cages. He is a
+     monster.
+
+     Many poems have been written about me. One of the finest is
+     by Sidney Lanier, in which he calls me "yon trim Shakespeare
+     on the tree."
+
+     Any one who has heard my song can never forget me.
+
+     What is my name?
+
+7. Bird facts and proverbs form a valuable part of a program and may
+be given by some of the children. Let the pupils search for them and
+bring some similar to these:--
+
+     Birds flock together in hard times.
+
+     A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand.
+
+     The American robin is not the same bird as the English.
+
+     The bluebird and robin may be harbingers of spring, but the
+     swallow is the harbinger of summer.
+
+     The dandelion tells me to look for the swallow; the
+     dog-toothed violet when to expect the wood thrush.--JOHN
+     BURROUGHS.
+
+     It is not thought that any one bird spends the year in one
+     locality, but that all birds migrate, if only within a
+     limited range.
+
+     A loon was caught, by a set line for fishing, sixty-five
+     feet below the surface of a lake in New York, having dived
+     to that depth for a fish.
+
+     The wood pewee, like its relative, the phoebe, feeds
+     largely on the family of flies to which the house fly
+     belongs.
+
+     The birds of prey, the majority of which labor night and day
+     to destroy the enemies of the husbandman, are unceasingly
+     persecuted.
+
+     Seventy-five per cent of the food of the downy woodpecker is
+     insects.
+
+     The cow blackbird lays its eggs in other birds' nests, one
+     in a nest. What happens afterwards?
+
+     Why should not a man love a bird? If the palm of one could
+     clasp the pinion of the other, there would come together two
+     of the greatest implements God and nature have ever given
+     any two creatures to explore the world with, and when two
+     bipeds gaze at each other, eye to eye, the intelligence in
+     the one might well take off its hat to the subtle instincts
+     in the other.--JAMES NEWTON BASKETT.
+
+     A bird on the bonnet means so much less bread on the table.
+     A bird in the orchard is a sort of scavenger and pomologist
+     combined, and does his share in giving you a dish of fruit
+     for dinner. The scarlet tanager looks like a living ruby in
+     a green tree; but--I speak bluntly--it looks like a chunk of
+     gore on a woman's bonnet. In behalf of good taste and the
+     birds, I enter my protest against this barbarous
+     Custom.--LEANDER T. KEYSER.
+
+    What does it cost, this garniture of death?
+      It costs the life which God alone can give;
+    It costs dull silence, where was music's breath;
+      It costs dead joy, that foolish pride may live.
+    Ah, life, and joy, and song, depend upon it,
+    Are costly trimmings for a woman's bonnet.
+
+--MAY RILEY SMITH.
+
+The program may be diversified by songs about birds. Many suitable for
+this occasion will be found in a collection called "Songs of Happy
+Life," made by Sarah J. Eddy. It is published by the Nature Study
+Publishing Company, of Providence, R. I.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE POETS AND THE BIRDS
+
+
+"The birds are the poets' own," says Burroughs. How could it be
+otherwise? The bird, with his large brain, quick circulation, and high
+temperature, is possessed of a tropical, ecstatic soul that blossoms
+into music as naturally as a bulb bursts into bloom and fragrance. He
+is a creature of marvelous inheritance. Poetry is a true bird-land,
+where you shall hear the birds as often as in any meadow or orchard on
+a May morning. All poets have been their lovers, from the psalmist of
+old, who knew "all the birds of the mountains," to our own Lowell with
+his "Gladness on wings--the bobolink is here."
+
+The poets, who voice our deepest thoughts, have studied birds with the
+utmost care. It is astonishing to note the mention made of them in the
+pages of Browning, Tennyson, and in fact of every great maker of
+verse. Not merely as adjuncts of the landscape are they mentioned, but
+with intensity of feeling, as in William Watson's poem on his recovery
+from temporary loss of mind--one of the most pathetic poems ever
+written--where he thanks the Heavenly Power for letting him feel once
+again at home in nature and again related to the birds and to human
+life. Dr. Van Dyke's wish that, when his twilight hour is come, he
+"may hear the wood note of the veery" finds response in the heart of
+every one who has listened to that song. Frequently the poet seems to
+have entered into the life of the bird and to have found his inner
+secret, as Keats in the "Ode to a Nightingale":--
+
+    Immortal bird, thou wast not born for death,
+    No hungry generations tread thee down.
+
+Sometimes the words seem to have caught the rhythm and ripple of the
+song, as in Browning's reference to the thrush:--
+
+    The wise thrush, he sings each song twice over,
+    Lest you think he never could recapture
+    That first fine careless rapture.
+
+Or the bird's voice may be so suggestive as to lead the seer to the
+very limits of thought and aspiration, like Shelley's "Skylark." As we
+need the help of the naturalists, who see more accurately than we, we
+also need the assistance of the poet's clearer vision, with its wider
+and deeper sweep. How completely Sidney Lanier summed up the mocking
+bird! and how much more pleasing is the bird in the tree because of
+the bird in the poem:--
+
+    Superb and sole, upon a plumčd spray
+    That o'er the general leafage boldly grew,
+    He summed the woods in song; or typic drew
+    The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay
+    Of languid doves when long their lovers stray,
+    And all birds' passion plays that sprinkle dew
+    At morn in brake or bosky avenue.
+    Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.
+    Then down he shot, bounced airily along
+    The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song
+    Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.
+    Sweet science, this large riddle read me plain:--
+    How may the death of that dull insect be
+    The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?
+
+Recitations from the poets should be a prominent feature of Bird Day
+exercises. Readings and studies of poems about birds may be very
+profitably made a part of the literary work of the year.
+
+The following poems are suitable for recitation and study:--
+
+"The Birds' Orchestra," Celia Thaxter; "The Robin," Celia Thaxter;
+"The Song Sparrow," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The
+Raven's Shadow," William Watson; "On Seeing a Wild Bird," Alice Cary;
+"What Sees the Owl?" Elizabeth S. Bates; "Lament of a Mocking Bird,"
+Frances Anne Kemble; "The Snow-bird," Dora Read Goodale; "To a
+Seabird," Bret Harte; "The Rain Song of the Robin," Kate Upson Clark;
+"The Swallow," Owen Meredith; "A Bird at Sunset," Owen Meredith; "The
+Titlark's Nest," Owen Meredith; "The Dead Eagle," Campbell; "Ode to a
+Nightingale," John Keats; "What the Birds Said," John Greenleaf
+Whittier; "The Sandpiper," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird and the
+Rooks," Dinah Mulock Craik; "The Canary in his Cage," Dinah Mulock
+Craik; "The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Titmouse," Ralph Waldo
+Emerson; "The Stormy Petrel," Barry Cornwall; "To the Skylark," Percy
+Bysshe Shelley; "The O'Lincoln Family," Wilson Flagg; "To a
+Waterfowl," William Cullen Bryant; "Robert of Lincoln," William Cullen
+Bryant; "The Return of the Birds," William Cullen Bryant, "The Eagle,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "To the Eagle," James G. Percival; "The Forerunner,"
+Harriet Prescott Spofford; "The Skylark," James Hogg; "To the
+Skylark," William Wordsworth; "Sir Robin," Lucy Larcom; "The Pewee,"
+J. T. Trowbridge; "The Yellowbird," Celia Thaxter "The Dying Swan,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "Story of a Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The Blue Jay,"
+Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Song Sparrow," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The
+Catbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "Sparrows," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney;
+"The Ovenbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Vireos," Mrs. A. D. T.
+Whitney; "The Ovenbird," Frank Bolles; "Whip-poor-will," Frank Bolles;
+"The Veery," Henry Van Dyke; "The Song Sparrow," Henry Van Dyke; "The
+Wings of a Dove," Henry Van Dyke; "The Whip-poor-will," Henry Van
+Dyke; "To the Cuckoo," William Wordsworth; "Secrets," Susan Coolidge;
+"The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Mocking Bird," Sidney Lanier;
+"Forbearance," Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The Mocking Bird," Clinton
+Scollard; "The Mocking Bird," Maurice Thompson; "The Mocking Bird," R.
+H. Wilde; "The Mocking Bird," A. B. Meek; "The Mocking Bird," Albert
+Pike; "The Song of the Thrush," Edward Markham.
+
+This list can of course be indefinitely extended.
+
+IN CHURCH
+
+    Just in front of my pew sits a maiden--
+      A little brown wing on her hat,
+    With its touches of tropical azure,
+      And sheen of the sun upon that.
+
+    Through the bloom-colored pane shines a glory
+      By which the vast shadows are stirred,
+    But I pine for the spirit and splendor
+      That painted the wing of the bird.
+
+    The organ rolls down its great anthem;
+      With the soul of a song it is blent;
+    But for me, I am sick for the singing
+      Of one little song that is spent.
+
+    The voice of the curate is gentle:
+      "No sparrow shall fall to the ground;"
+    But the poor broken wing on the bonnet
+      Is mocking the merciful sound.
+
+--_Anonymous._
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY
+
+
+The general observance of a "Bird Day" in our schools would probably
+do more to open thousands of young minds to the reception of bird lore
+than anything else that can be devised. The scattered interests of the
+children would thus be brought together, and fused into a large and
+compact enthusiasm, which would become the common property of all.
+Zeal in a genuine cause is more contagious than a bad habit.
+
+The first Bird Day in the schools was celebrated on the first Friday
+in May, 1894. This is as good a date as any for the sections not in
+the extreme North or South.
+
+It would better come a little after the birds begin to arrive. The
+afternoon session will be found sufficient to devote to the special
+exercises. The date should be announced some time beforehand, so that
+the children may prepare for it. They will not only prepare
+themselves, but will have the whole community aroused by the sharp
+points of their inquisitorial weapons. Exercises should be held in all
+grades, from the primary to the high school.
+
+We quote the following from circular No. 17 sent out by the United
+States Department of Agriculture:--
+
+OBJECT OF BIRD DAY
+
+     From all sides come reports of a decrease in native birds,
+     due to the clearing of the forests, draining of the swamps,
+     and cultivation of lands, but especially to the increasing
+     slaughter of birds for game, the demand for feathers to
+     supply the millinery trade, and the breaking up of nests to
+     gratify the egg-collecting proclivities of small boys. An
+     attempt has been made to restrict these latter causes by
+     legislation. Nearly every State and Territory has passed
+     game laws, and several States have statutes protecting
+     insectivorous birds. Such laws are frequently changed and
+     cannot be expected to accomplish much unless supported by
+     popular sentiment in favor of bird protection. This object
+     can only be attained by demonstrating to the people the
+     value of birds, and how can it be accomplished better than
+     through the medium of the schools?
+
+     Briefly stated, the object of Bird Day is to diffuse
+     knowledge concerning our native birds and to arouse a more
+     general interest in bird protection. As such it should
+     appeal not only to ornithologists, sportsmen, and farmers,
+     who have a practical interest in the preservation of birds,
+     but also to the general public, who would soon appreciate
+     the loss if the common songsters were exterminated.
+
+     It is time to give more intelligent attention to the birds
+     and appreciate their value. Many schools already have
+     courses in natural history or nature study, and such a day
+     would add zest to the regular studies, encourage the pupils
+     to observe carefully, and give them something to look
+     forward to and work for. In the words of the originator of
+     the day, "the general observance of a Bird Day in our
+     schools would probably do more to open thousands of young
+     minds to the reception of bird lore than anything else that
+     can be devised." The first thing is to interest the scholars
+     in birds in general and particularly in those of their own
+     locality. Good lists of birds have been prepared for several
+     of the States, and popular books and articles on ornithology
+     are within the reach of every one. But the instruction
+     should not be limited to books; the children should be
+     encouraged to observe the birds in the field, to study their
+     habits and migrations, their nests and food, and should be
+     taught to respect the laws protecting game and song birds.
+
+VALUE OF BIRD DAY
+
+     When the question of introducing Arbor Day into the schools
+     was brought before the National Educational Association in
+     February, 1884, the objection was made that the subject was
+     out of place in the schools. The value of the innovation
+     could not be appreciated by those who did not see the
+     practical bearing of the subject on an ordinary school
+     course. But at the next meeting of the Association the
+     question was again brought up and unanimously adopted--to
+     the mutual benefit of the schools and of practical forestry.
+     With the advent of more progressive ideas concerning
+     education there is a demand for instruction in subjects
+     which a few years ago would have been considered out of
+     place, or of no special value. If the main object of our
+     educational system is to prepare boys and girls for the
+     intelligent performance of the duties and labors of life,
+     why should not some attention be given to the study of
+     nature, particularly in rural schools where the farmers of
+     the next generation are now being educated?
+
+     The study of birds may be taken up in several ways and for
+     different purposes; it may be made to furnish simply a
+     course in mental training or to assist the pupil in
+     acquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be taken up
+     alone or combined with composition, drawing, geography, or
+     literature. But it has also an economic side which may
+     appeal to those who demand purely practical studies in
+     schools. Economic ornithology has been defined as the "study
+     of birds from the standpoint of dollars and cents." It
+     treats of the direct relations of birds to man, showing
+     which species are beneficial and which injurious, teaching
+     the agriculturist how to protect his feathered friends and
+     guard against the attacks of his foes. This is a subject in
+     which we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge,
+     but it is none the less deserving of a place in our
+     educational system on this account. Its practical value is
+     recognized both by individual States and by the National
+     Government, which appropriate considerable sums of money for
+     investigations of value to agriculture. Much good work has
+     been done by some of the experiment stations and State
+     boards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana,
+     Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In the
+     United States Department of Agriculture, the Division of
+     Biological Survey (formerly the Division of Ornithology)
+     devotes much attention to the collection of data respecting
+     the geographic distribution, migration, and food of birds,
+     and to the publication and diffusion of information
+     concerning species which are beneficial or injurious to
+     agriculture. Some of the results of these investigations are
+     of general interest, and could be used in courses of
+     instruction in even the lower schools. Such facts would thus
+     reach a larger number of persons than is now possible, and
+     would be made more generally available to those interested
+     in them.
+
+     If illustrations of the practical value of a knowledge of
+     zoölogy are necessary they can easily be given. It has been
+     estimated recently that the forests and streams of Maine are
+     worth more than its agricultural resources. If this is so,
+     is it not equally as important to teach the best means of
+     preserving the timber, the game, and the fish, as it is to
+     teach students how to develop the agricultural wealth of the
+     State? In 1885 Pennsylvania passed its famous "scalp act,"
+     and in less than two years expended between $75,000 and
+     $100,000 in an attempt to rid the State of animals and birds
+     supposed to be injurious. A large part of the money was
+     spent for killing hawks and owls, most of which belonged to
+     species which were afterwards shown to be actually
+     beneficial. Not only was money thrown away in a useless war
+     against noxious animals, but the State actually paid for the
+     destruction of birds of inestimable value to its farmers.
+     During the last five or six years two States have been
+     engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to exterminate English
+     sparrows by paying bounties for their heads. Michigan and
+     Illinois have each spent more than $50,000; but, although
+     millions of sparrows have been killed, the decrease in
+     numbers is hardly perceptible. A more general knowledge of
+     the habits of the English sparrow at the time the bird was
+     first introduced into the United States would not only have
+     saved this outlay of over $100,000, but would also have
+     saved many other States from loss due to depredations by
+     sparrows.
+
+     Is it not worth while to do something to protect the birds
+     and prevent their destruction before it is too late? A
+     powerful influence for good can be exerted by the schools if
+     the teachers will only interest themselves in the movement,
+     and the benefit that will result to the pupils could hardly
+     be attained in any other way at so small an expenditure of
+     time. If it is deemed unwise to establish another holiday,
+     or it may seem too much to devote one day in the year to the
+     study of birds, the exercises of Bird Day might be combined
+     with those of Arbor Day.
+
+     It is believed that Bird Day can be adopted with profit by
+     schools of all grades, and the subject is recommended to the
+     thoughtful attention of teachers and school superintendents
+     throughout the country, in the hope that they will coöperate
+     with other agencies now at work to prevent the destruction
+     of our native birds.
+
+T. S. PALMER,
+
+_Acting Chief of Division_.
+
+Approved:
+
+CHAS. W. DABNEY, JR.,
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., July 2, 1896.
+
+The results of Bird Day are noticeable in the schools in which it has
+been observed. The spirit of the schools has become fresher and
+brighter. There has been more marked improvement in the composition
+work and in the language of the pupils. Most of the children know the
+names of many of our birds and considerable of their ways of life, and
+wish to know more, and are their warm friends and protectors. The old
+relations between the small boy and the birds have been entirely
+changed. The birds themselves have been affected. They have become
+much more numerous. Many that were formerly rare visitants now nest
+freely in the shade trees of the city; for example, the orioles, the
+grosbeaks, the scarlet tanagers, and even the wood thrushes, and their
+nests are about as safe as the other homes. The children say that the
+birds know about Bird Day, and have come to help it along.
+
+The correlation of the public library and the public schools is
+assured in those towns where Bird Day has been introduced. If there
+were no other result of this new day, the demand for healthful
+literature would be enough. The call for Burroughs and Bradford
+Torrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and the other writers of our out-of-doors
+literature is so great as to attract attention in the libraries. In
+fact, in one the writer knows well there is a constant and steady
+demand, particularly from the boys. Frank Bolles is a great favorite
+with them. The excursions to the woods have a new and ęsthetic
+interest. What would Emerson have thought when he wrote that matchless
+bit--
+
+    Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?
+    Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk?
+
+if he had known that the boys of another generation would be able to
+answer as he would have liked to have them!
+
+The effect upon teachers is not less marked. The trip to the woods in
+the early morning and at sunset, sometimes with the children and
+sometimes in parties by themselves, has resulted in physical and
+mental good. A new and charming relation has sprung up between
+teachers and children. The tie of community of interests is a strong
+one. A taste in common is always conducive to friendship.
+
+The surprising thing about this new departure in nature study is that
+once taken up it will never be abandoned. There is something
+fascinating in it. One may love trees and flowers, but their processes
+and habits of growth are in a way unrelated to us; but our "little
+brothers in feathers" are kin to us in their hopes and fears.
+
+"When I think," said a bright woman the other day, "that this summer I
+have learned to know by plumage and by song twenty birds, and when I
+realize the delight the knowledge has given me, I feel as if I ought
+to go out as a missionary to the heathen women in my neighborhood."
+She did not exaggerate the feeling of every bird lover. So much is
+lost to life and good cheer by this ignorance.
+
+Now that the Bird Day idea is being taken up and spread by the United
+States Government in the interests of economy, it will do much to
+sweeten the lives of the coming generation. The natural impulse to
+love and watch the birds will be encouraged instead of being
+disregarded.
+
+    Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?
+    Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
+    O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!
+
+--EMERSON.
+
+    No longer now the winged inhabitants
+    That in the woods their sweet lives sing away,
+    Flee from the form of man, but gather round,
+    And prune their feathers on the hands
+    Which little children stretch in friendly sport
+    Towards these dreadless partners of their play.
+
+--_Extract from_ SHELLEY'S _Queen Mab_.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+NOTES ON REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS
+
+
+
+
+KINGBIRD (_Tyrannus tyrannus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BEE BIRD, BEE MARTIN, AND TYRANT FLYCATCHER
+
+
+Length, about eight and one-half inches; spread of wings, fourteen and
+one-half inches. The upper parts of body are a blackish ash; top of
+head, black; crown with a concealed patch of orange red; lower parts
+pure white, tinged with pale bluish ash on the sides of the throat and
+across the breast; sides of the breast and under the wings rather
+lighter than the back; the wings dark brown, darkest towards the ends
+of the quills; upper surface of the tail glossy black, the feathers
+tipped with white.
+
+This bird is a common summer resident of the Middle States, where it
+usually arrives the last of April. The name _tyrannus_ given to it is
+descriptive of the character of the male, since during the breeding
+season he is anxious to attack everything wearing feathers. His
+particular aversion is hawks and crows, which he assails by mounting
+above his adversary and making repeated and violent assaults upon his
+head. He will even drive the eagle from his vicinity.
+
+The farmer could have no better protection for his corn fields than
+the near-by nest of a pair of kingbirds. They eat some honeybees, but
+for every bee thus taken they destroy ten noxious insects. They can be
+easily frightened away from the vicinity of the hives without being
+killed.
+
+The kingbird's nest is made of slender twigs, weed stalks, and
+grasses, and is placed among the branches of trees, fifteen to
+twenty-five feet from the ground. There are usually four or five eggs,
+white, spotted with brown. They have generally two broods a year.
+
+[Illustration: KINGBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+FLICKER (_Colaptes auratus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO YELLOW-HAMMER, PIGEON WOODPECKER, HITTOCK, AND YUCKER
+
+
+Length, twelve and one-half inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+back and wings above are of a dark umber, cross marked with streaks of
+black; parts surrounding the eyes, a bright cinnamon color; upper part
+of head, dark gray; strip of black on each side of the throat about
+one inch long; a narrow crescent-shaped spot of a vivid red upon the
+back of the head. The breast is ornamented with a broad crescent of
+black; under parts of the body, white, tinged with yellow, and having
+many round spots of black; the lower side of the wing and tail, a
+beautiful golden yellow; the rump, white.
+
+This bird may be easily distinguished by the white rump and the bright
+yellow under the wings seen in flight.
+
+Its food consists largely of wood lice, ants, of which it is very
+fond, and of other insects which it finds upon the ground or upon
+trees. The female differs from the male in appearance, the black
+strips upon the sides of the throat being very indistinct or wanting
+entirely.
+
+The flicker's nest, like those of other woodpeckers, may be found in
+maples, oaks, apple trees, and occasionally pines or birches. They are
+more frequently built in clusters of trees than in exposed places, and
+from ten to thirty feet from the ground. The male has been noticed
+coming to the ground and throwing chips about, so that the
+nest-building might not be observed. The eggs are plain white.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER]
+
+
+
+
+RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_)
+
+
+Length, nine and one-half inches; extent, eighteen inches. The head
+and neck are crimson; a narrow crescent of black on the upper part of
+the breast; back, outer part of the wings, and tail, black glossed
+with blue; rump, lower part of the back, inner part of the wings, and
+the whole under parts, from the breast downwards, white; legs and
+feet, bluish green; claws, light blue. Like all woodpeckers, the tail
+feathers are sharp and stiff and help the bird to sustain itself upon
+the tree. It can strike hard blows with its bill, and drill into the
+hardest wood with rapidity and apparent ease. It will locate
+accurately the position of a grub or an insect that is within the wood
+of a tree, drill a hole to the inmate, and pull it out with its long,
+sticky tongue. The female is like the male in appearance, except that
+her colors are somewhat fainter. Woodpeckers as a class are
+beneficial, and do much to preserve trees from destructive insects.
+
+The red-headed woodpecker builds its nest at the bottom of a tunnel in
+a tree, dug by other birds, or adapted to use from an already existing
+cavity. The nest is a mere heap of soft, decaying wood, more attention
+being paid by the bird to securing protection against rain than in
+having the nest clean and nice. The eggs are white, speckled with
+reddish brown, and are usually six in number.
+
+[Illustration: RED-HEADED WOODPECKER]
+
+
+
+
+BLUE JAY (_Cyanocitta cristata_)
+
+
+Length, twelve inches; extent, seventeen inches. The head is crested;
+crest and upper back are a light purplish blue; wings and tail, bright
+blue; a collar of black proceeds from the hind part of the head,
+gracefully curving down each side of the neck to the upper part of the
+breast, where it forms a crescent; the chin, throat, and under parts
+are white or slightly tinged with blue; the tail is long and composed
+of twelve feathers marked with cross curves of black, each feather
+being tipped with white, except the two middle ones, which are a dark
+purple at the ends. The legs and bill are black.
+
+The nest of the blue jay is large and clumsily made, and is placed
+high in the branches of tall trees, the cedar being preferred. It is
+lined with fine, fibrous roots. The eggs are four or five in number,
+of a dull olive, spotted with brown.
+
+[Illustration: BLUE JAY]
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK (_Dolichonyx oryzivorus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO RICEBIRD, REEDBIRD, AND BOBLINCOLN
+
+
+Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, twelve and one-fourth
+inches. The female is a little smaller than the male. The male has the
+top and sides of the head and under parts black; large yellowish patch
+on the back of the neck; middle of back is streaked with buff; lower
+part of the back and upper tail feathers, grayish white; wings and
+tail, black; the bill is short, conical, and is blue black. The tail
+feathers are sharp-pointed and stiff like a woodpecker's. The female
+has the upper parts olive buff streaked with black; yellowish beneath;
+two stripes on the top of head; wings and tail, brownish; tail
+feathers with pointed tips. In the autumn the male puts on a dress
+similar to that of the female, the colors being a little more
+pronounced.
+
+The nest is built on the ground, of grasses. It contains from four to
+seven grayish eggs, spotted with blotches of brown.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINK]
+
+
+
+
+RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (_Agelaius phoeniceus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO AMERICAN REDWING, MARSH BLACKBIRD, AND SWAMP BLACKBIRD
+
+
+Length, nine and one-half inches; spread of wings, fifteen and
+one-fourth inches. The male is of a uniform black, which glistens in
+the sunshine; shoulders bright scarlet bordered with brownish yellow;
+bill, legs, and feet black. The female is smaller than the male, and
+differs greatly from him in appearance. She is dark brown above,
+streaked with lighter and darker shades; below, gray streaked with
+brown; throat and edge of wing tinged with pink or yellow, but mostly
+pink in the summer. The young male at first resembles the female, but
+may soon be recognized by black feathers appearing in patches.
+
+The nests, which are composed chiefly of coarse grasses lined with
+finer grass, are built upon the ground or in low bushes. Those built
+in bushes are compact, the others are generally loosely made. The eggs
+number four to six, spotted and lined with black and brown.
+
+[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+MEADOW LARK (_Sturnella magna_)
+
+CALLED ALSO FIELD LARK
+
+
+Length of male, ten and one-half inches; spread of wings, sixteen
+inches. The female is smaller. The feathers above are dark brown, with
+transverse dark brown bars across the wings and tail; the outer tail
+feathers, white; the throat, breast, under parts and edge of wing,
+bright yellow. A yellow spot extends from the nostril to the eye. The
+breast has a large black crescent, the points of which reach halfway
+up the neck; hind toes long, its claws twice as long as the middle
+one. The female is like the male, but duller in color.
+
+Their food is various forms of insects, beetles, grasshoppers,
+cutworms, larvę, sometimes varied by the seeds of grasses and weeds,
+wild cherries, and berries.
+
+The nest is built upon the ground, of dried grasses, carefully
+concealed in tufts of grass. The eggs are oval, usually five in
+number; they are white, dotted with reddish brown. Both sexes engage
+in building the nest.
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK]
+
+
+
+
+BALTIMORE ORIOLE (_Icterus galbula_)
+
+CALLED ALSO GOLDEN ROBIN, FIREBIRD, AND HANGBIRD
+
+
+Length, about eight inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches. The
+head, throat, and upper part of the back are black; the lower part of
+the back, the breast, and forward part of the wing are a brilliant
+orange. The base of the middle tail feathers is orange, the ends
+black; all the others are orange, with a black band in the middle. The
+female is smaller, and colors are not so bright.
+
+The nest is composed of various materials, such as grasses, plant
+fibers, hairs, strings, which are capable of being interwoven. It is
+suspended near the end of a limb. The eggs are commonly five in
+number. They are whitish and variously marked with black and brown
+spots and lines.
+
+[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE]
+
+
+
+
+SONG SPARROW (_Melospiza fasciata_)
+
+
+Length, a little over six inches; extent, about eight and one-half
+inches. General color of the upper parts brown streaked with black,
+gray, and different shades of brown; no white wing bars; the crown
+dull brown, with a faint grayish line in the middle; white line over
+the eye; under parts whitish with numerous dark brown streaks on the
+neck, breast, and sides; a conspicuous black spot in the middle of the
+breast; bill, legs, and feet are brownish. The female is the same as
+the male.
+
+The nest is composed of grasses, lined with finer grass. It is built
+in a low bush or on the ground. The eggs vary greatly both in size and
+in markings. They are generally five in number, and are greenish or
+bluish white, variously spotted with brown. These birds raise two and
+sometimes three broods.
+
+Not to know the song sparrow is to miss one of the delights of
+summer.
+
+[Illustration: SONG SPARROW]
+
+
+
+
+GOLDFINCH (_Spinus tristis_)
+
+CALLED ALSO YELLOWBIRD, THISTLE-BIRD, AND WILD CANARY
+
+
+Length, five and one-fourth inches; extent, nearly nine inches. The
+back and under parts are bright yellow; wings and crown cap, black;
+tips of the wing and tail feathers, white on their inner webs. The
+male in autumn loses his black cap, and his bright yellow parts change
+to a dull brownish yellow similar to the female; the wings and tail,
+however, remain darker and the white markings are more noticeable than
+those of the female. The female has no black cap; the wings and tail
+are dusky, marked with white as in the male; lower parts, yellowish
+gray; upper parts inclining to olive.
+
+The nest is cup-shaped, composed of plant fibers, lined with downy
+substances. The eggs are usually five in number, white or faintly
+bluish.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDFINCH]
+
+
+
+
+ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (_Habia Ludoviciana_)
+
+
+Length, eight inches; extent, thirteen inches. Back, throat, and head
+are black; breast and under wings, rose-red; wings, black; rump, white
+tipped with black. The female is about the same size as the male. Her
+upper parts are brown, margined with buff and pale brown, with whitish
+line over the eye; wings and tail, dark gray; feathers of the fore
+wing tipped with white; under parts yellowish, streaked with brown.
+
+The nest is a thin, flat structure made of dried grasses and small
+twigs. The eggs are greenish white with brown spots; they are usually
+four in number. These birds are said to be great destroyers of potato
+bugs.
+
+[Illustration: ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK]
+
+
+
+
+CEDAR BIRD (_Ampelis cedrorum_)
+
+CALLED ALSO CHERRY BIRD, AMERICAN WAXWING, AND CANADIAN ROBIN
+
+
+Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+head is crested; general color, grayish brown; forehead, chin, and a
+line through the eye, black; tail and wings, gray; tail tipped with
+yellow; some of the shorter wing feathers are tipped with small oblong
+beads of red, resembling sealing wax.
+
+These birds are fond of cherries and berries. The fruit grower can
+protect his interests by planting some choke cherries, mulberries, and
+mountain ash trees at the edges of his orchard. Cedar birds destroy
+great quantities of insects, and are entitled to a part of the fruit
+which they have helped to save.
+
+The nest is large and loosely made of strips of bark, leaves, grasses,
+sometimes of mud, lined with finer materials. The eggs are usually
+five in number, dull gray spotted with black and brown.
+
+[Illustration: CEDAR BIRD]
+
+
+
+
+BROWN THRUSH (_Harporhynchus rufus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BROWN THRASHER
+
+
+Length, eleven and one-fourth inches; extent, thirteen inches; tail,
+five and one-half inches long. The iris is yellow; upper parts,
+reddish or cinnamon brown; lower parts, white; feathers of middle wing
+edged with white; the breast and sides strongly spotted with dark
+brown.
+
+The nest is a carelessly made, bulky affair, composed of rootlets,
+strips of bark, twigs, leaves, and other material. It is generally
+poorly concealed in some low tree or even in the corner of a fence.
+For this reason it is frequently broken up. The eggs, four or five in
+number, are brownish mottled with darker brown. During the nesting
+season the bird at morning and in the afternoon ascends to the tops of
+trees and pours forth his wonderful song. He has even been thought to
+be "showing off," for he will sing almost as long as any one will stay
+to listen; but he is probably attracting attention to himself in order
+to detract it from his nest, which is always somewhere within the
+circle of his song.
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRUSH]
+
+
+
+
+CHICKADEE (_Parus atricapillus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BLACKCAP TITMOUSE
+
+
+Length, five and one-half inches; extent, eight inches. The general
+color of back is ashy; the top of head, throat, and chin black; no
+crest; under parts, whitish with buff on the sides; wing and tail
+feathers edged with white; legs, bluish gray; bill, black. The song of
+this bird is an oft-repeated _chick-a-dee_, from which it takes its
+name. Its call consists of two high notes, the first one a third above
+the second, which may be easily imitated, and the bird attracted to
+the vicinity of the person answering his call.
+
+Its nest is made of grasses and feathers, placed in a hole in a stump
+or tree; frequently in the deserted cavity made by a woodpecker. The
+eggs, six or seven, are white, spotted with brown about the larger
+end.
+
+[Illustration: CHICKADEE]
+
+
+
+
+CATBIRD (_Galeoscoptes Carolinensis_)
+
+
+Length, nine inches; extent, eleven and one-half inches. The general
+color is dark slate, somewhat lighter beneath; top of the head and
+tail, black; under side of tail near the base, chestnut; bill and
+feet, black; eye, brown. The female is like the male, but smaller. As
+a musician, this bird closely approaches the brown thrush. There are
+great differences in individual singers.
+
+The nest is bulky, composed of twigs, rootlets, dead leaves, strips of
+bark, etc. Strips of grapevine bark are quite commonly used, some
+nests being constructed almost wholly of this material. The eggs are
+generally four in number and of a greenish blue, unmarked.
+
+[Illustration: CATBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+BLUEBIRD (_Sialia sialis_)
+
+
+Length, six and one-half inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches.
+The upper parts, wings, and tail are bright blue; sides of the head
+and upper part of chin also blue; throat, breast, and sides, reddish
+brown; abdomen and under side of tail, white; legs and bill, blackish;
+eye, brown. The female is similarly marked, but the colors are duller.
+
+The bluebird's song is a continued pleasing, rich warble.
+
+The nest is loosely built of grasses, feathers, and soft material, in
+holes of trees, in hollows of posts, or in bird boxes. The eggs are
+light blue and are four or five in number.
+
+[Illustration: BLUEBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by 
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRD DAY; HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by 
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
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+Title: Bird Day; How to prepare for it
+
+Author: Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
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+
+<h1>BIRD DAY<br />
+HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>CHARLES A. BABCOCK, A.M., LL.B.</h2>
+
+<h4><i>Superintendent of Schools, Oil City, Pennsylvania</i></h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/seal.jpg" width="100" height="97" alt=""  />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">New York Boston Chicago</span></h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1901,<br />
+
+  By Silver, Burdett and Company</span></h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED</h3>
+<h3>TO THE LOVERS OF CHILDREN</h3>
+<h3>AND OF BIRDS</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>AUTHOR'S NOTE</h2>
+
+
+<p>The aim of this book is to assist school children in the accurate
+study of a few birds. It is believed that if this be attained, further
+study of birds will take care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks are due the Audubon Society, ornithologists, educators, and
+legislators, for the generous approbation and assistance which they
+have given the Bird Day movement.</p>
+
+<p>Special thanks are due the Department of Agriculture for permission to
+use the illustrations in this volume. Those on pages 65, 67, 69, 71,
+73, 75, 77, 79, 85, 87, 89, 93, and 95 are printed from electrotypes
+from the original illustrations appearing in "Farmer's Bulletin," No.
+54. Those on pages 81 and 83 are from the Yearbook of the Department
+for 1899, and that on page 91 from the Yearbook for 1898. All these
+publications are issued by the Department.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr><td></td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td></td><td class="tocpg f1">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">I.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#I">History of the Movement for "Bird Day"</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">II.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#II">The Value of Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">III.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#III">The Destruction of Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">IV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#IV">Plan of Study</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">V.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#V">Further Suggestions</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VI">Directions for Written Work</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VII">Programs for Bird Day</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VIII">The Poets and the Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">IX.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#IX">Objects and Results of Bird Day</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">X.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#PART_II">Some Representative Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PART I</h2>
+
+<h3>BIRD DAY. HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="BIRD_DAY" id="BIRD_DAY"></a>BIRD DAY</h2>
+
+<h3>HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+<h3>HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"</h3>
+<p>In the spring of 1894 the writer's attention was attracted to the
+interest of the children in that part of their nature study which
+related to birds. Their descriptions of the appearance and habits of
+the birds they had observed were given with evident pleasure. They had
+a strong desire to tell what they had seen, not in the spirit of
+rivalry, but with the wish of adding to the knowledge of a subject in
+which all were equally interested.</p>
+
+<p>It was thought that this work would be done with even more
+effectiveness if a day were appointed to be celebrated as "Bird Day."
+With the hope of making a memorable occasion of the day for those
+taking part in it, several of the noted friends of birds were asked to
+write something to the children, and to give their opinion of the
+introduction of "Bird Day" into the schools.</p>
+
+<p>Secretary J. Sterling Morton, the father of "Arbor Day," responded
+with the following earnest letter, which was at once given to the
+public through Washington dispatches, and later was sent out from the
+Department of Agriculture, in circular No. 17:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Washington, D. C.</span>, April 23, 1894.</p>
+
+<p class="sig1"><span class="smcap">Mr. C. A. Babcock, Superintendent of Schools, Oil City, Pa.</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Sir</i>,&mdash;Your proposition to establish a "Bird Day" on
+the same general plan as "Arbor Day," has my cordial
+approval.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such a movement can hardly fail to promote the development
+of a healthy public sentiment toward our native birds,
+favoring their preservation and increase. If directed toward
+this end, and not to the encouragement of the importation of
+foreign species, it is sure to meet the approval of the
+American people.</p>
+
+<p>It is a melancholy fact that among the enemies of our birds
+two of the most destructive and relentless are our women and
+our boys. The love of feather ornamentation so heartlessly
+persisted in by thousands of women, and the mania for
+collecting eggs and killing birds so deeply rooted in our
+boys, are legacies of barbarism inherited from our savage
+ancestry. The number of beautiful and useful birds annually
+slaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundreds
+of thousands, and threatens, if it has not already
+accomplished, the extermination of some of the rarer
+species. The insidious egg-hunting and pea-shooting
+proclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread and
+destructive. It matters little which of the two agencies is
+the more fatal, since neither is productive of any good. One
+looks to the gratification of a shallow vanity, the other to
+the gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure of
+boyish energy that might be profitably diverted into other
+channels. The evil is one against which legislation can be
+only palliative and of local efficiency. Public sentiment,
+on the other hand, if properly fostered in the schools,
+would gain force with the growth and development of our boys
+and girls, and would become a hundredfold more potent than
+any law enacted by the State or Congress. I believe such a
+sentiment can be developed, so strong and so universal that
+a respectable woman will be ashamed to be seen with the wing
+of a wild bird on her bonnet, and an honest boy will be
+ashamed to own that he ever robbed a nest or wantonly took
+the life of a bird.</p>
+
+<p>Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without their
+unremitting services our gardens and fields would be laid
+waste by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt even
+than this, for the study of birds tends to develop some of
+the best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among them
+we find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of the
+love of mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities.
+Their industry, patience, and ingenuity excite our
+admiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music and
+poetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appeal
+to our &aelig;sthetic sense; their long migrations to distant
+lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire
+into the causes of these periodic movements; and finally,
+the endless modifications of form and habits by which they
+are enabled to live under most diverse conditions of food
+and climate&mdash;on land and at sea&mdash;invite the student of
+nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.</p>
+
+<p>The cause of bird protection is one that appeals to the best
+side of our natures. Let us yield to the appeal. Let us have
+a Bird Day&mdash;a day set apart from all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> other days of the
+year to tell the children about the birds. But we must not
+stop here. We should strive continually to develop and
+intensify the sentiment of bird protection, not alone for
+the sake of preserving the birds, but also for the sake of
+replacing as far as possible the barbaric impulses inherent
+in child nature by the nobler impulses and aspirations that
+should characterize advanced civilization.</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Respectfully,</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">J. Sterling Morton</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><i>Secretary of Agriculture.</i></p>
+
+<p>Other friends of the birds responded cordially to the request, as will
+be seen by the following letters:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">West Park, N. Y.</span>, April 22, 1894.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Sir</i>,&mdash;In response to yours of the seventeenth, I
+enclose a few notes about birds to be read upon your "Bird
+Day"&mdash;just an item or two to stimulate the curiosity of the
+young people. The idea is a good one, and I hope you may
+succeed in starting a movement that may extend to all the
+schools of the country.</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Very truly yours,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">John Burroughs.</span></p>
+
+<p class="sig2"><span class="smcap">628 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.</span>, April 25, 1894.</p>
+
+<p class="sig1"><span class="smcap">Mr. C. A. Babcock.</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Sir</i>,&mdash;Yours of the nineteenth is received. I am
+delighted to know that your school children are to have a
+"Bird Day." I wish I could be there to tell them something
+of the delight of getting acquainted with their little
+brothers in feathers; how much more interesting they are
+when alive and doing all sorts of quaint and charming things
+than when dead and made into "skins" or stuffed; and how
+much greater is the pleasure of watching them to see how
+they live, where they get their dinner, how they take care
+of themselves, than of killing them, or hurting them, or
+even just driving them away. If the boys and girls only try
+keeping still and watching birds to see what they will do, I
+am sure no boy will ever again want to throw a stone at one,
+and no girl ever to have a dead bird on her hat.</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Very truly yours,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Olive Thorne Miller.</span></p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Clinton</span>, April 30, 1894.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>My Dear Sir</i>,&mdash;It strikes me that your idea is a
+particularly happy one. Should you institute a "Bird Day,"
+the feathered tribe ought to furnish music for the occasion.
+A chorus of robins and thrushes and a few other songsters
+would be more appropriate than an orchestra. With thanks for
+your cordial good wishes, I am,</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Yours faithfully,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Clinton Scollard.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></span></p>
+
+<p>From the Department of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania this
+encouraging letter was received:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Harrisburg</span>, April 27, 1894.</p>
+
+<p class="sig1"><span class="smcap">Superintendent C. A. Babcock.</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Sir</i>,&mdash;In your plan to inaugurate a "Bird Day" you
+have struck a capital idea. When in the name of agriculture
+a scalp act can be passed resulting in a year and a half in
+the payment of $75,000 by the county treasuries of
+Pennsylvania for the destruction of birds that were
+subsequently proved to belong to the feathered friends of
+the farmer, it is high time to make our pupils acquainted
+with the habits and ways of the feathered tribes. Some birds
+remain with us the whole year, others are summer sojourners,
+still others are only transient visitors. How much of the
+beauty of our environment is lost by those who never listen
+to the music of the birds and never see the richness of
+their plumage!</p>
+
+<p>May success attend you in carrying out your new idea of a
+"Bird Day."</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Very truly yours,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Nathan C. Schaeffer</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><i>Superintendent of Public Instruction</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Bradford Torrey gives an additional title to the day, showing his
+appreciation of it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Wellesley Hills, Mass.</span>, April 21, 1894.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Dear Mr. Babcock</i>,&mdash;Your young people are to be
+congratulated. "Bird Day" is something new to me&mdash;a new
+saints' day in my calendar, so to speak. The thought is so
+pleasing to me that I wish you had given me its date, so
+that in spirit I might observe it with you. Tell your pupils
+that to cultivate an acquaintance with things out of
+doors&mdash;flowers, trees, rocks, but especially animate
+creatures, and best of all, birds&mdash;is one of the surest ways
+of laying up happiness for themselves; and laying up
+happiness is even better than laying up money, though I am
+so old-fashioned a body and so true a Yankee as to believe
+in that also.</p>
+
+<p>All the naturalists I have known have been men of sunny
+temper. Let your boys and girls cultivate their eyes and
+ears, and their hearts and minds as well, by the study of
+living birds, their comings and goings, their songs and
+their ways; let them learn to find out things for
+themselves; to know the difference between guess-work and
+knowledge; and they will thank you as long as they live for
+having encouraged them in so good a cause. With all good
+wishes for the success of your first "Bird Day"&mdash;and many to
+come after it,</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">Very truly yours,</p>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">Bradford Torrey</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first observance of "Bird Day," May 4, 1894, is briefly set forth
+in the following paragraph from the <i>New England Journal of
+Education</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The day was observed in the Oil City schools with a degree
+of enthusiasm which was good to see. The amount of
+information about birds that was collected by the children
+was simply amazing. Original compositions were read,
+informal discussions were held, talks by teachers were
+given, and the birds in literature were not forgotten or
+overlooked. The interest was not confined to the children,
+one gentleman surprising the classes in which his children
+celebrated the day by presenting to them artistic programs
+of the exercises.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to those interested that the idea simply needs to
+be made known to meet with a warm welcome, akin to that with
+which we greet our first robin or song sparrow in the
+spring.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VALUE OF BIRDS</h3>
+<p>Probably few people understand the value of birds or comprehend how
+closely and yet how extensively their lives are interwoven with other
+forms of life. The general sentiment in regard to them, at the best,
+has been that they are harmless, even interesting and beautiful
+creatures; but the idea that they are one of the most important
+classes of creation, a class upon which the existence of many other
+classes depends, has never been widely prevalent. Suppose we were
+asked which is of more use to man, the fishes of our waters or the
+birds of our forests and fields? Many of us would unhesitatingly
+answer in favor of the fishes.</p>
+
+<p>If all of these denizens of the rivers, lakes, and seas should be
+destroyed, it would be a stupendous calamity. Mankind would
+universally deplore it; and if the nations of the world should, at any
+time, become convinced that such a thing might occur, how quickly they
+would take all possible means to prevent it! All civilized people now
+have laws to preserve this food supply and are making expensive and
+laborious efforts to increase it. Any one who should destroy thousands
+of tons of these edible swimmers, simply for their heads and tails, or
+fins and scales, would be regarded as a dangerous person. But if our
+supposition were realized, if every fin and gill were to disappear
+from the waters of the globe, what would be the result? A misfortune,
+truly, for the fins represent a large part of the world's supply of
+food, and this loss would be felt more deeply as time went on, because
+the ocean will not raise its rent, however crowded may be the
+population of its shores. The effort to secure the fish might be
+applied, however, in other directions and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> equally remunerative.
+Harvest would still follow seedtime; the gold of autumn still reward
+the shallow mines of spring.</p>
+
+<p>But suppose we were forced to the dreadful alternative of choosing
+between the birds and the quadrupeds, again, the most of us would
+probably decide against the birds. If the four-footed beasts should
+disappear from the earth, it would be a much greater disaster than the
+destruction of the fishes. A much larger fraction of the food supply
+would be lost; while many of these animals contribute to man's comfort
+and necessities in almost innumerable ways. Most nations have learned
+to cherish their friends with hoofs and horns, and even some of those
+with claws. Cruelty to animals is now generally forbidden by law; and
+their wanton destruction would be regarded with horror. No one would
+be permitted to slaughter large numbers of them because he might wish
+to sell their horns or ears or the tips of their tails.</p>
+
+<p>By the departure of the quadrupeds the life of man would be rendered
+much more difficult, but would still be possible. From fish and fowl
+he could obtain a supply of meat limited in variety, yet sufficient
+for his needs. The treasures of the vegetable world would still be
+his, though he would miss the help of his animal allies in securing
+them; but his ingenuity would help him to supply this loss, in part,
+at least.</p>
+
+<p>Consider now what would be the effect of the total destruction of
+birds. Birds are nature's check to the amazing power of insects to
+increase. If insect life were allowed free course, it would soon
+overpower vegetation; and plant life&mdash;and, therefore, animal life,
+including that of man&mdash;would be impossible upon this globe. This is an
+astounding conclusion, but it is sustained by the judgment of every
+man of science who has investigated the subject. How long could the
+ravages of insects be stayed were the birds gone? We should have to
+depend upon a few predaceous beetles, the bats, and upon the sprayers
+and squirtguns which throw insecticides. Think of the &aelig;sthetic loss in
+substituting these agencies for the "sweet spirits" of the wood and
+field! Besides not being musical or charming in action, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> would
+not prove efficient. Birds are therefore essential to the life of man.</p>
+
+<p>Their preservation is not merely a matter of sentiment, or of
+education in that high and fine feeling, kindness to all living
+things. It has a utilitarian side of vast extent, as broad as our
+boundless fields and our orchards' sweep. The birds are nature's
+guarantee that the reign of the crawlers and spinners shall not become
+universal. The "plague of locusts" shall be upon those who sin against
+them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS</h3>
+
+
+<p>From almost all sections of the country comes the plaint that the song
+birds are fast disappearing. Less and less numerous are the yearly
+visitations of the thrushes, warblers, song sparrows, orioles, and the
+others whose habits have been so delightful and whose music has been
+so cheering to their open-eyed and open-hearted friends. Many, who
+when listening to the hymn-like cadences of the wood thrush have felt
+that the place was holy ground, are now keenly regretting that this
+vesper song is so rare; the honest sweetness of the song sparrow
+mingles with the coarser sounds less often in the accustomed places.
+Not many now find "the meadows spattered all over with music" by the
+bobolink, as Thoreau did.</p>
+
+<p>John Burroughs says that the bluebird is almost extinct in his section
+of country. The writer, though a frequent visitor to the fields and
+woods, has succeeded in seeing only one pair of these beautiful birds
+in two seasons, where they were abundant a few years ago, when almost
+every orchard bore a good crop of them. A friend who is a good
+observer has had the same experience. A careful exploration of the
+country within a radius of five miles resulted in the discovery of
+only two pairs of bobolinks, having their nests luckily in the same
+field. The males sang together in friendly rivalry. The sparkling,
+tinkling notes seemed to come in a rippling tumble, two or three at a
+time, from each throat. Each started his song with his feet barely
+touching his perch, his body quivering, his wings half extended, as if
+he were almost supported by the upward flow of his melody. After
+circular flights he alighted first upon one frail, swinging perch,
+then upon another, the won<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>derful sounds not ceasing, as if he were
+tracing magic rings of song round his home, and making them thick in
+places. It was a musical embodiment of the love of life and of its
+joyousness.</p>
+
+<p>The brown thrush is also absent from places where once there were
+many. A farmer in this neighborhood states that a few years ago the
+treetops near his house seemed to be filled with these fine singers.
+Now he hears only one or two during the season. Last May the writer
+found three nests at least a mile apart, but they were destroyed
+before the time of hatching, and the birds went about silent as if
+brooding upon their trouble. It is doubtful if they will build next
+season in that vicinity. No doubt the clearing away of the forests and
+the settling up of the country are responsible for the scarcity of the
+birds in part, but only in part. If they were let alone, many of the
+most interesting and useful birds would build near even our city
+homes, and our gardens and fields would again become populous with
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The wearing of feathers and the skins of birds for ornament is the
+chief cause of the final flight of many of our songsters. It is stated
+that a London dealer received at one time more than thirty thousand
+dead humming birds. Not only brightly colored birds, but any small
+birds, by means of dyes, may come at last to such base uses. It is
+estimated by some of the Audubon societies that ten million birds were
+used in this country in one season. All these bodies, which are used
+to make "beauty much more beauteous seem," are steeped in arsenical
+solutions to prevent their becoming as offensive to the nostrils of
+their wearers as they are to the eyes of bird lovers.</p>
+
+<p>The use of dead birds for adornment is a constant object lesson in
+cruelty, a declaration louder than any words that a bird's life is not
+to be respected. It is currently reported that a million bobolinks
+were destroyed in Pennsylvania alone last year to satisfy the demand
+of the milliners. If this "garniture of death" is in good taste, then
+our North American Indian in his war paint and feathers was far ahead
+of his time.</p>
+
+<p>Let us hope that some oracle of fashion will decree that if the
+remains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> of animals must be used for adornment, the skins of mice and
+rats shall be offered up. Their office seems to be principally that of
+scavengers, and their gradual but certain extinction would not matter
+if the Christian nations should become, <i>pari passu</i>, more cleanly.
+The squirrel could also be used effectively, mounted as if half
+flying, with his hind feet fastened to the velvet pedestal, or sitting
+upon his haunches with a nut between his fore paws. The squirrel's
+main concern seems to be to prevent the undue extension of the
+nut-bearing trees&mdash;an office man has already well taken upon
+himself&mdash;and besides, he destroys fruit, injures trees, and is a great
+enemy of birds. His gradual extinction would be tolerated by a
+civilized nation.</p>
+
+<p>All these things may take the hues of the rainbow and are capable of
+infinite variety of arrangement. There certainly seems to be no good
+reason why in a few years some combination of them may not be
+considered as effective as a row of dead humming birds. The world may
+be saved in this way from presenting a spectacle that should excite
+the pity of gods and men&mdash;the spectacle of the destruction of one of
+the most beautiful, the most harmless, and the most useful classes of
+creation, at the command of the senseless whims of fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Then, too, the sportsmen's guns and the small boys' slings and
+shooters of various sorts are constantly bringing down numbers of the
+feathered songsters. In many parts of our country men and boys roam
+the fields, shooting at every bird they see, and their action is
+tacitly approved by the community. This survival of the barbarous
+instinct to kill is condoned as "sport." If these people were to spend
+this time in following the birds with opera glass and notebook to
+study them, they might not be so readily understood&mdash;they might even
+be taken for mild lunatics, so utterly is public sentiment perverted
+on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>A little consideration shows this destruction to be more disastrous
+than at first appears. According to the latest biological science,
+every species of animals must have long ago reached the limit beyond
+which it could not greatly increase its numbers. However great its
+tendency<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> to increase might be, its natural obstacles and enemies
+would increase in like proportions till at last the two would balance
+each other, and there could be no further increase in the number of
+individuals of that species. All classes of animals in a state of
+nature must have reached this balanced condition generations ago. This
+is true of the birds. Their natural enemies are capable of preventing
+their increase; that is, they can and do destroy every year as many as
+are hatched that year. Now if man be added as a new destructive
+agency, the old enemies, being still able to destroy as many as
+before, will soon sweep them out of existence. Warnings have been sent
+out by the United States Department of Biology that several species of
+birds are already close to extinction. We know that this is true of
+the passenger pigeon. This bird used to come North in flocks so
+extensive as sometimes to obscure the sun, like a large, thick cloud.
+Now they come no more. Italy is practically songless, we are told.</p>
+
+<p>If man would right the wrong that he has done, he must not only stop
+destroying the birds, but he must take all possible means to preserve
+them and to protect them from their natural foes.</p>
+
+<p>Laws for bird protection have been passed in many of our states; but
+these have been found effective only where they were not needed. They
+are, however, right, and will help in the development of correct
+sentiment. What is most needed is knowledge of the birds themselves,
+their modes of life, their curious ways, and their relations to the
+scheme of things. To know a bird is to love him. Birds are beautiful
+and interesting objects of study, and make appeals to children that
+are responded to with delight.</p>
+
+<p>Children love intensely the forms of nature&mdash;the clouds, the trees,
+the flowers, the animals&mdash;all of the great beautiful world outside of
+themselves, and it is their impulse to become acquainted with this
+world; for this they feel enthusiasm and love. Marjorie Fleming, the
+little playmate of Scott, who at the age of six could recite passages
+from Shakespeare and Burns so that the great bard would sob like a
+child or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> shout with laughter, may be taken as the universal voice of
+childhood. She writes in her diary, "I am going to a delightful place
+where there is ducks, cocks, hens, bubblejacks, two dogs, two cats and
+swine which is delightful." In another place she says, "Braehead is
+extremely pleasant to me by the company of swine, geese, cocks, etc.,
+and they are the delight of my soul."</p>
+
+<p>The waste of time in our public schools has been commented upon and
+some of the causes have been pointed out; but is not the chief reason
+the fact that much of the work of the school is unrelated to the world
+of the child? At least the child does not see the connection. He
+leaves at the threshold the things which he loves and desires
+intensely to investigate, and begins his intellectual development with
+abstractions, with "the three R's." It is said that teachers cannot
+succeed unless they love their work. How can we expect children to
+succeed and not waste time, not become disheartened at work that, so
+far as they can discover, has little more relation to their interests
+than to the mountains of the moon?</p>
+
+<p>We look to nature study to supply the missing links between the
+child's life and his school work; to afford opportunities for the
+interested observation of things, and to furnish a strong impulse
+toward expression. It has been well said that the best result of the
+primary schools is the power to use correctly one's own language. The
+chief obstacle in the development of this power is the want of an
+impulse to express. What can afford a stronger tendency to describe
+than the attempt to report observations that have been made with
+interest, even with delight?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+<h3>PLAN OF STUDY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Begin as soon after the first of January as possible. Assign two
+periods a week of from ten to twenty minutes each for bird study in
+the school. Continue the work during these periods until after the
+celebration of Bird Day in May.</p>
+
+<p>If no other bird is to be found, the English sparrow will answer.
+Place the following questions upon the blackboard:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The English Sparrow</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>How long is this bird from the tip of its beak to the end of
+its tail?</p>
+
+<p>What is the color of its head? Of its throat? Of its breast?
+Of the underparts of its body? Of its back? Of its wings?</p>
+
+<p>What is the length, shape, and color of its bill?</p>
+
+<p>What is the color of its legs and feet? How many toes upon
+each foot, and which way do they point? Does it walk, hop,
+or run upon the ground? Is its tail square, or notched? Is
+its flight even and steady, or bounding? What is the
+difference in appearance between the male and female?</p></div>
+
+<p>The children should be directed to answer these questions from their
+own observation, at the next period of study. For the lowest grades
+two or three questions will be enough for the first attempt, and even
+then the variety of answers will be surprising.</p>
+
+<p>No other questions should be taken until the first are answered
+correctly.</p>
+
+<p>The teacher should have an opera glass or a small field glass with
+which to make her own observations. It is obvious that the more
+glasses there are among the children, the better. It is advisable for
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> teacher to make short excursions with the children to the streets
+to assist them in answering these questions. These can be made at the
+close of school. As a preparation, have some crumbs or seeds scattered
+where the birds have been seen.</p>
+
+<p>Continue work with these questions until each one can give a
+reasonably accurate description of the appearance of the bird and of
+its movements. Have the older pupils write this. It will make a good
+language lesson.</p>
+
+<p>The next questions should have reference to the life and
+characteristics of the bird. What does it eat? Put out crumbs or
+scraps of meat and see if the bird will eat them. What sounds does the
+bird make? Does it sing? Imitate as many of its sounds as you can.
+Determine from its actions what its disposition is. For example&mdash;Is it
+courageous? Is it quarrelsome? Is it inclined to fight? Is it selfish?</p>
+
+<p>Frequently a single incident in a bird's life will furnish an answer
+to several of these questions. Two sparrows were seen attempting to
+take possession of the same straw. Each held firmly to his end of the
+straw. A regular tug of war ensued. They pulled one another about for
+some time on the top of an awning, and finally, becoming tired of
+this, they dropped the straw and furiously attacked each other. They
+fought with beak and claw, paying no attention to the spectators, and
+fell exhausted to the sidewalk, where they lay upon their backs until
+able to hop slowly away from each other. It was some little time
+before they recovered strength to fly in opposite directions,
+conquering and unconquered.</p>
+
+<p>Early in March advise the children to watch the direction of the
+sparrows' flight. They will discover that some of them are carrying
+straws or feathers or other material for nest building. Notice the
+position and style of these nests. Those built early in the season are
+always in protected places, under the eaves of houses or in holes in
+trees or in bird boxes. Some of those built later are in exposed
+places,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> clumsy affairs, but well thatched with straw, having an
+entrance on one side. This nest building may be watched during the
+entire season, for the English sparrow raises more broods than any
+other of our birds.</p>
+
+<p>The interpretation of the actions which indicate any of a bird's
+characteristics is a valuable part of the study on account of its
+exercise of the imagination and the reason.</p>
+
+<p>A plan similar to the foregoing should be followed with each bird that
+is studied. With almost all other birds the study will be far more
+interesting. The English sparrow may be considered as the A B C of
+birds in his appearance and in the kind of life he leads. He is
+therefore a good subject to begin with. But even he will be found to
+exhibit unexpected individuality.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days of this study, or at least before the spring birds
+begin to arrive, direct the children to try the following experiments.
+Scatter crumbs where they may be seen from the windows. Nail cups in
+the trees containing sugar and water, and others containing seeds.
+Nail up a bone or two, and a piece of suet as large as your two hands.
+This last will be relished by the birds, for it provides the kind of
+food most needed in cold weather.</p>
+
+<p>Watch carefully the birds that are attracted by the food. After
+feeding awhile they will become quite tame and may be closely
+approached. Write a description of each bird upon the plan used for
+the English sparrow. Encourage the children to add any observations of
+their own which throw light upon the habits and character of the
+birds, since one object of this study is the development of right
+feeling toward them.</p>
+
+<p>Among the first to arrive will probably be the blue jay, chickadee, or
+black-capped titmouse, and one or more of the woodpeckers. These all
+show individual character and are well worth studying.</p>
+
+<p>The blue jay by his striking appearance and outlandish voice
+challenges attention. He will be found to possess some gentlemanly
+traits. To illustrate, a number of blue jays were seen taking turns,
+waiting in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> line, to feed upon a bone where there was room for only
+one at a time. There was no scramble, no hurrying of the one who was
+eating. The blue jay is a most devoted parent, though not considered a
+good citizen by other birds. Contrary to the usual belief, he has a
+beautiful song. It is sweet and low and almost as varied as the
+catbird's, and can be heard only a short distance. It has a
+reminiscent character, as if he were thinking of past joys.</p>
+
+<p>The black-capped titmouse or the chickadee is noticeable for his
+sprightliness and cheeriness, and for his trim, tailor-made
+appearance. Emerson's poem worthily celebrates his brave spirit. He
+flits around a limb and clings to it with his head up or down, with
+his feet up or down, as if his movements were not physical exertions,
+but mental efforts. His simple little song rings out at all hours of
+the coldest day.</p>
+
+<p>The woodpecker gives himself freely to study. One winter we frequently
+counted from twelve to fourteen children standing under the tree on
+which a little sapsucker was at work. The upturned faces of the
+children did not disturb him at all, although he was only a little
+above their heads. He drilled away as if his work in the world was the
+work which must be done. A downy woodpecker with a slightly wounded
+wing was brought into one of our schoolrooms, where he lived
+contentedly for several days, pecking a dead treetop, which the boys
+brought in for him after a good deal of thought and several
+excursions. The only food he seemed to like was sweetened water,
+although the children brought him a great variety to choose from. No
+visitor to a schoolroom ever produced a better effect. His presence,
+instead of interfering with the regular order, pleased the children,
+and they did their work even better than usual. When his wing was
+healed he was dismissed from school through the window, and his flight
+to a neighboring treetop was anxiously watched.</p>
+
+<p>Upon many other occasions wounded birds have been brought into our
+schools. Some recovered and others died, but each visit was an epoch
+in the life of the school.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The other birds most likely to visit this feast during January are the
+flicker, crow, purple finch, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch,
+snow-flake; American crossbill, white-throated sparrow, tree sparrow,
+junco, winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, and even
+the solitary robin. The sparrow hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk may
+visit the vicinity to feed upon the other feeders. On the first of
+January I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the spire of a church in the
+heart of a city of eighteen thousand people. After selecting a victim
+from the sparrows on the street below, he calmly spread his wings and
+pounced upon him, or with no effort at concealment chased the bird
+whose flight was nearest.</p>
+
+<p>A female sparrow hawk wintered in the eaves of an apartment house in
+Morningside Park, New York City. English sparrow was its principal
+diet, and every morning and afternoon an observer might have seen the
+hawk soar to the park grounds on its hunting trips.</p>
+
+<p>A few years ago a sharp-shinned hawk visited our yard. Apparently he
+lived upon the sparrows there for several days. There was no skill in
+his hunting or effort to take the game unawares. When he wanted a bird
+he simply left his perch and captured it by speed of wing. His ease of
+flight was remarkable; as a little boy said, "He just opened his wings
+and sailed away." He stayed until the sparrows left the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>As the season advances the birds will come in greater numbers. On the
+first of April a little girl in one of our schools had identified and
+described seventeen different species of birds which she had seen in
+her yard. The same child fed a family of chipping sparrows; they
+became so tame that they would come to meet her when she came with
+crumbs, and would pick them up even when they dropped close to her
+feet. The next year this family evidently came again and raised
+another brood and brought them along to be fed, for seven and
+sometimes eight would come when she called. The English sparrow came
+also, and the little maid drove them away without the chippies being
+disturbed. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> boy from one of our schools was even more fortunate. In
+his yard were a number of trees in which ample provision had been made
+for the birds. Late in April, with other kinds a pair of scarlet
+tanagers and a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks visited the trees.
+These stayed and soon seemed to feel quite at home. To the great
+delight of their neighbors, the house-dwellers, they built their
+nests, the grosbeaks in a tree near one side of the porch, the
+tanagers in one near the opposite side. They became so friendly that
+sometimes when the boy came out upon the porch and played softly on a
+mouth organ, the grosbeak's silvery warble and the tanager's loud,
+clear voice joined him.</p>
+
+<p>Brief written descriptions should be made by the pupils, similar to
+the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Bluebird.</span>&mdash;Length, six and a half inches; extent of wings,
+about twelve inches; color, back, azure blue; throat,
+breast, and sides, dull crimson; underpart, white; bill and
+legs, blackish; eye, brown; arrives early in March; leaves
+in late November. Song, soft and pleasing warble; sings both
+in flight and at rest; nests in holes of trees or posts, or
+in bird houses.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Chickadee.</span>&mdash;Length, about five and a half inches; extent of
+wings, about eight inches; legs, bluish gray; bill, black;
+back, brownish gray; throat, chin, and top of head, black;
+sides of head, white; underparts, whitish; wing and tail
+feathers margined with white; nests in holes in trees and
+stumps. The common name arises from their familiar note of
+"chic-a-dee-dee."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Catbird.</span>&mdash;Length, nine inches; extent of wings, eleven and a
+half inches; bill and feet, black; eye, brown; color, slate
+color, somewhat lighter beneath; top of head and tail,
+black; reddish under the wings; arrives in May, leaves in
+October; nests in bushes; lives in gardens and woodside
+thickets; has a sharp cry not unlike the mewing of a cat,
+but is a gifted songster.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Meadow Lark.</span>&mdash;Length, about ten and a half inches; extent of
+wings, about sixteen and a half inches; female is smaller;
+body, thick and stout; legs, large; hind toe reaches out
+beyond the tail, its claw twice as long as the middle one;
+bill, brown, lighter at the base, dark towards the point;
+feet and legs, light brown; throat, breast, and edge of
+wing, bright yellow; breast with a large black crescent;
+nests on the ground in the open field; clumsy in flight and
+in walking; song, a plaintive whistle; arrives in March,
+leaves in October.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Barn Swallow.</span>&mdash;Length, six and three fourths inches; spread
+of wings, twelve and a half inches; bill, black; legs and
+feet, light brown; color, upper parts glossy steel blue;
+tail, very deeply forked, outer tail feathers much longer
+and narrower than the others; forehead, chin, and throat,
+deep chestnut; rest of the underparts lighter; nests usually
+in barns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Wood Thrush.</span>&mdash;Length, eight inches; spread of wings,
+thirteen inches; legs and feet, flesh-colored; bill,
+blackish, lighter at base; upper parts cinnamon brown,
+brightest on top of the head, and shading into olive near
+the tail; lower parts white and marked with roundish, dusky
+spots; arrives the first of May, leaves in October. Song
+consists of sweet, ringing, bell-like notes.</p></div>
+
+<p>Later these outlines should be expanded into free descriptions,
+containing all that the pupil has learned about the bird, his habits,
+his character, and his life.</p>
+
+<p>Each school should aim to possess a bird manual, for the
+identification of the species. The following are recommended as
+sufficient for the purpose: "Birds of the United States," by A. C.
+Apgar; "Birds of Eastern North America," by Frank M. Chapman; "Bird
+Craft," by Mabel Osgood Wright; "Birds of Pennsylvania," second
+edition, by Warren (this may possibly be obtained at second-hand
+bookstores); "Our Common Birds and How to Know Them," by Grant. The
+report of your own state upon birds, if there is one, will also
+furnish valuable information.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+<h3>FURTHER SUGGESTIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Direct the children to put up boxes for martins, bluebirds, and wrens.
+These may be also put up around the schoolhouses, if fortunately there
+is a yard with trees. Boxes for the martins should be large,
+containing fifteen or more compartments, each ten inches high by eight
+wide and eight deep, and each having a separate entrance. The martin
+box or house should be placed twenty feet from the ground, upon the
+top of a strong post or platform sustained by four smaller posts. If
+vines are planted at the foot of the supports, they will be ornamental
+and will make the houses more attractive to the birds. The English
+sparrows will occupy these compartments; but if the martins conclude
+to take possession they will push out the sparrows and their
+belongings without assistance. Every spring I am amused in watching
+the summary process of ejectment which the martins serve upon the
+sparrows that have taken possession of their houses. In the morning
+the sparrows may be in undisturbed possession, but by afternoon the
+martins occupy their old quarters, having pushed out the nests of the
+sparrows with their eggs or young.</p>
+
+<p>The boxes for bluebirds and wrens should be smaller and have only one
+compartment. They should be nailed in the tops of trees. If the
+English sparrows build in them their nests should be broken up; and
+this repeatedly, so long as they persist in building. If this is not
+done the wrens and bluebirds will not come. They are incapable of
+coping with the sparrows.</p>
+
+<p>Note when the different birds arrive in the spring, making in this way
+a bird calendar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Notice also when the birds gather together into flocks in the late
+summer or autumn, preparatory to taking their leave. The last bird of
+his kind to leave should be as carefully noted as the first to arrive
+in your calendar. Distinguish carefully the birds of passage that stop
+only a short time to rest on their journeys north and south, and those
+that stay and help to make the summer.</p>
+
+<p>You will need to make frequent excursions afield, always taking your
+notebook. Take first a small area and master the birds in that; then
+gradually extend your territory. You can take no more healthful or
+happy exercise. It will greatly increase the interest of children in
+all their school duties if their teachers make occasional bird
+journeys with them. Limit the size of the party to that number which
+will keep still as a mouse while in bird-land. Encourage the children
+also to make frequent excursions by themselves, in parties of three or
+four. Instruct them to have the sun at their backs and to carry if
+possible one glass with each party. Reports of these excursions can be
+made in school, while particular attention should be given to the
+exchange of the knowledge of bird haunts. This can be done during the
+period devoted to bird study.</p>
+
+<p>Direct the party of excursionists to observe the same birds, notebook
+in hand, and let each one immediately put down what he actually sees.
+Afterward compare results. In this way improvement will be made in
+rapidity and accuracy of observing.</p>
+
+<p>There are two ways by which birds may be closely approached. The first
+is to go to some locality where birds have been seen and to stand or
+sit in perfect quiet and wait for them to come. We have known some of
+the shyest wood birds to come within a few feet of the motionless
+observer. It is not an uncommon thing for one who waits to be able to
+look directly into the eyes of the American redstart, the
+chestnut-sided and golden-winged warbler, the wood thrush, catbird,
+and of almost any other of the birds.</p>
+
+<p>If one can imitate the owl and make a fair "hoot," otherwise keeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+still, he may attract many birds that will feel bound to settle the
+question of his identity. A young friend of mine, by a good imitation
+of a blue jay's quack, finds many little woods' folks peering at him
+from the trees which he might not otherwise see. The "smack" which is
+produced by violently kissing the back of the closed fingers will call
+many birds from their hiding places, especially during the nesting
+season. The sound is similar to that of a bird in distress.</p>
+
+<p>The second method is to follow a bird very quietly and slowly, being
+careful not to make any motions which would startle him. In this way a
+shore lark has been followed all over a field, the observer gradually
+coming near enough to the bird to see what he was doing, and to watch
+his movements as he pulled the larv&aelig; of beetles out of the ground,
+cracked their cases, and ate the contents. All birds that feed in the
+fields, the meadow larks, the plovers, and the sparrows, may be
+studied in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>It is commonly thought to be difficult to get close to the veery. On
+one occasion, while the writer and a companion were resting from a
+long ramble, the air was suddenly suffused with the songs of veeries.
+The music seemed to fill the woods, as an organ seems to fill the
+church with sound. It was weird and suggestive and never to be
+forgotten. The still, deep woods seemed like enchanted ground where
+nothing evil could come. After some search we saw one of the birds in
+a tree not far from us. As we approached him he flew to another tree.
+We humbly followed on foot from tree to tree, when to our surprise he
+stopped on a low tree on the outskirts of the wood and allowed us to
+come almost within reach of him, and to stand wonder-stricken while he
+sang in answer to his companions. We stayed for twenty minutes
+motionless. It was difficult to believe that this bird was singing.
+His notes had a ventriloquous effect, his beak was scarcely parted,
+and it was only by the trembling of the feathers of his throat that we
+were sure the song came from him. Since this time we have frequently
+found the veeries; in fact one locality is known to us as Veeryville.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to live in the country in order to be a bird
+student and to carry out the suggestions here given. All the large
+cities have parks where birds may be observed and be encouraged to
+become friendly to the observer. Central Park in New York is the home
+of a great variety of birds. Bronx Park is said to be a paradise for
+them. On Boston Common most of the birds which come to that latitude
+have been seen. There is no city so poor that it cannot boast of a few
+birds in its vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>Great interest and delight may be added to the study of birds by the
+use of the camera. If the teacher or one of the older pupils is so
+fortunate as to have a kodak and will take it when visiting the woods,
+or will focus it upon birds in the dooryard, the pictures may possess
+much value. To attempt to "take" a bird in flight is, of course, a
+difficult matter, though it may be done; but birds upon the nest,
+birds feeding their young, or in the trees above the nest, evidently
+protecting it, have been successfully taken. Birds' nests with the
+eggs in make most fascinating pictures. At an entertainment given by
+the Pennsylvania Audubon Society in Philadelphia in December, 1898,
+the audience with one accord cheered the picture of a nest which was
+thrown upon a screen.</p>
+
+<p>Work of this kind is especially adapted for high schools, and there
+are sure to be several painstaking amateurs among the pupils. To
+possess genuine value from the point of view of the naturalist, the
+pictures should not be touched up, no matter how much artistic beauty
+might thus be given to them; they should be entirely true to nature.</p>
+
+<p>On no account should children be encouraged to make collections of
+birds or of eggs. The only objection the author has felt to the very
+fine bird manuals before the public is that they contain minute
+directions for the preparation of dead birds for purposes of mounting
+and preservation, and also for the collection and preservation of
+birds' eggs. If this were to cause the school children of the country
+to set out to make collections of birds and of eggs in order to study
+them, the study would better be omitted. Nothing more deadly than an
+opera glass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> should be aimed at a bird for a generation. The utility
+of a collection is not so great; a dead bird's plumage is not as
+beautiful as in life, and he loses every attitude and movement which
+makes him an individual. A corpse is not a bird. Persons who can
+identify birds by one glimpse of them through the trees, or by a few
+notes of their song, or by their flight are frequently at a loss to
+identify the same birds when they are dead, unless they are familiar
+with the dead birds.</p>
+
+<p>The only collection the children should be encouraged to make is that
+of nests after the birds are through with them; and especially of
+nests with whose family history they are acquainted. These may be
+brought into the schoolroom. In one of our school yards the children
+discovered a pair of red-eyed vireos building. The nest was so
+situated that it could be seen from one of the upper schoolroom
+windows. After the young had left, the nest was taken down, and to the
+pleasure which the children had enjoyed in watching its builders and
+their family was added another. They found in the bottom of the nest
+little bits of the papers they had used in school with their letters
+and figures upon them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+<h3>DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK</h3>
+
+
+<p>Have the children give anecdotes about birds that they have observed.
+Let them describe actions which they saw them perform, paying
+particular attention to the ways of birds in eating. For example,
+sparrows were observed carrying hard crusts of bread to a little pool
+of water, formed in a dent in a tin roof, to soften before attempting
+to eat them. Day after day crusts were put out, and the water was
+renewed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Written descriptions of birds feeding their young.</i>&mdash;Young birds live
+entirely upon insect life. It has been computed that a bird during the
+first few weeks of its life consumes nearly one and one half times its
+weight of insects daily. Note the amazing amount of insect life that
+will be destroyed by the birds of a neighborhood in a single season.
+Give, if possible, illustrations from your own observation. A robin
+was noticed feeding one of its young, which sat on a limb with its
+mouth open, crying for more, except when it was stopped with food. The
+parent came with her beak filled with worms twenty-seven times in less
+than as many minutes, and then left her child seemingly as hungry as
+ever, for he complained and hopped along the limb, keeping a sharp
+lookout for several minutes. That chick must have been as full of
+worms as a fisherman's bait-box. Picture the condition of our lawns,
+gardens, and groves if all the birds were suddenly banished and the
+insects held full sway. In this connection, the writer should study
+and make quotations or abstracts from "The Birds of Killingworth," by
+Longfellow.</p>
+
+<p>In a recent lecture, Prof. Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia, cited many
+facts to show that birds are nature's great check on the excess of
+in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>sects, and that they keep the balance between plants and insect
+life. Ten thousand caterpillars, it has been estimated, could destroy
+every blade of grass on an acre of cultivated ground. In thirty days
+from the time it is hatched an ordinary caterpillar increases 10,000
+times in bulk, and the food it lives and grows on is vegetable. The
+insect population of a single cherry tree infested with aphides was
+calculated by a prominent entomologist at no less than twelve million.
+The bird population of cultivated country districts has been estimated
+at from seven hundred to one thousand per square mile. This is small
+compared with the number of insects, yet as each bird consumes
+hundreds of insects every day, the latter are prevented from becoming
+the scourge they would be but for their feathered enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist of the Board of Agriculture of
+Massachusetts, states that the stomachs of four chickadees contained
+1,028 eggs of the cankerworm. The stomachs of four other birds of the
+same species contained about 600 eggs and 105 female moths of the
+cankerworm. The average number of eggs found in twenty of these moths
+was 185; and as it is estimated that a chickadee may eat thirty female
+cankerworm moths per day during the twenty-five days which these moths
+crawl up trees, it follows that in this period each chickadee would
+destroy 138,750 eggs of this noxious insect.</p>
+
+<p>A pamphlet issued by the Department of Agriculture of the United
+States says that the cuckoo, which is common in all the Eastern
+States, has been conclusively shown to be much given to eating
+caterpillars, and, unlike most birds, does not reject those that are
+covered with hair. In fact, cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillars
+that the hairs pierce the inner lining of their stomach and remain
+there, so that when the stomach is opened and turned inside out, it
+appears to be lined with a thin coating of hair. This bird also eats
+beetles, grasshoppers, sawflies, and spiders. It turns out from the
+investigations of the department that the suspicion with which all
+farmers look upon woodpeckers is undeserved by that bird. These birds
+rarely leave an important mark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> upon a healthy tree, but when a tree
+is affected by wood-boring larv&aelig; the insects are accurately located,
+dislodged, and devoured. In case the holes from which the borers are
+taken are afterward occupied and enlarged by colonies of ants, these
+ants are drawn out and eaten. Woodpeckers are great conservators of
+forests, and to them more than to any other agency is due the
+preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.</p>
+
+<p>The department defends the much-abused crow and states that he is not
+by any means the enemy of the farmer, in which r&ocirc;le he is generally
+represented. The pamphlet shows that he is known to eat frogs, toads,
+salamanders, and some small snakes, and that he devours May beetles,
+June bugs, grasshoppers, and a large variety of other destructive
+insects. It is admitted that he does some damage to sprouting corn,
+but this can be prevented by tarring the seed, which not only saves
+the corn, but forces the crow to turn his attention to insects.</p>
+
+<p><i>Insects injurious to vegetation.</i>&mdash;Essays may be written describing
+some of the insects injurious to fruit trees; also the birds that feed
+largely upon these insects&mdash;the warblers, thrushes, orioles, wrens,
+woodpeckers, vireos, and others. Tell, if possible, from your own
+observation, of their curious, but effective, ways of finding their
+food. Describe how the birds inspect the trees, limb by limb and bud
+by bud, in their eager search for the eggs, larv&aelig;, and mature forms of
+insects. Note, especially, the oriole as he runs spirally round a
+branch to the very tip, then back to the trunk, treating branch after
+branch in the same way, till the whole tree has been thoroughly
+searched, almost every bud having been in the focus of those bright
+eyes. It is hard to describe which is the more beautiful&mdash;their
+brilliant, flaming colors or their bugle-like bursts of music. Is the
+woodpecker's drumming, and apparent listening with the side of his
+head turned to the tree, all for fun, and nothing for reward?</p>
+
+<p><i>Birds that feed upon the potato beetle.</i>&mdash;The grosbeaks and the
+tanagers. Describe these. Why are these and other brightly colored
+birds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> so shy? What has been the effect of the extensive killing of
+them for ornament, and the equally cruel practice of securing their
+young to be kept in cages? Note how much more attractive our fields
+and gardens would be if these beautiful beings were common in them,
+and by their quaint ways were "teaching us manners."</p>
+
+<p><i>Personations of birds.</i>&mdash;Ask the children to write "personations" of
+birds, as if the writer were the bird. Give them the following
+directions: Write in the first person. Describe yourself as accurately
+as you are able, without telling your name. Tell of your habits and
+manner of life, your summer and winter homes, your home cares&mdash;your
+nest building, your parental joys and anxieties, the enemies you have
+to avoid. Mention at some length the trouble you take to give your
+little ones a good start in life, and to enable them to earn their own
+living. Describe your songs, and try to indicate why they differ, and
+what you mean by each one. Try to present a somewhat complete picture
+of the bird and its life, from the bird's point of view. At the close
+of your personation the hearers may vote upon the name of the bird
+presented.</p>
+
+<p>A family of birds may also be described, as if they were persons,&mdash;and
+are they not? A very fine model of this kind of work is "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.</p>
+
+<p>Have essays written upon the following subjects:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Are there birds that do not sing?</p>
+
+<p>What is the attitude of other birds to the owl?</p>
+
+<p>Is any country too cold, or any too warm, for birds?</p>
+
+<p>Have birds individuality?</p>
+
+<p>What is the largest bird of North America?</p>
+
+<p>The smallest?</p>
+
+<p>What laws has your state made about birds?</p>
+
+<p>Ought the "government to own" the birds? (That is, make laws
+for their protection.)</p>
+
+<p>Is the blue jay wicked?</p>
+
+<p>What birds walk?</p>
+
+<p>Do birds travel at night, during their migrations?</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Beginning in March, note for several days the different kinds of birds
+you see, which were not seen the day before. Make at least two
+observations daily, one in the morning and one after school. When is
+the greater number of new birds seen, in the morning or in the
+afternoon? Or, if you live in a comparatively quiet neighborhood, even
+in a large city, go out at night and listen for bird sounds in the
+air. You need not go far to make this trial&mdash;your own back door "opens
+into all outdoors."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>What states have established a Bird Day by law?</p>
+
+<p>Is woman cruel or only thoughtless?</p>
+
+<p>Do robins raise more than one brood in a season? If so, do
+they use the same nest twice? If they raise two broods, what
+becomes of the first, while the mother is sitting upon the
+eggs for the second?</p></div>
+
+<p>Watch for a robin leading out his family. Notice the feeding, after
+the birds are large enough to run and fly fairly well. The young birds
+are placed apart, and kept apart by the parent, who visits each one in
+turn, and rebukes any who tries to be piggish, sometimes rapping it
+with his bill when it runs out of turn. Notice this parent teaching
+the young to sing. It is a very interesting sight.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>What birds have you heard sing at night?</p></div>
+
+<p>More birds sing at night than is commonly supposed. The female robin
+calls to her mate frequently during the night, and he responds with a
+song. The catbird also sings at night. Last May one was heard to sing
+three nights in succession from eleven o'clock until daylight in
+response to little complaining calls from his mate. The song sparrow,
+warblers, and many other birds sing at night. Their songs at these
+times sound as if the bird were sleepy and reluctant to sing, or as if
+he were startled and were hurrying through the performance. Make a
+note of songs heard at night and try to determine the cause. Learn to
+distinguish the call of the female from the song of the male.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The kinds of nests.</i>&mdash;What birds are weavers? What ones are masons or
+plasterers? What ones are tailors, in the construction of their nests?</p>
+
+<p>Find a pair of birds engaged in nest building; robins may generally be
+found. Learn to distinguish the male from the female in appearance, as
+well as voice. Notice what materials they are using. Which bird takes
+the lead in building? What does the other bird do? Does he ever carry
+material, or does he simply act as escort? Does he ever protect his
+mate from other birds?</p>
+
+<p>Write this out, carefully drawing your conclusions from your own
+observations. After the young birds have left the nest and have no
+further use for it, you may take the nest and examine it closely. You
+will find that while there is a similarity in the nests of the same
+kind of birds, they differ considerably in the materials of which they
+are composed. For example, the typical robin's nest consists of straws
+and hairs plastered together with mud and lined with some soft
+material, but others have been found made entirely of raveled rope;
+others of carpet rags. The bird evidently is not guided in this matter
+by blind instinct, but uses its reason in adapting materials that are
+at hand.</p>
+
+<p>If you are fortunate you may find a pair of orioles building their
+nest. Place some bright-colored yarn or string in pieces of convenient
+length where the birds will see them. Some of them are almost sure to
+be woven into the nest. The oriole's nest may be attached to a limb by
+two or more cords; if it is, notice how it is prevented from swinging
+by side ropes. You will find it guyed against the prevailing winds.
+The oriole frequently ties several twigs together, and so uses these
+to suspend his nest. Notice the nest pouch; those built near houses
+are quite shallow; those near forests are much deeper. Can you tell
+why?</p>
+
+<p><i>The wings of birds.</i>&mdash;Describe the different kinds, as short and
+round, or long and slender, and the effect of the wing-shape upon the
+bird's motion in the air. Describe the flights of different birds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Songs of birds.</i>&mdash;Write the syllables which seem to you to express
+the different songs of birds. Notice the different songs of the same
+bird. A song sparrow was observed to have twelve different songs. He
+sang each one several times over, as if each song had a number of
+verses. Then changing his position, he would sing another. To most
+ears the robin's song is always the same, but close attention
+discovers that there are variations. Many birds are genuine musicians
+and compose as they sing, not having formal songs.</p>
+
+<p><i>Free description of birds.</i>&mdash;Write description of some bird of your
+acquaintance, noting the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Its appearance.</i>&mdash;Color, gait, flight, size from tip of beak to end
+of tail, spread of wings.</p>
+
+<p><i>Its common name.</i>&mdash;Why given?</p>
+
+<p><i>Time of arrival and departure.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Character.</i>&mdash;Is it trustful, or shy and retiring?</p>
+
+<p><i>Song.</i>&mdash;Season when song is most frequent, also times of day. Does it
+consist of many or only a few notes? Is it cheery, like the robin's,
+or tuneful, like the thrush's, or rollicking and rapturous, like the
+bobolink's, or a Romanza, like the catbird's? Notice the different
+emotion sounds, the notes of fear, of parental or conjugal reprimand,
+of joy, of anger, of deep sorrow, made by the bird at times.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>&mdash;Insects (kinds), seeds, fruit, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nest.</i>&mdash;Where placed, how made?</p>
+
+<p><i>Incidents.</i>&mdash;From the writer's knowledge of the bird.</p>
+
+<p><i>This bird in literature.</i>&mdash;What writers have described, what poets
+have immortalized him? How did they characterize him?</p>
+
+<p>Some of the following books are almost indispensable to one who wishes
+to know the birds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wake Robin," John Burroughs; "Birds and Poets," John Burroughs; "The
+Birds and Seasons of New England," Wilson Flagg; "Upland and Meadow,"
+Charles C. Abbott; "Bird Ways," Olive Thorne Miller; "Birds through an
+Opera Glass," Florence A. Mer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>riam; "Birds in the Bush," Bradford
+Torrey; "The Birds About Us," Charles C. Abbott; "From Blomidon to
+Smoky," Frank Bolles.</p>
+
+<p>Recent magazines should be searched and the current ones scrutinized
+for articles by any of the above-named writers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Destruction of birds.</i>&mdash;Find out how many birds are annually
+slaughtered in the United States, and for what purposes.</p>
+
+<p>In the report of the American Ornithologist Union published in 1886,
+it was estimated that about five million birds were annually required
+to fill the demand for the ornamentation of the hats of the American
+women. In 1896 it was estimated that the number thus used was ten
+million. "The slaughter is not confined to song-birds; everything that
+wears feathers is a target for the bird butcher. The destruction of
+40,000 terns in a single season on Cape Cod, a million rail and reed
+birds (bobolinks) killed in a single month near Philadelphia, are
+facts that may well furnish food for reflection. The swamps and
+marshes of Florida are well known to have become depopulated of their
+egrets and herons, while the state at large has been for years a
+favorite slaughter ground of the milliners' emissaries." An article in
+<i>Forest and Stream</i>, speaking of the destruction of birds on Long
+Island, states that during a short period of four months 20,000 were
+supplied to the New York dealers from a single village.</p>
+
+<p>The Audubon Society of Massachusetts has looked up the figures and
+reports that "it is proved that into England alone between 25,000,000
+and 30,000,000 birds are imported yearly, and that for Europe the
+number reaches 150,000,000. Hence, the fashionable craze has annually
+demanded between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 birds. From the East
+Indies alone a dealer in London received 400,000 humming birds, 6,000
+birds of paradise, and 400,000 miscellaneous birds. In an auction
+room, also in London, within four months, over 800,000 East and West
+Indian and Brazilian bird skins, besides thousands of pheasants and
+birds of paradise, were put up for sale."</p>
+
+<p>This demand for birds has been going on for a quarter of a century,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+and billions of rich-plumaged creatures have been slaughtered to meet
+it, and several of the feathered tribes have been exterminated.</p>
+
+<p>Write to the following for literature upon the destruction of birds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Humane Education Committee, 61 Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.;
+George T. Angell, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the Massachusetts
+Audubon Society, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the New York Audubon
+Society at New York; Secretary of the Department of Agriculture,
+Washington, D. C.; Secretary of the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania at
+Philadelphia; also write to the Department of Agriculture of your own
+state.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2>
+
+<h3>PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY</h3>
+
+
+<p>A Bird Day exercise, in order to have much value educationally, should
+be largely the result of the pupils' previous work, and should not be
+the mere repetition of a prepared program taken verbatim from some
+paper or leaflet. It is, of course, better to have the pupils recite
+this leaflet or list of statements than it would be to have it ground
+out of a phonograph. The program should be prepared by the pupils
+under direction of the teacher.</p>
+
+<p>The following general suggestions are offered:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. For the first observance of this day by a school it would be well
+to have some pupil read Senator Hoar's petition of the birds to the
+Legislature of Massachusetts.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">PETITION OF THE BIRDS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Written by Senator Hoar to the Massachusetts Legislature</i></p>
+
+<p>The petition which was instrumental in getting the Massachusetts law
+passed, prohibiting the wearing of song and insectivorous birds on
+women's hats, was written by Senator Hoar. The petition read as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of
+Massachusetts: We, the song birds of Massachusetts and their
+playfellows, make this our humble petition. We know more
+about you than you think we do. We know how good you are. We
+have hopped about the roofs and looked in at your windows of
+the houses you have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> built for poor and sick and hungry
+people, and little lame and deaf and blind children. We have
+built our nests in the trees and sung many a song as we flew
+about the gardens and parks you have made so beautiful for
+your children, especially your poor children to play in.
+Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping all
+the time where the sun is bright and warm. And we know that
+whenever you do anything the other people all over this
+great land between the seas and the Great Lakes find it out,
+and pretty soon will try to do the same. We know. We know.</p>
+
+<p>We are Americans just the same as you are. Some of us, like
+you, came across the great sea. But most of the birds like
+us have lived here a long while; and the birds like us
+welcomed your fathers when they came here many, many years
+ago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their best to
+please your fathers and mothers.</p>
+
+<p>Now we have a sad story to tell you. Thoughtless or bad
+people are trying to destroy us. They kill us because our
+feathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls, who we
+should think would be our best friends, kill our brothers
+and children so that they may wear our plumage on their
+hats. Sometimes people kill us for mere wantonness. Cruel
+boys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our young
+ones. People with guns and snares lie in wait to kill us; as
+if the place for a bird were not in the sky, alive, but in a
+shop window or in a glass case. If this goes on much longer
+all our song birds will be gone. Already we are told in some
+other countries that used to be full of birds, they are now
+almost gone. Even the nightingales are being killed in
+Italy.</p>
+
+<p>Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this and will save
+us from this sad fate. You have already made a law that no
+one shall kill a harmless song bird or destroy our nests or
+our eggs. Will you please make another one that no one shall
+wear our feathers, so that no one shall kill us to get them?
+We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls are pretty
+enough without them. We are told that it is as easy for you
+to do it as for a blackbird to whistle.</p>
+
+<p>If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times over. We
+will teach your children to keep themselves clean and neat.
+We will show them how to live together in peace and love and
+to agree as we do in our nests. We will build pretty houses
+which you will like to see. We will play about your garden
+and flower beds&mdash;ourselves like flowers on wings, without
+any cost to you. We will destroy the wicked insects and
+worms that spoil your cherries and currants and plums and
+apples and roses. We will give you our best songs, and make
+the spring more beautiful and the summer sweeter to you.
+Every June morning when you go out into the field, oriole
+and bluebird and blackbird and bobolink will fly after you
+and make the day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> more delightful to you. And when you go
+home tired after sundown, vesper sparrow will tell you how
+grateful we are. When you sit down on your porch after dark,
+fifebird and hermit thrush and wood thrush will sing to you;
+and even whip-poor-will will cheer you up a little. We know
+where we are safe. In a little while all the birds will come
+to live in Massachusetts again, and everybody who loves
+music will like to make a summer home with you.</p></div>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>The signers are:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+Brown Thrasher,<br />
+Robert o' Lincoln,<br />
+Hermit Thrush,<br />
+Vesper Sparrow,<br />
+Robin Redbreast,<br />
+Song Sparrow,<br />
+Scarlet Tanager,<br />
+Summer Redbird,<br />
+Blue Heron,<br />
+Humming Bird,<br />
+Yellowbird,<br />
+Whip-poor-will,<br />
+Water Wagtail,<br />
+Woodpecker,<br />
+Pigeon Woodpecker,<br />
+Indigo Bird,<br />
+Yellowthroat,<br />
+Wilson's Thrush,<br />
+Chickadee,<br />
+Kingbird,<br />
+Swallow,<br />
+Cedar Bird,<br />
+Cowbird,<br />
+Martin,<br />
+Veery,<br />
+Chewink,<br />
+Vireo,<br />
+Oriole,<br />
+Blackbird,<br />
+Fifebird,<br />
+Wren,<br />
+Linnet,<br />
+Pewee,<br />
+Ph&oelig;be,<br />
+Yoke Bird,<br />
+Lark,<br />
+Sandpiper.<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>It should be noted that the result of this petition was the passage of
+a law by the Legislature of Massachusetts forbidding the wearing of
+parts of wild birds. A bill forbidding the transportation of feathers
+or the skins of birds from one state to another was also introduced by
+Senator Hoar in the United States Senate.</p>
+
+<p>2. At this first exercise it would be well to have read "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.</p>
+
+<p>3. The best essays that have been written by the pupils during their
+preliminary study may be given. If the school has not made this
+preliminary study, select subjects and have essays written according
+to the directions already given, allowing as much time as possible for
+original observations.</p>
+
+<p>4. Have recitations from the poets. These will add a peculiar charm to
+the occasion. A short list of suitable poems will be given. Many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+others may be found in a book called "Voices of the Speechless,"
+published by Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<p>The works of John Burroughs, Bradford Torrey, Maurice Thompson, Mrs.
+Olive Thorne Miller, and Dr. C. C. Abbott abound in passages which are
+excellent for recitation. It is surprising how familiar the best-known
+novelists have been and are with birds. In appreciation of them they
+are second only to the poets. Charles Reade's description of the
+lark's song in the mines of Australia, in "Never Too Late to Mend," is
+an inspiring recitation.</p>
+
+<p>5. Short quotations from well known authors should be given, if
+possible, by every pupil in the school. We give a few taken almost at
+random:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Away over the hayfield the lark floated in the blue, making
+the air quiver with his singing; the robin, perched on a
+fence, looked at us saucily and piped a few notes by way of
+remark; the blackbird was heard, flute-throated, down in the
+hollow recesses of the wood; and the thrush, in a holly tree
+by the wayside, sang out his sweet, clear song that seemed
+to rise in strength as the wind awoke a sudden rustling
+through the long woods of birch and oak.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>, in
+<i>Adventures of a Phaeton</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We seemed to hear all the sounds within a great compass&mdash;in
+the hedges and in the roadside trees, far away in woods or
+hidden up in the level grayness of the clouds: twi, twi,
+trrrr-weet!&mdash;droom, droom, phloee!&mdash;tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck,
+feer!&mdash;that was the silvery chorus from thousands of
+throats. It seemed to us that all the fields and hedges had
+but one voice, and that it was clear and sweet and
+piercing.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>, <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p>Silvia could hear the twittering of the young starlings in
+their nests as their parents went and came carrying food,
+and the loud and joyful "tirr-a-wee, tirr-a-wee, prooit,
+tweet!" of the thrushes, and the low currooing of the wood
+pigeon, and the soft call of the cuckoo, that seemed to come
+in whenever an interval of silence fitted. The swallows
+dipped and flashed and circled over the bosom of the lake.
+There were blackbirds eagerly but cautiously at work, with
+their spasmodic trippings, on the lawn. A robin perched on
+the iron railing eyed her curiously and seemed more disposed
+to approach than to retreat.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>, in <i>Green
+Pastures and Piccadilly</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A jay fled screaming through the wood, just one brief
+glimpse of brilliant blue being visible.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>,
+<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p>And as they came near to one dark patch of shrubbery, lo!
+the strange silence was burst asunder by the rich, full song
+of a nightingale.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>, <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p>A sudden sound sprang into the night, flooding all its
+darkness with its rich and piercing melody&mdash;a joyous, clear,
+full-throated note, deep-gurgling now, and again rising with
+thrills and tremors into bursts of far-reaching silver song
+that seemed to shake the hollow air. A single nightingale
+had filled the woods with life. We cared no more for those
+distant and silent stars. It was enough to sit here in the
+gracious quiet and listen to the eager tremulous outpouring
+of this honeyed sound.&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Black</span>, in <i>Strange
+Adventures of a House-Boat</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Shoot and eat my birds! The next step beyond, and one would
+hanker after Jenny Lind or Miss Kellogg.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Henry Ward
+Beecher.</span></p>
+
+<p>There on the very topmost twig, that rises and falls with
+willowy motion, sits that ridiculous, sweet-singing
+bobolink, singing as a Roman candle fizzes, showers of
+sparkling notes.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>This poet affirms that our bobolink is superior to the nightingale:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Bobolink, that in the meadow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or beneath the orchard's shadow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Keepest up a constant rattle<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Joyous as my children's prattle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Welcome to the North again,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Welcome to mine ear thy strain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Welcome to mine eye the sight<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of thy buff, thy black and white.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Brighter plumes may greet the sun<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By the banks of Amazon;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sweeter tones may weave the spell<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of enchanting Philomel;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But the tropic bird would fail,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the English nightingale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If we should compare their worth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With thine endless, gushing mirth.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Thomas Hill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The mocking bird is a singer that has suffered much from its
+powers of mimicry. On ordinary occasions, and especially in
+the daytime, it insists on playing the harlequin. But when
+free in its own favorite haunts at night, it has a song, or
+rather songs, which are not only purely original, but are
+also more beautiful than any other bird music whatsoever.
+Once I listened to a mocking bird singing the livelong
+spring night, under the full moon, in a magnolia tree; and I
+do not think I shall ever forget its song.</p>
+
+<p>The great tree was bathed in a flood of shining silver; I
+could see each twig, and mark every action of the singer,
+who was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as I
+have never listened to before or since. Sometimes he would
+perch motionless for many minutes, his body quivering and
+thrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would drop
+softly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached,
+when he would rise, fluttering and leaping through the
+branches, his song never ceasing for an instant until he
+reached the summit of the tree and launched into the warm
+scent-laden air, floating in spirals, with outspread wings,
+until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree and
+down through the branches, while his song rose into an
+ecstasy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like a
+clarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered the
+widest possible compass; theme followed theme, a torrent of
+music, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any two
+bars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him; he
+was singing when I went to sleep; he was still singing when
+I woke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelong
+night.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span></p>
+
+<p>Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered the rights of cattle,
+and said that they should have a Sabbath. "Thou shalt not do
+any work, thou, nor thy cattle." He declared with infinite
+emphasis that the ox on the threshing-floor should have the
+privilege of eating some of the grain as he trod it out, and
+muzzling was forbidden. If young birds were taken from the
+nest for food, the despoiler's life depended on the mother
+going free. God would not let the mother-bird suffer in one
+day the loss of her young and her own liberty. And he who
+regarded in olden time the conduct of man toward the brutes,
+to-day looks down from heaven and is interested in every
+minnow that swims the stream, and every rook that cleaves
+the air.&mdash;<span class="smcap">DeWitt Talmage</span>, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! The
+face beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems to
+possess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, this
+woman, for they are cheap enough and plentiful enough,
+heaven knows; but she has them not, therefore she must wear
+within things infinitely precious, namely, good sense, good
+taste, good feeling. Does any woman imagine these with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>ered
+corpses (cured with arsenic), which she loves to carry
+about, are beautiful? Not so; the birds lost their beauty
+with their lives.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Celia Thaxter.</span></p>
+
+<p>I walked up my garden path as I was coming home from
+shooting. My dog ran on before me; suddenly he went slower
+and crept carefully forward as if he scented game. I looked
+along the path and perceived a young sparrow, with its downy
+head and yellow bill. It had fallen from a nest (the wind
+was blowing hard through the young birch trees beside the
+path) and was sprawling motionless, helpless, on the ground,
+with its little wings outspread. My dog crept softly up to
+it, when suddenly an old black-breasted sparrow threw
+himself down from a neighboring tree and let himself fall
+like a stone directly under the dog's nose, and, with
+ruffled feathers, sprang with a terrified twitter several
+times against his open, threatening mouth. He had flown down
+to protect his young at the sacrifice of himself. His little
+body trembled all over, his cry was hoarse, he was
+frightened to death; but he sacrificed himself. My dog must
+have seemed to him a gigantic monster, but for all that, he
+could not stay on his high, safe branch. A power stronger
+than himself drove him down. My dog stopped and drew back;
+it seemed as if he, too, respected this power. I hastened to
+call back the amazed dog, and reverently withdrew. Yes,
+don't laugh; I felt a reverence for this little hero of a
+bird, with his paternal love.</p>
+
+<p>Love, thought I, is mightier than death and the fear of
+death; love alone inspires and is the life of all.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ivan
+Tourgueneff.</span></p>
+
+<p>The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger
+hope than ever! The faint, silvery warblings heard over the
+partially bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the song
+sparrow, and the redwing, as if the last flakes of winter
+tinkled as they fell!&mdash;<span class="smcap">H. D. Thoreau.</span></p>
+
+<p>I heard a robin in the distance, the first I had heard for
+many a thousand years, methought, whose note I shall not
+forget for many a thousand more,&mdash;the same sweet, powerful
+song as of yore.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p>Walden is melting apace. A great field of ice has cracked
+off from the main body. I hear a song sparrow from the
+bushes on the shore,&mdash;<i>olit, olit, olit&mdash;chip, chip, chip,
+che char&mdash;che wis, wis, wis</i>. He, too, is helping to crack
+the ice.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p>The bluebird carries the sky on his back.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>6. One of the most interesting features of a Bird Day program will be
+the personations of birds.</p>
+
+<p>The following was given by a boy in the seventh grade:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>One day in February a gentleman and his wife stopped beside
+the wall of old Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, to listen to
+my song. The sun was shining brightly, and little white
+flowers were blooming in the green turf about the old fort.
+It was not time yet to build my nest, so I had nothing to do
+but sing and get my food and travel a little every day
+toward my Northern home.</p>
+
+<p>I am about as large as a robin, and although there is
+nothing brilliant in my plumage I am not a homely bird. I
+like the songs of other birds and sometimes sing them. I
+frequently sing like my cousins, the catbirds and robins and
+thrushes. But I have my own song, which is unlike all the
+others. My mate and I build a large nest of small sticks,
+pieces of string, cotton, and weeds, in thick bushes or low
+trees. We have five eggs that are greenish blue and spotted
+with brown. We eat many beetles, larv&aelig;, and many kinds of
+insects which we find feeding upon plants. The worst enemy
+we have is man. He steals our children almost before we have
+taught them to sing, and puts them in cages. He is a
+monster.</p>
+
+<p>Many poems have been written about me. One of the finest is
+by Sidney Lanier, in which he calls me "yon trim Shakespeare
+on the tree."</p>
+
+<p>Any one who has heard my song can never forget me.</p>
+
+<p>What is my name?</p></div>
+
+<p>7. Bird facts and proverbs form a valuable part of a program and may
+be given by some of the children. Let the pupils search for them and
+bring some similar to these:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Birds flock together in hard times.</p>
+
+<p>A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand.</p>
+
+<p>The American robin is not the same bird as the English.</p>
+
+<p>The bluebird and robin may be harbingers of spring, but the
+swallow is the harbinger of summer.</p>
+
+<p>The dandelion tells me to look for the swallow; the
+dog-toothed violet when to expect the wood thrush.&mdash;<span class="smcap">John
+Burroughs.</span></p>
+
+<p>It is not thought that any one bird spends the year in one
+locality, but that all birds migrate, if only within a
+limited range.</p>
+
+<p>A loon was caught, by a set line for fishing, sixty-five
+feet below the surface of a lake in New York, having dived
+to that depth for a fish.</p>
+
+<p>The wood pewee, like its relative, the ph&oelig;be, feeds
+largely on the family of flies to which the house fly
+belongs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The birds of prey, the majority of which labor night and day
+to destroy the enemies of the husbandman, are unceasingly
+persecuted.</p>
+
+<p>Seventy-five per cent of the food of the downy woodpecker is
+insects.</p>
+
+<p>The cow blackbird lays its eggs in other birds' nests, one
+in a nest. What happens afterwards?</p>
+
+<p>Why should not a man love a bird? If the palm of one could
+clasp the pinion of the other, there would come together two
+of the greatest implements God and nature have ever given
+any two creatures to explore the world with, and when two
+bipeds gaze at each other, eye to eye, the intelligence in
+the one might well take off its hat to the subtle instincts
+in the other.&mdash;<span class="smcap">James Newton Baskett.</span></p>
+
+<p>A bird on the bonnet means so much less bread on the table.
+A bird in the orchard is a sort of scavenger and pomologist
+combined, and does his share in giving you a dish of fruit
+for dinner. The scarlet tanager looks like a living ruby in
+a green tree; but&mdash;I speak bluntly&mdash;it looks like a chunk of
+gore on a woman's bonnet. In behalf of good taste and the
+birds, I enter my protest against this barbarous
+Custom.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Leander T. Keyser.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">What does it cost, this garniture of death?<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It costs the life which God alone can give;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It costs dull silence, where was music's breath;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It costs dead joy, that foolish pride may live.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ah, life, and joy, and song, depend upon it,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Are costly trimmings for a woman's bonnet.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">&mdash;<span class="smcap">May Riley Smith.</span></p>
+
+<p>The program may be diversified by songs about birds. Many suitable for
+this occasion will be found in a collection called "Songs of Happy
+Life," made by Sarah J. Eddy. It is published by the Nature Study
+Publishing Company, of Providence, R. I.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE POETS AND THE BIRDS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The birds are the poets' own," says Burroughs. How could it be
+otherwise? The bird, with his large brain, quick circulation, and high
+temperature, is possessed of a tropical, ecstatic soul that blossoms
+into music as naturally as a bulb bursts into bloom and fragrance. He
+is a creature of marvelous inheritance. Poetry is a true bird-land,
+where you shall hear the birds as often as in any meadow or orchard on
+a May morning. All poets have been their lovers, from the psalmist of
+old, who knew "all the birds of the mountains," to our own Lowell with
+his "Gladness on wings&mdash;the bobolink is here."</p>
+
+<p>The poets, who voice our deepest thoughts, have studied birds with the
+utmost care. It is astonishing to note the mention made of them in the
+pages of Browning, Tennyson, and in fact of every great maker of
+verse. Not merely as adjuncts of the landscape are they mentioned, but
+with intensity of feeling, as in William Watson's poem on his recovery
+from temporary loss of mind&mdash;one of the most pathetic poems ever
+written&mdash;where he thanks the Heavenly Power for letting him feel once
+again at home in nature and again related to the birds and to human
+life. Dr. Van Dyke's wish that, when his twilight hour is come, he
+"may hear the wood note of the veery" finds response in the heart of
+every one who has listened to that song. Frequently the poet seems to
+have entered into the life of the bird and to have found his inner
+secret, as Keats in the "Ode to a Nightingale":&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Immortal bird, thou wast not born for death,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No hungry generations tread thee down.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>Sometimes the words seem to have caught the rhythm and ripple of the
+song, as in Browning's reference to the thrush:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The wise thrush, he sings each song twice over,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lest you think he never could recapture<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That first fine careless rapture.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Or the bird's voice may be so suggestive as to lead the seer to the
+very limits of thought and aspiration, like Shelley's "Skylark." As we
+need the help of the naturalists, who see more accurately than we, we
+also need the assistance of the poet's clearer vision, with its wider
+and deeper sweep. How completely Sidney Lanier summed up the mocking
+bird! and how much more pleasing is the bird in the tree because of
+the bird in the poem:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Superb and sole, upon a plum&egrave;d spray<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That o'er the general leafage boldly grew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He summed the woods in song; or typic drew<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of languid doves when long their lovers stray,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And all birds' passion plays that sprinkle dew<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">At morn in brake or bosky avenue.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then down he shot, bounced airily along<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sweet science, this large riddle read me plain:&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How may the death of that dull insect be<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Recitations from the poets should be a prominent feature of Bird Day
+exercises. Readings and studies of poems about birds may be very
+profitably made a part of the literary work of the year.</p>
+
+<p>The following poems are suitable for recitation and study:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Birds' Orchestra," Celia Thaxter; "The Robin," Celia Thaxter;
+"The Song Sparrow," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The
+Raven's Shadow," William Watson; "On Seeing a Wild Bird," Alice Cary;
+"What Sees the Owl?" Elizabeth S. Bates; "Lament of a Mocking Bird,"
+Frances Anne Kemble; "The Snow-bird," Dora Read Goodale; "To a
+Seabird," Bret Harte; "The Rain Song of the Robin," Kate Upson Clark;
+"The Swallow," Owen Meredith; "A Bird at Sunset," Owen Meredith; "The
+Titlark's Nest," Owen Meredith; "The Dead Eagle," Campbell; "Ode to a
+Nightingale," John Keats; "What the Birds Said," John Greenleaf
+Whittier; "The Sandpiper," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird and the
+Rooks," Dinah Mulock Craik; "The Canary in his Cage," Dinah Mulock
+Craik; "The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Titmouse," Ralph Waldo
+Emerson; "The Stormy Petrel," Barry Cornwall; "To the Skylark," Percy
+Bysshe Shelley; "The O'Lincoln Family," Wilson Flagg; "To a
+Waterfowl," William Cullen Bryant; "Robert of Lincoln," William Cullen
+Bryant; "The Return of the Birds," William Cullen Bryant, "The Eagle,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "To the Eagle," James G. Percival; "The Forerunner,"
+Harriet Prescott Spofford; "The Skylark," James Hogg; "To the
+Skylark," William Wordsworth; "Sir Robin," Lucy Larcom; "The Pewee,"
+J. T. Trowbridge; "The Yellowbird," Celia Thaxter "The Dying Swan,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "Story of a Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The Blue Jay,"
+Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Song Sparrow," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The
+Catbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "Sparrows," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney;
+"The Ovenbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Vireos," Mrs. A. D. T.
+Whitney; "The Ovenbird," Frank Bolles; "Whip-poor-will," Frank Bolles;
+"The Veery," Henry Van Dyke; "The Song Sparrow," Henry Van Dyke; "The
+Wings of a Dove," Henry Van Dyke; "The Whip-poor-will," Henry Van
+Dyke; "To the Cuckoo," William Wordsworth; "Secrets," Susan Coolidge;
+"The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Mocking Bird," Sidney Lanier;
+"Forbearance," Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The Mocking Bird,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> Clinton
+Scollard; "The Mocking Bird," Maurice Thompson; "The Mocking Bird," R.
+H. Wilde; "The Mocking Bird," A. B. Meek; "The Mocking Bird," Albert
+Pike; "The Song of the Thrush," Edward Markham.</p>
+
+<p>This list can of course be indefinitely extended.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">IN CHURCH</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Just in front of my pew sits a maiden&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A little brown wing on her hat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With its touches of tropical azure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And sheen of the sun upon that.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Through the bloom-colored pane shines a glory<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By which the vast shadows are stirred,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But I pine for the spirit and splendor<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That painted the wing of the bird.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The organ rolls down its great anthem;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With the soul of a song it is blent;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But for me, I am sick for the singing<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of one little song that is spent.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The voice of the curate is gentle:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"No sparrow shall fall to the ground;"<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But the poor broken wing on the bonnet<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is mocking the merciful sound.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">&mdash;<i>Anonymous.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2>
+
+<h3>OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The general observance of a "Bird Day" in our schools would probably
+do more to open thousands of young minds to the reception of bird lore
+than anything else that can be devised. The scattered interests of the
+children would thus be brought together, and fused into a large and
+compact enthusiasm, which would become the common property of all.
+Zeal in a genuine cause is more contagious than a bad habit.</p>
+
+<p>The first Bird Day in the schools was celebrated on the first Friday
+in May, 1894. This is as good a date as any for the sections not in
+the extreme North or South.</p>
+
+<p>It would better come a little after the birds begin to arrive. The
+afternoon session will be found sufficient to devote to the special
+exercises. The date should be announced some time beforehand, so that
+the children may prepare for it. They will not only prepare
+themselves, but will have the whole community aroused by the sharp
+points of their inquisitorial weapons. Exercises should be held in all
+grades, from the primary to the high school.</p>
+
+<p>We quote the following from circular No. 17 sent out by the United
+States Department of Agriculture:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">OBJECT OF BIRD DAY</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>From all sides come reports of a decrease in native birds,
+due to the clearing of the forests, draining of the swamps,
+and cultivation of lands, but especially to the increasing
+slaughter of birds for game, the demand for feathers to
+supply the millinery trade, and the breaking up of nests to
+gratify the egg-collecting proclivities of small boys. An
+attempt has been made to restrict these latter causes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> by
+legislation. Nearly every State and Territory has passed
+game laws, and several States have statutes protecting
+insectivorous birds. Such laws are frequently changed and
+cannot be expected to accomplish much unless supported by
+popular sentiment in favor of bird protection. This object
+can only be attained by demonstrating to the people the
+value of birds, and how can it be accomplished better than
+through the medium of the schools?</p>
+
+<p>Briefly stated, the object of Bird Day is to diffuse
+knowledge concerning our native birds and to arouse a more
+general interest in bird protection. As such it should
+appeal not only to ornithologists, sportsmen, and farmers,
+who have a practical interest in the preservation of birds,
+but also to the general public, who would soon appreciate
+the loss if the common songsters were exterminated.</p>
+
+<p>It is time to give more intelligent attention to the birds
+and appreciate their value. Many schools already have
+courses in natural history or nature study, and such a day
+would add zest to the regular studies, encourage the pupils
+to observe carefully, and give them something to look
+forward to and work for. In the words of the originator of
+the day, "the general observance of a Bird Day in our
+schools would probably do more to open thousands of young
+minds to the reception of bird lore than anything else that
+can be devised." The first thing is to interest the scholars
+in birds in general and particularly in those of their own
+locality. Good lists of birds have been prepared for several
+of the States, and popular books and articles on ornithology
+are within the reach of every one. But the instruction
+should not be limited to books; the children should be
+encouraged to observe the birds in the field, to study their
+habits and migrations, their nests and food, and should be
+taught to respect the laws protecting game and song birds.</p></div>
+
+<p class="center">VALUE OF BIRD DAY</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>When the question of introducing Arbor Day into the schools
+was brought before the National Educational Association in
+February, 1884, the objection was made that the subject was
+out of place in the schools. The value of the innovation
+could not be appreciated by those who did not see the
+practical bearing of the subject on an ordinary school
+course. But at the next meeting of the Association the
+question was again brought up and unanimously adopted&mdash;to
+the mutual benefit of the schools and of practical forestry.
+With the advent of more progressive ideas concerning
+education there is a demand for instruction in subjects
+which a few years ago would have been considered out of
+place, or of no special value. If the main object of our
+educational system is to prepare boys and girls for the
+intelligent per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>formance of the duties and labors of life,
+why should not some attention be given to the study of
+nature, particularly in rural schools where the farmers of
+the next generation are now being educated?</p>
+
+<p>The study of birds may be taken up in several ways and for
+different purposes; it may be made to furnish simply a
+course in mental training or to assist the pupil in
+acquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be taken up
+alone or combined with composition, drawing, geography, or
+literature. But it has also an economic side which may
+appeal to those who demand purely practical studies in
+schools. Economic ornithology has been defined as the "study
+of birds from the standpoint of dollars and cents." It
+treats of the direct relations of birds to man, showing
+which species are beneficial and which injurious, teaching
+the agriculturist how to protect his feathered friends and
+guard against the attacks of his foes. This is a subject in
+which we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge,
+but it is none the less deserving of a place in our
+educational system on this account. Its practical value is
+recognized both by individual States and by the National
+Government, which appropriate considerable sums of money for
+investigations of value to agriculture. Much good work has
+been done by some of the experiment stations and State
+boards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana,
+Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In the
+United States Department of Agriculture, the Division of
+Biological Survey (formerly the Division of Ornithology)
+devotes much attention to the collection of data respecting
+the geographic distribution, migration, and food of birds,
+and to the publication and diffusion of information
+concerning species which are beneficial or injurious to
+agriculture. Some of the results of these investigations are
+of general interest, and could be used in courses of
+instruction in even the lower schools. Such facts would thus
+reach a larger number of persons than is now possible, and
+would be made more generally available to those interested
+in them.</p>
+
+<p>If illustrations of the practical value of a knowledge of
+zo&ouml;logy are necessary they can easily be given. It has been
+estimated recently that the forests and streams of Maine are
+worth more than its agricultural resources. If this is so,
+is it not equally as important to teach the best means of
+preserving the timber, the game, and the fish, as it is to
+teach students how to develop the agricultural wealth of the
+State? In 1885 Pennsylvania passed its famous "scalp act,"
+and in less than two years expended between $75,000 and
+$100,000 in an attempt to rid the State of animals and birds
+supposed to be injurious. A large part of the money was
+spent for killing hawks and owls, most of which belonged to
+species which were afterwards shown to be actually
+beneficial. Not only was money thrown away in a useless war
+against noxious animals, but the State actually paid for the
+destruction of birds of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> inestimable value to its farmers.
+During the last five or six years two States have been
+engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to exterminate English
+sparrows by paying bounties for their heads. Michigan and
+Illinois have each spent more than $50,000; but, although
+millions of sparrows have been killed, the decrease in
+numbers is hardly perceptible. A more general knowledge of
+the habits of the English sparrow at the time the bird was
+first introduced into the United States would not only have
+saved this outlay of over $100,000, but would also have
+saved many other States from loss due to depredations by
+sparrows.</p>
+
+<p>Is it not worth while to do something to protect the birds
+and prevent their destruction before it is too late? A
+powerful influence for good can be exerted by the schools if
+the teachers will only interest themselves in the movement,
+and the benefit that will result to the pupils could hardly
+be attained in any other way at so small an expenditure of
+time. If it is deemed unwise to establish another holiday,
+or it may seem too much to devote one day in the year to the
+study of birds, the exercises of Bird Day might be combined
+with those of Arbor Day.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that Bird Day can be adopted with profit by
+schools of all grades, and the subject is recommended to the
+thoughtful attention of teachers and school superintendents
+throughout the country, in the hope that they will co&ouml;perate
+with other agencies now at work to prevent the destruction
+of our native birds.</p></div>
+
+<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">T. S. Palmer</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="sig4"><i>Acting Chief of Division</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="sig1">Approved:</p>
+
+<p class="sig5"><span class="smcap">Chas. W. Dabney, Jr.</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="sig1"><span class="smcap">Washington, D. C.</span>, July 2, 1896.</p>
+
+<p>The results of Bird Day are noticeable in the schools in which it has
+been observed. The spirit of the schools has become fresher and
+brighter. There has been more marked improvement in the composition
+work and in the language of the pupils. Most of the children know the
+names of many of our birds and considerable of their ways of life, and
+wish to know more, and are their warm friends and protectors. The old
+relations between the small boy and the birds have been entirely
+changed. The birds themselves have been affected. They have become
+much more numerous. Many that were formerly rare visitants now nest
+freely in the shade trees of the city; for example, the orioles, the
+grosbeaks, the scarlet tanagers, and even the wood thrushes, and their
+nests are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> about as safe as the other homes. The children say that the
+birds know about Bird Day, and have come to help it along.</p>
+
+<p>The correlation of the public library and the public schools is
+assured in those towns where Bird Day has been introduced. If there
+were no other result of this new day, the demand for healthful
+literature would be enough. The call for Burroughs and Bradford
+Torrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and the other writers of our out-of-doors
+literature is so great as to attract attention in the libraries. In
+fact, in one the writer knows well there is a constant and steady
+demand, particularly from the boys. Frank Bolles is a great favorite
+with them. The excursions to the woods have a new and &aelig;sthetic
+interest. What would Emerson have thought when he wrote that matchless
+bit&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>if he had known that the boys of another generation would be able to
+answer as he would have liked to have them!</p>
+
+<p>The effect upon teachers is not less marked. The trip to the woods in
+the early morning and at sunset, sometimes with the children and
+sometimes in parties by themselves, has resulted in physical and
+mental good. A new and charming relation has sprung up between
+teachers and children. The tie of community of interests is a strong
+one. A taste in common is always conducive to friendship.</p>
+
+<p>The surprising thing about this new departure in nature study is that
+once taken up it will never be abandoned. There is something
+fascinating in it. One may love trees and flowers, but their processes
+and habits of growth are in a way unrelated to us; but our "little
+brothers in feathers" are kin to us in their hopes and fears.</p>
+
+<p>"When I think," said a bright woman the other day, "that this summer I
+have learned to know by plumage and by song twenty birds, and when I
+realize the delight the knowledge has given me, I feel as if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> I ought
+to go out as a missionary to the heathen women in my neighborhood."
+She did not exaggerate the feeling of every bird lover. So much is
+lost to life and good cheer by this ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>Now that the Bird Day idea is being taken up and spread by the United
+States Government in the interests of economy, it will do much to
+sweeten the lives of the coming generation. The natural impulse to
+love and watch the birds will be encouraged instead of being
+disregarded.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Emerson.</span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">No longer now the winged inhabitants<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That in the woods their sweet lives sing away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Flee from the form of man, but gather round,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And prune their feathers on the hands<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which little children stretch in friendly sport<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Towards these dreadless partners of their play.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig2">&mdash;<i>Extract from</i> <span class="smcap">Shelley's</span> <i>Queen Mab</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2>
+
+<h3>NOTES ON REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS</h3>
+
+
+<h3>KINGBIRD (<i>Tyrannus tyrannus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Bee Bird, Bee Martin, and Tyrant Flycatcher</span></h3>
+<p>Length, about eight and one-half inches; spread of wings, fourteen and
+one-half inches. The upper parts of body are a blackish ash; top of
+head, black; crown with a concealed patch of orange red; lower parts
+pure white, tinged with pale bluish ash on the sides of the throat and
+across the breast; sides of the breast and under the wings rather
+lighter than the back; the wings dark brown, darkest towards the ends
+of the quills; upper surface of the tail glossy black, the feathers
+tipped with white.</p>
+
+<p>This bird is a common summer resident of the Middle States, where it
+usually arrives the last of April. The name <i>tyrannus</i> given to it is
+descriptive of the character of the male, since during the breeding
+season he is anxious to attack everything wearing feathers. His
+particular aversion is hawks and crows, which he assails by mounting
+above his adversary and making repeated and violent assaults upon his
+head. He will even drive the eagle from his vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>The farmer could have no better protection for his corn fields than
+the near-by nest of a pair of kingbirds. They eat some honeybees, but
+for every bee thus taken they destroy ten noxious insects. They can be
+easily frightened away from the vicinity of the hives without being
+killed.</p>
+
+<p>The kingbird's nest is made of slender twigs, weed stalks, and
+grasses, and is placed among the branches of trees, fifteen to
+twenty-five feet from the ground. There are usually four or five eggs,
+white, spotted with brown. They have generally two broods a year.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_01.jpg" width="500" height="427" alt="KINGBIRD"  />
+<span class="caption">KINGBIRD</span>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>FLICKER (<i>Colaptes auratus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Yellow-hammer, Pigeon Woodpecker, Hittock, and Yucker</span></h3>
+<p>Length, twelve and one-half inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+back and wings above are of a dark umber, cross marked with streaks of
+black; parts surrounding the eyes, a bright cinnamon color; upper part
+of head, dark gray; strip of black on each side of the throat about
+one inch long; a narrow crescent-shaped spot of a vivid red upon the
+back of the head. The breast is ornamented with a broad crescent of
+black; under parts of the body, white, tinged with yellow, and having
+many round spots of black; the lower side of the wing and tail, a
+beautiful golden yellow; the rump, white.</p>
+
+<p>This bird may be easily distinguished by the white rump and the bright
+yellow under the wings seen in flight.</p>
+
+<p>Its food consists largely of wood lice, ants, of which it is very
+fond, and of other insects which it finds upon the ground or upon
+trees. The female differs from the male in appearance, the black
+strips upon the sides of the throat being very indistinct or wanting
+entirely.</p>
+
+<p>The flicker's nest, like those of other woodpeckers, may be found in
+maples, oaks, apple trees, and occasionally pines or birches. They are
+more frequently built in clusters of trees than in exposed places, and
+from ten to thirty feet from the ground. The male has been noticed
+coming to the ground and throwing chips about, so that the
+nest-building might not be observed. The eggs are plain white.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_02.jpg" width="500" height="445" alt="FLICKER"  />
+<span class="caption">FLICKER</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (<i>Melanerpes erythrocephalus</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, nine and one-half inches; extent, eighteen inches. The head
+and neck are crimson; a narrow crescent of black on the upper part of
+the breast; back, outer part of the wings, and tail, black glossed
+with blue; rump, lower part of the back, inner part of the wings, and
+the whole under parts, from the breast downwards, white; legs and
+feet, bluish green; claws, light blue. Like all woodpeckers, the tail
+feathers are sharp and stiff and help the bird to sustain itself upon
+the tree. It can strike hard blows with its bill, and drill into the
+hardest wood with rapidity and apparent ease. It will locate
+accurately the position of a grub or an insect that is within the wood
+of a tree, drill a hole to the inmate, and pull it out with its long,
+sticky tongue. The female is like the male in appearance, except that
+her colors are somewhat fainter. Woodpeckers as a class are
+beneficial, and do much to preserve trees from destructive insects.</p>
+
+<p>The red-headed woodpecker builds its nest at the bottom of a tunnel in
+a tree, dug by other birds, or adapted to use from an already existing
+cavity. The nest is a mere heap of soft, decaying wood, more attention
+being paid by the bird to securing protection against rain than in
+having the nest clean and nice. The eggs are white, speckled with
+reddish brown, and are usually six in number.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_03.jpg" width="500" height="549" alt="RED-HEADED WOODPECKER"  />
+<span class="caption">RED-HEADED WOODPECKER</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>BLUE JAY (<i>Cyanocitta cristata</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, twelve inches; extent, seventeen inches. The head is crested;
+crest and upper back are a light purplish blue; wings and tail, bright
+blue; a collar of black proceeds from the hind part of the head,
+gracefully curving down each side of the neck to the upper part of the
+breast, where it forms a crescent; the chin, throat, and under parts
+are white or slightly tinged with blue; the tail is long and composed
+of twelve feathers marked with cross curves of black, each feather
+being tipped with white, except the two middle ones, which are a dark
+purple at the ends. The legs and bill are black.</p>
+
+<p>The nest of the blue jay is large and clumsily made, and is placed
+high in the branches of tall trees, the cedar being preferred. It is
+lined with fine, fibrous roots. The eggs are four or five in number,
+of a dull olive, spotted with brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/image_04.jpg" width="550" height="368" alt="BLUE JAY"  />
+<span class="caption">BLUE JAY</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>BOBOLINK (<i>Dolichonyx oryzivorus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Ricebird, Reedbird, and Boblincoln</span></h3>
+<p>Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, twelve and one-fourth
+inches. The female is a little smaller than the male. The male has the
+top and sides of the head and under parts black; large yellowish patch
+on the back of the neck; middle of back is streaked with buff; lower
+part of the back and upper tail feathers, grayish white; wings and
+tail, black; the bill is short, conical, and is blue black. The tail
+feathers are sharp-pointed and stiff like a woodpecker's. The female
+has the upper parts olive buff streaked with black; yellowish beneath;
+two stripes on the top of head; wings and tail, brownish; tail
+feathers with pointed tips. In the autumn the male puts on a dress
+similar to that of the female, the colors being a little more
+pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is built on the ground, of grasses. It contains from four to
+seven grayish eggs, spotted with blotches of brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_05.jpg" width="500" height="542" alt="BOBOLINK"  />
+<span class="caption">BOBOLINK</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (<i>Agelaius ph&oelig;niceus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also American Redwing, Marsh Blackbird, and Swamp Blackbird</span></h3>
+<p>Length, nine and one-half inches; spread of wings, fifteen and
+one-fourth inches. The male is of a uniform black, which glistens in
+the sunshine; shoulders bright scarlet bordered with brownish yellow;
+bill, legs, and feet black. The female is smaller than the male, and
+differs greatly from him in appearance. She is dark brown above,
+streaked with lighter and darker shades; below, gray streaked with
+brown; throat and edge of wing tinged with pink or yellow, but mostly
+pink in the summer. The young male at first resembles the female, but
+may soon be recognized by black feathers appearing in patches.</p>
+
+<p>The nests, which are composed chiefly of coarse grasses lined with
+finer grass, are built upon the ground or in low bushes. Those built
+in bushes are compact, the others are generally loosely made. The eggs
+number four to six, spotted and lined with black and brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/image_06.jpg" width="550" height="467" alt="RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD"  />
+<span class="caption">RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>MEADOW LARK (<i>Sturnella magna</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Field Lark</span></h3>
+<p>Length of male, ten and one-half inches; spread of wings, sixteen
+inches. The female is smaller. The feathers above are dark brown, with
+transverse dark brown bars across the wings and tail; the outer tail
+feathers, white; the throat, breast, under parts and edge of wing,
+bright yellow. A yellow spot extends from the nostril to the eye. The
+breast has a large black crescent, the points of which reach halfway
+up the neck; hind toes long, its claws twice as long as the middle
+one. The female is like the male, but duller in color.</p>
+
+<p>Their food is various forms of insects, beetles, grasshoppers,
+cutworms, larv&aelig;, sometimes varied by the seeds of grasses and weeds,
+wild cherries, and berries.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is built upon the ground, of dried grasses, carefully
+concealed in tufts of grass. The eggs are oval, usually five in
+number; they are white, dotted with reddish brown. Both sexes engage
+in building the nest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_07.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="MEADOW LARK"  />
+<span class="caption">MEADOW LARK</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>BALTIMORE ORIOLE (<i>Icterus galbula</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Golden Robin, Firebird, and Hangbird</span></h3>
+<p>Length, about eight inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches. The
+head, throat, and upper part of the back are black; the lower part of
+the back, the breast, and forward part of the wing are a brilliant
+orange. The base of the middle tail feathers is orange, the ends
+black; all the others are orange, with a black band in the middle. The
+female is smaller, and colors are not so bright.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is composed of various materials, such as grasses, plant
+fibers, hairs, strings, which are capable of being interwoven. It is
+suspended near the end of a limb. The eggs are commonly five in
+number. They are whitish and variously marked with black and brown
+spots and lines.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_08.jpg" width="600" height="493" alt="BALTIMORE ORIOLE"  />
+<span class="caption">BALTIMORE ORIOLE</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>SONG SPARROW (<i>Melospiza fasciata</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, a little over six inches; extent, about eight and one-half
+inches. General color of the upper parts brown streaked with black,
+gray, and different shades of brown; no white wing bars; the crown
+dull brown, with a faint grayish line in the middle; white line over
+the eye; under parts whitish with numerous dark brown streaks on the
+neck, breast, and sides; a conspicuous black spot in the middle of the
+breast; bill, legs, and feet are brownish. The female is the same as
+the male.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is composed of grasses, lined with finer grass. It is built
+in a low bush or on the ground. The eggs vary greatly both in size and
+in markings. They are generally five in number, and are greenish or
+bluish white, variously spotted with brown. These birds raise two and
+sometimes three broods.</p>
+
+<p>Not to know the song sparrow is to miss one of the delights of
+summer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_09.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="SONG SPARROW"  />
+<span class="caption">SONG SPARROW</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>GOLDFINCH (<i>Spinus tristis</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Yellowbird, Thistle-bird, and Wild Canary</span></h3>
+<p>Length, five and one-fourth inches; extent, nearly nine inches. The
+back and under parts are bright yellow; wings and crown cap, black;
+tips of the wing and tail feathers, white on their inner webs. The
+male in autumn loses his black cap, and his bright yellow parts change
+to a dull brownish yellow similar to the female; the wings and tail,
+however, remain darker and the white markings are more noticeable than
+those of the female. The female has no black cap; the wings and tail
+are dusky, marked with white as in the male; lower parts, yellowish
+gray; upper parts inclining to olive.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is cup-shaped, composed of plant fibers, lined with downy
+substances. The eggs are usually five in number, white or faintly
+bluish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_10.jpg" width="500" height="575" alt="GOLDFINCH"  />
+<span class="caption">GOLDFINCH</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (<i>Habia Ludoviciana</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, eight inches; extent, thirteen inches. Back, throat, and head
+are black; breast and under wings, rose-red; wings, black; rump, white
+tipped with black. The female is about the same size as the male. Her
+upper parts are brown, margined with buff and pale brown, with whitish
+line over the eye; wings and tail, dark gray; feathers of the fore
+wing tipped with white; under parts yellowish, streaked with brown.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is a thin, flat structure made of dried grasses and small
+twigs. The eggs are greenish white with brown spots; they are usually
+four in number. These birds are said to be great destroyers of potato
+bugs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_11.jpg" width="600" height="397" alt="ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK"  />
+<span class="caption">ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CEDAR BIRD (<i>Ampelis cedrorum</i>)</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Called also Cherry Bird, American Waxwing, and Canadian Robin</span></p>
+
+
+<p>Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+head is crested; general color, grayish brown; forehead, chin, and a
+line through the eye, black; tail and wings, gray; tail tipped with
+yellow; some of the shorter wing feathers are tipped with small oblong
+beads of red, resembling sealing wax.</p>
+
+<p>These birds are fond of cherries and berries. The fruit grower can
+protect his interests by planting some choke cherries, mulberries, and
+mountain ash trees at the edges of his orchard. Cedar birds destroy
+great quantities of insects, and are entitled to a part of the fruit
+which they have helped to save.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is large and loosely made of strips of bark, leaves, grasses,
+sometimes of mud, lined with finer materials. The eggs are usually
+five in number, dull gray spotted with black and brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_12.jpg" width="500" height="498" alt="CEDAR BIRD"  />
+<span class="caption">CEDAR BIRD</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+</p>
+<h3>BROWN THRUSH (<i>Harporhynchus rufus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Brown Thrasher</span></h3>
+<p>Length, eleven and one-fourth inches; extent, thirteen inches; tail,
+five and one-half inches long. The iris is yellow; upper parts,
+reddish or cinnamon brown; lower parts, white; feathers of middle wing
+edged with white; the breast and sides strongly spotted with dark
+brown.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is a carelessly made, bulky affair, composed of rootlets,
+strips of bark, twigs, leaves, and other material. It is generally
+poorly concealed in some low tree or even in the corner of a fence.
+For this reason it is frequently broken up. The eggs, four or five in
+number, are brownish mottled with darker brown. During the nesting
+season the bird at morning and in the afternoon ascends to the tops of
+trees and pours forth his wonderful song. He has even been thought to
+be "showing off," for he will sing almost as long as any one will stay
+to listen; but he is probably attracting attention to himself in order
+to detract it from his nest, which is always somewhere within the
+circle of his song.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_13.jpg" width="600" height="483" alt="BROWN THRUSH"  />
+<span class="caption">BROWN THRUSH</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CHICKADEE (<i>Parus atricapillus</i>)</h3>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Called also Blackcap Titmouse</span></h3>
+<p>Length, five and one-half inches; extent, eight inches. The general
+color of back is ashy; the top of head, throat, and chin black; no
+crest; under parts, whitish with buff on the sides; wing and tail
+feathers edged with white; legs, bluish gray; bill, black. The song of
+this bird is an oft-repeated <i>chick-a-dee</i>, from which it takes its
+name. Its call consists of two high notes, the first one a third above
+the second, which may be easily imitated, and the bird attracted to
+the vicinity of the person answering his call.</p>
+
+<p>Its nest is made of grasses and feathers, placed in a hole in a stump
+or tree; frequently in the deserted cavity made by a woodpecker. The
+eggs, six or seven, are white, spotted with brown about the larger
+end.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_14.jpg" width="500" height="523" alt="CHICKADEE"  />
+<span class="caption">CHICKADEE</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CATBIRD (<i>Galeoscoptes Carolinensis</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, nine inches; extent, eleven and one-half inches. The general
+color is dark slate, somewhat lighter beneath; top of the head and
+tail, black; under side of tail near the base, chestnut; bill and
+feet, black; eye, brown. The female is like the male, but smaller. As
+a musician, this bird closely approaches the brown thrush. There are
+great differences in individual singers.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is bulky, composed of twigs, rootlets, dead leaves, strips of
+bark, etc. Strips of grapevine bark are quite commonly used, some
+nests being constructed almost wholly of this material. The eggs are
+generally four in number and of a greenish blue, unmarked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/image_15.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="CATBIRD"  />
+<span class="caption">CATBIRD</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>BLUEBIRD (<i>Sialia sialis</i>)</h3>
+<p>Length, six and one-half inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches.
+The upper parts, wings, and tail are bright blue; sides of the head
+and upper part of chin also blue; throat, breast, and sides, reddish
+brown; abdomen and under side of tail, white; legs and bill, blackish;
+eye, brown. The female is similarly marked, but the colors are duller.</p>
+
+<p>The bluebird's song is a continued pleasing, rich warble.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is loosely built of grasses, feathers, and soft material, in
+holes of trees, in hollows of posts, or in bird boxes. The eggs are
+light blue and are four or five in number.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_16.jpg" width="500" height="426" alt="BLUEBIRD"  />
+<span class="caption">BLUEBIRD</span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by 
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bird Day; How to prepare for it
+
+Author: Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
+Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21266]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRD DAY; HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Library of Congress)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               BIRD DAY
+
+                        HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+
+                   CHARLES A. BABCOCK, A.M., LL.B.
+
+         _Superintendent of Schools, Oil City, Pennsylvania_
+
+
+
+
+
+                     SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+
+                       NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1901,
+
+                    BY SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+
+TO THE LOVERS OF CHILDREN
+
+AND OF BIRDS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTE
+
+
+The aim of this book is to assist school children in the accurate
+study of a few birds. It is believed that if this be attained, further
+study of birds will take care of itself.
+
+Thanks are due the Audubon Society, ornithologists, educators, and
+legislators, for the generous approbation and assistance which they
+have given the Bird Day movement.
+
+Special thanks are due the Department of Agriculture for permission to
+use the illustrations in this volume. Those on pages 65, 67, 69, 71,
+73, 75, 77, 79, 85, 87, 89, 93, and 95 are printed from electrotypes
+from the original illustrations appearing in "Farmer's Bulletin," No.
+54. Those on pages 81 and 83 are from the Yearbook of the Department
+for 1899, and that on page 91 from the Yearbook for 1898. All these
+publications are issued by the Department.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I.      HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"
+
+II.     THE VALUE OF BIRDS
+
+III.    THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS
+
+IV.     PLAN OF STUDY
+
+V.      FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
+
+VI.     DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK
+
+VII.    PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY
+
+VIII.   THE POETS AND THE BIRDS
+
+IX.     OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY
+
+X.      SOME REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+BIRD DAY. HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+BIRD DAY
+
+HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"
+
+
+In the spring of 1894 the writer's attention was attracted to the
+interest of the children in that part of their nature study which
+related to birds. Their descriptions of the appearance and habits of
+the birds they had observed were given with evident pleasure. They had
+a strong desire to tell what they had seen, not in the spirit of
+rivalry, but with the wish of adding to the knowledge of a subject in
+which all were equally interested.
+
+It was thought that this work would be done with even more
+effectiveness if a day were appointed to be celebrated as "Bird Day."
+With the hope of making a memorable occasion of the day for those
+taking part in it, several of the noted friends of birds were asked to
+write something to the children, and to give their opinion of the
+introduction of "Bird Day" into the schools.
+
+Secretary J. Sterling Morton, the father of "Arbor Day," responded
+with the following earnest letter, which was at once given to the
+public through Washington dispatches, and later was sent out from the
+Department of Agriculture, in circular No. 17:--
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., April 23, 1894.
+
+MR. C. A. BABCOCK, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, OIL CITY, PA.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--Your proposition to establish a "Bird Day" on
+     the same general plan as "Arbor Day," has my cordial
+     approval.
+
+     Such a movement can hardly fail to promote the development
+     of a healthy public sentiment toward our native birds,
+     favoring their preservation and increase. If directed toward
+     this end, and not to the encouragement of the importation of
+     foreign species, it is sure to meet the approval of the
+     American people.
+
+     It is a melancholy fact that among the enemies of our birds
+     two of the most destructive and relentless are our women and
+     our boys. The love of feather ornamentation so heartlessly
+     persisted in by thousands of women, and the mania for
+     collecting eggs and killing birds so deeply rooted in our
+     boys, are legacies of barbarism inherited from our savage
+     ancestry. The number of beautiful and useful birds annually
+     slaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundreds
+     of thousands, and threatens, if it has not already
+     accomplished, the extermination of some of the rarer
+     species. The insidious egg-hunting and pea-shooting
+     proclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread and
+     destructive. It matters little which of the two agencies is
+     the more fatal, since neither is productive of any good. One
+     looks to the gratification of a shallow vanity, the other to
+     the gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure of
+     boyish energy that might be profitably diverted into other
+     channels. The evil is one against which legislation can be
+     only palliative and of local efficiency. Public sentiment,
+     on the other hand, if properly fostered in the schools,
+     would gain force with the growth and development of our boys
+     and girls, and would become a hundredfold more potent than
+     any law enacted by the State or Congress. I believe such a
+     sentiment can be developed, so strong and so universal that
+     a respectable woman will be ashamed to be seen with the wing
+     of a wild bird on her bonnet, and an honest boy will be
+     ashamed to own that he ever robbed a nest or wantonly took
+     the life of a bird.
+
+     Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without their
+     unremitting services our gardens and fields would be laid
+     waste by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt even
+     than this, for the study of birds tends to develop some of
+     the best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among them
+     we find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of the
+     love of mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities.
+     Their industry, patience, and ingenuity excite our
+     admiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music and
+     poetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appeal
+     to our aesthetic sense; their long migrations to distant
+     lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire
+     into the causes of these periodic movements; and finally,
+     the endless modifications of form and habits by which they
+     are enabled to live under most diverse conditions of food
+     and climate--on land and at sea--invite the student of
+     nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.
+
+     The cause of bird protection is one that appeals to the best
+     side of our natures. Let us yield to the appeal. Let us have
+     a Bird Day--a day set apart from all the other days of the
+     year to tell the children about the birds. But we must not
+     stop here. We should strive continually to develop and
+     intensify the sentiment of bird protection, not alone for
+     the sake of preserving the birds, but also for the sake of
+     replacing as far as possible the barbaric impulses inherent
+     in child nature by the nobler impulses and aspirations that
+     should characterize advanced civilization.
+
+Respectfully,
+
+J. STERLING MORTON,
+
+_Secretary of Agriculture._
+
+Other friends of the birds responded cordially to the request, as will
+be seen by the following letters:--
+
+WEST PARK, N. Y., April 22, 1894.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--In response to yours of the seventeenth, I
+     enclose a few notes about birds to be read upon your "Bird
+     Day"--just an item or two to stimulate the curiosity of the
+     young people. The idea is a good one, and I hope you may
+     succeed in starting a movement that may extend to all the
+     schools of the country.
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+628 HANCOCK STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y., April 25, 1894.
+
+MR. C. A. BABCOCK.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--Yours of the nineteenth is received. I am
+     delighted to know that your school children are to have a
+     "Bird Day." I wish I could be there to tell them something
+     of the delight of getting acquainted with their little
+     brothers in feathers; how much more interesting they are
+     when alive and doing all sorts of quaint and charming things
+     than when dead and made into "skins" or stuffed; and how
+     much greater is the pleasure of watching them to see how
+     they live, where they get their dinner, how they take care
+     of themselves, than of killing them, or hurting them, or
+     even just driving them away. If the boys and girls only try
+     keeping still and watching birds to see what they will do, I
+     am sure no boy will ever again want to throw a stone at one,
+     and no girl ever to have a dead bird on her hat.
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+OLIVE THORNE MILLER.
+
+CLINTON, April 30, 1894.
+
+     _My Dear Sir_,--It strikes me that your idea is a
+     particularly happy one. Should you institute a "Bird Day,"
+     the feathered tribe ought to furnish music for the occasion.
+     A chorus of robins and thrushes and a few other songsters
+     would be more appropriate than an orchestra. With thanks for
+     your cordial good wishes, I am,
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+CLINTON SCOLLARD.
+
+From the Department of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania this
+encouraging letter was received:--
+
+HARRISBURG, April 27, 1894.
+
+SUPERINTENDENT C. A. BABCOCK.
+
+     _Dear Sir_,--In your plan to inaugurate a "Bird Day" you
+     have struck a capital idea. When in the name of agriculture
+     a scalp act can be passed resulting in a year and a half in
+     the payment of $75,000 by the county treasuries of
+     Pennsylvania for the destruction of birds that were
+     subsequently proved to belong to the feathered friends of
+     the farmer, it is high time to make our pupils acquainted
+     with the habits and ways of the feathered tribes. Some birds
+     remain with us the whole year, others are summer sojourners,
+     still others are only transient visitors. How much of the
+     beauty of our environment is lost by those who never listen
+     to the music of the birds and never see the richness of
+     their plumage!
+
+     May success attend you in carrying out your new idea of a
+     "Bird Day."
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER,
+
+_Superintendent of Public Instruction_.
+
+Bradford Torrey gives an additional title to the day, showing his
+appreciation of it:--
+
+WELLESLEY HILLS, MASS., April 21, 1894.
+
+     _Dear Mr. Babcock_,--Your young people are to be
+     congratulated. "Bird Day" is something new to me--a new
+     saints' day in my calendar, so to speak. The thought is so
+     pleasing to me that I wish you had given me its date, so
+     that in spirit I might observe it with you. Tell your pupils
+     that to cultivate an acquaintance with things out of
+     doors--flowers, trees, rocks, but especially animate
+     creatures, and best of all, birds--is one of the surest ways
+     of laying up happiness for themselves; and laying up
+     happiness is even better than laying up money, though I am
+     so old-fashioned a body and so true a Yankee as to believe
+     in that also.
+
+     All the naturalists I have known have been men of sunny
+     temper. Let your boys and girls cultivate their eyes and
+     ears, and their hearts and minds as well, by the study of
+     living birds, their comings and goings, their songs and
+     their ways; let them learn to find out things for
+     themselves; to know the difference between guess-work and
+     knowledge; and they will thank you as long as they live for
+     having encouraged them in so good a cause. With all good
+     wishes for the success of your first "Bird Day"--and many to
+     come after it,
+
+Very truly yours,
+
+BRADFORD TORREY.
+
+The first observance of "Bird Day," May 4, 1894, is briefly set forth
+in the following paragraph from the _New England Journal of
+Education_:--
+
+     The day was observed in the Oil City schools with a degree
+     of enthusiasm which was good to see. The amount of
+     information about birds that was collected by the children
+     was simply amazing. Original compositions were read,
+     informal discussions were held, talks by teachers were
+     given, and the birds in literature were not forgotten or
+     overlooked. The interest was not confined to the children,
+     one gentleman surprising the classes in which his children
+     celebrated the day by presenting to them artistic programs
+     of the exercises.
+
+     It seems to those interested that the idea simply needs to
+     be made known to meet with a warm welcome, akin to that with
+     which we greet our first robin or song sparrow in the
+     spring.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE VALUE OF BIRDS
+
+
+Probably few people understand the value of birds or comprehend how
+closely and yet how extensively their lives are interwoven with other
+forms of life. The general sentiment in regard to them, at the best,
+has been that they are harmless, even interesting and beautiful
+creatures; but the idea that they are one of the most important
+classes of creation, a class upon which the existence of many other
+classes depends, has never been widely prevalent. Suppose we were
+asked which is of more use to man, the fishes of our waters or the
+birds of our forests and fields? Many of us would unhesitatingly
+answer in favor of the fishes.
+
+If all of these denizens of the rivers, lakes, and seas should be
+destroyed, it would be a stupendous calamity. Mankind would
+universally deplore it; and if the nations of the world should, at any
+time, become convinced that such a thing might occur, how quickly they
+would take all possible means to prevent it! All civilized people now
+have laws to preserve this food supply and are making expensive and
+laborious efforts to increase it. Any one who should destroy thousands
+of tons of these edible swimmers, simply for their heads and tails, or
+fins and scales, would be regarded as a dangerous person. But if our
+supposition were realized, if every fin and gill were to disappear
+from the waters of the globe, what would be the result? A misfortune,
+truly, for the fins represent a large part of the world's supply of
+food, and this loss would be felt more deeply as time went on, because
+the ocean will not raise its rent, however crowded may be the
+population of its shores. The effort to secure the fish might be
+applied, however, in other directions and be equally remunerative.
+Harvest would still follow seedtime; the gold of autumn still reward
+the shallow mines of spring.
+
+But suppose we were forced to the dreadful alternative of choosing
+between the birds and the quadrupeds, again, the most of us would
+probably decide against the birds. If the four-footed beasts should
+disappear from the earth, it would be a much greater disaster than the
+destruction of the fishes. A much larger fraction of the food supply
+would be lost; while many of these animals contribute to man's comfort
+and necessities in almost innumerable ways. Most nations have learned
+to cherish their friends with hoofs and horns, and even some of those
+with claws. Cruelty to animals is now generally forbidden by law; and
+their wanton destruction would be regarded with horror. No one would
+be permitted to slaughter large numbers of them because he might wish
+to sell their horns or ears or the tips of their tails.
+
+By the departure of the quadrupeds the life of man would be rendered
+much more difficult, but would still be possible. From fish and fowl
+he could obtain a supply of meat limited in variety, yet sufficient
+for his needs. The treasures of the vegetable world would still be
+his, though he would miss the help of his animal allies in securing
+them; but his ingenuity would help him to supply this loss, in part,
+at least.
+
+Consider now what would be the effect of the total destruction of
+birds. Birds are nature's check to the amazing power of insects to
+increase. If insect life were allowed free course, it would soon
+overpower vegetation; and plant life--and, therefore, animal life,
+including that of man--would be impossible upon this globe. This is an
+astounding conclusion, but it is sustained by the judgment of every
+man of science who has investigated the subject. How long could the
+ravages of insects be stayed were the birds gone? We should have to
+depend upon a few predaceous beetles, the bats, and upon the sprayers
+and squirtguns which throw insecticides. Think of the aesthetic loss in
+substituting these agencies for the "sweet spirits" of the wood and
+field! Besides not being musical or charming in action, they would
+not prove efficient. Birds are therefore essential to the life of man.
+
+Their preservation is not merely a matter of sentiment, or of
+education in that high and fine feeling, kindness to all living
+things. It has a utilitarian side of vast extent, as broad as our
+boundless fields and our orchards' sweep. The birds are nature's
+guarantee that the reign of the crawlers and spinners shall not become
+universal. The "plague of locusts" shall be upon those who sin against
+them.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS
+
+
+From almost all sections of the country comes the plaint that the song
+birds are fast disappearing. Less and less numerous are the yearly
+visitations of the thrushes, warblers, song sparrows, orioles, and the
+others whose habits have been so delightful and whose music has been
+so cheering to their open-eyed and open-hearted friends. Many, who
+when listening to the hymn-like cadences of the wood thrush have felt
+that the place was holy ground, are now keenly regretting that this
+vesper song is so rare; the honest sweetness of the song sparrow
+mingles with the coarser sounds less often in the accustomed places.
+Not many now find "the meadows spattered all over with music" by the
+bobolink, as Thoreau did.
+
+John Burroughs says that the bluebird is almost extinct in his section
+of country. The writer, though a frequent visitor to the fields and
+woods, has succeeded in seeing only one pair of these beautiful birds
+in two seasons, where they were abundant a few years ago, when almost
+every orchard bore a good crop of them. A friend who is a good
+observer has had the same experience. A careful exploration of the
+country within a radius of five miles resulted in the discovery of
+only two pairs of bobolinks, having their nests luckily in the same
+field. The males sang together in friendly rivalry. The sparkling,
+tinkling notes seemed to come in a rippling tumble, two or three at a
+time, from each throat. Each started his song with his feet barely
+touching his perch, his body quivering, his wings half extended, as if
+he were almost supported by the upward flow of his melody. After
+circular flights he alighted first upon one frail, swinging perch,
+then upon another, the wonderful sounds not ceasing, as if he were
+tracing magic rings of song round his home, and making them thick in
+places. It was a musical embodiment of the love of life and of its
+joyousness.
+
+The brown thrush is also absent from places where once there were
+many. A farmer in this neighborhood states that a few years ago the
+treetops near his house seemed to be filled with these fine singers.
+Now he hears only one or two during the season. Last May the writer
+found three nests at least a mile apart, but they were destroyed
+before the time of hatching, and the birds went about silent as if
+brooding upon their trouble. It is doubtful if they will build next
+season in that vicinity. No doubt the clearing away of the forests and
+the settling up of the country are responsible for the scarcity of the
+birds in part, but only in part. If they were let alone, many of the
+most interesting and useful birds would build near even our city
+homes, and our gardens and fields would again become populous with
+them.
+
+The wearing of feathers and the skins of birds for ornament is the
+chief cause of the final flight of many of our songsters. It is stated
+that a London dealer received at one time more than thirty thousand
+dead humming birds. Not only brightly colored birds, but any small
+birds, by means of dyes, may come at last to such base uses. It is
+estimated by some of the Audubon societies that ten million birds were
+used in this country in one season. All these bodies, which are used
+to make "beauty much more beauteous seem," are steeped in arsenical
+solutions to prevent their becoming as offensive to the nostrils of
+their wearers as they are to the eyes of bird lovers.
+
+The use of dead birds for adornment is a constant object lesson in
+cruelty, a declaration louder than any words that a bird's life is not
+to be respected. It is currently reported that a million bobolinks
+were destroyed in Pennsylvania alone last year to satisfy the demand
+of the milliners. If this "garniture of death" is in good taste, then
+our North American Indian in his war paint and feathers was far ahead
+of his time.
+
+Let us hope that some oracle of fashion will decree that if the
+remains of animals must be used for adornment, the skins of mice and
+rats shall be offered up. Their office seems to be principally that of
+scavengers, and their gradual but certain extinction would not matter
+if the Christian nations should become, _pari passu_, more cleanly.
+The squirrel could also be used effectively, mounted as if half
+flying, with his hind feet fastened to the velvet pedestal, or sitting
+upon his haunches with a nut between his fore paws. The squirrel's
+main concern seems to be to prevent the undue extension of the
+nut-bearing trees--an office man has already well taken upon
+himself--and besides, he destroys fruit, injures trees, and is a great
+enemy of birds. His gradual extinction would be tolerated by a
+civilized nation.
+
+All these things may take the hues of the rainbow and are capable of
+infinite variety of arrangement. There certainly seems to be no good
+reason why in a few years some combination of them may not be
+considered as effective as a row of dead humming birds. The world may
+be saved in this way from presenting a spectacle that should excite
+the pity of gods and men--the spectacle of the destruction of one of
+the most beautiful, the most harmless, and the most useful classes of
+creation, at the command of the senseless whims of fashion.
+
+Then, too, the sportsmen's guns and the small boys' slings and
+shooters of various sorts are constantly bringing down numbers of the
+feathered songsters. In many parts of our country men and boys roam
+the fields, shooting at every bird they see, and their action is
+tacitly approved by the community. This survival of the barbarous
+instinct to kill is condoned as "sport." If these people were to spend
+this time in following the birds with opera glass and notebook to
+study them, they might not be so readily understood--they might even
+be taken for mild lunatics, so utterly is public sentiment perverted
+on this subject.
+
+A little consideration shows this destruction to be more disastrous
+than at first appears. According to the latest biological science,
+every species of animals must have long ago reached the limit beyond
+which it could not greatly increase its numbers. However great its
+tendency to increase might be, its natural obstacles and enemies
+would increase in like proportions till at last the two would balance
+each other, and there could be no further increase in the number of
+individuals of that species. All classes of animals in a state of
+nature must have reached this balanced condition generations ago. This
+is true of the birds. Their natural enemies are capable of preventing
+their increase; that is, they can and do destroy every year as many as
+are hatched that year. Now if man be added as a new destructive
+agency, the old enemies, being still able to destroy as many as
+before, will soon sweep them out of existence. Warnings have been sent
+out by the United States Department of Biology that several species of
+birds are already close to extinction. We know that this is true of
+the passenger pigeon. This bird used to come North in flocks so
+extensive as sometimes to obscure the sun, like a large, thick cloud.
+Now they come no more. Italy is practically songless, we are told.
+
+If man would right the wrong that he has done, he must not only stop
+destroying the birds, but he must take all possible means to preserve
+them and to protect them from their natural foes.
+
+Laws for bird protection have been passed in many of our states; but
+these have been found effective only where they were not needed. They
+are, however, right, and will help in the development of correct
+sentiment. What is most needed is knowledge of the birds themselves,
+their modes of life, their curious ways, and their relations to the
+scheme of things. To know a bird is to love him. Birds are beautiful
+and interesting objects of study, and make appeals to children that
+are responded to with delight.
+
+Children love intensely the forms of nature--the clouds, the trees,
+the flowers, the animals--all of the great beautiful world outside of
+themselves, and it is their impulse to become acquainted with this
+world; for this they feel enthusiasm and love. Marjorie Fleming, the
+little playmate of Scott, who at the age of six could recite passages
+from Shakespeare and Burns so that the great bard would sob like a
+child or shout with laughter, may be taken as the universal voice of
+childhood. She writes in her diary, "I am going to a delightful place
+where there is ducks, cocks, hens, bubblejacks, two dogs, two cats and
+swine which is delightful." In another place she says, "Braehead is
+extremely pleasant to me by the company of swine, geese, cocks, etc.,
+and they are the delight of my soul."
+
+The waste of time in our public schools has been commented upon and
+some of the causes have been pointed out; but is not the chief reason
+the fact that much of the work of the school is unrelated to the world
+of the child? At least the child does not see the connection. He
+leaves at the threshold the things which he loves and desires
+intensely to investigate, and begins his intellectual development with
+abstractions, with "the three R's." It is said that teachers cannot
+succeed unless they love their work. How can we expect children to
+succeed and not waste time, not become disheartened at work that, so
+far as they can discover, has little more relation to their interests
+than to the mountains of the moon?
+
+We look to nature study to supply the missing links between the
+child's life and his school work; to afford opportunities for the
+interested observation of things, and to furnish a strong impulse
+toward expression. It has been well said that the best result of the
+primary schools is the power to use correctly one's own language. The
+chief obstacle in the development of this power is the want of an
+impulse to express. What can afford a stronger tendency to describe
+than the attempt to report observations that have been made with
+interest, even with delight?
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+PLAN OF STUDY
+
+
+Begin as soon after the first of January as possible. Assign two
+periods a week of from ten to twenty minutes each for bird study in
+the school. Continue the work during these periods until after the
+celebration of Bird Day in May.
+
+If no other bird is to be found, the English sparrow will answer.
+Place the following questions upon the blackboard:--
+
+THE ENGLISH SPARROW
+
+     How long is this bird from the tip of its beak to the end of
+     its tail?
+
+     What is the color of its head? Of its throat? Of its breast?
+     Of the underparts of its body? Of its back? Of its wings?
+
+     What is the length, shape, and color of its bill?
+
+     What is the color of its legs and feet? How many toes upon
+     each foot, and which way do they point? Does it walk, hop,
+     or run upon the ground? Is its tail square, or notched? Is
+     its flight even and steady, or bounding? What is the
+     difference in appearance between the male and female?
+
+The children should be directed to answer these questions from their
+own observation, at the next period of study. For the lowest grades
+two or three questions will be enough for the first attempt, and even
+then the variety of answers will be surprising.
+
+No other questions should be taken until the first are answered
+correctly.
+
+The teacher should have an opera glass or a small field glass with
+which to make her own observations. It is obvious that the more
+glasses there are among the children, the better. It is advisable for
+the teacher to make short excursions with the children to the streets
+to assist them in answering these questions. These can be made at the
+close of school. As a preparation, have some crumbs or seeds scattered
+where the birds have been seen.
+
+Continue work with these questions until each one can give a
+reasonably accurate description of the appearance of the bird and of
+its movements. Have the older pupils write this. It will make a good
+language lesson.
+
+The next questions should have reference to the life and
+characteristics of the bird. What does it eat? Put out crumbs or
+scraps of meat and see if the bird will eat them. What sounds does the
+bird make? Does it sing? Imitate as many of its sounds as you can.
+Determine from its actions what its disposition is. For example--Is it
+courageous? Is it quarrelsome? Is it inclined to fight? Is it selfish?
+
+Frequently a single incident in a bird's life will furnish an answer
+to several of these questions. Two sparrows were seen attempting to
+take possession of the same straw. Each held firmly to his end of the
+straw. A regular tug of war ensued. They pulled one another about for
+some time on the top of an awning, and finally, becoming tired of
+this, they dropped the straw and furiously attacked each other. They
+fought with beak and claw, paying no attention to the spectators, and
+fell exhausted to the sidewalk, where they lay upon their backs until
+able to hop slowly away from each other. It was some little time
+before they recovered strength to fly in opposite directions,
+conquering and unconquered.
+
+Early in March advise the children to watch the direction of the
+sparrows' flight. They will discover that some of them are carrying
+straws or feathers or other material for nest building. Notice the
+position and style of these nests. Those built early in the season are
+always in protected places, under the eaves of houses or in holes in
+trees or in bird boxes. Some of those built later are in exposed
+places, clumsy affairs, but well thatched with straw, having an
+entrance on one side. This nest building may be watched during the
+entire season, for the English sparrow raises more broods than any
+other of our birds.
+
+The interpretation of the actions which indicate any of a bird's
+characteristics is a valuable part of the study on account of its
+exercise of the imagination and the reason.
+
+A plan similar to the foregoing should be followed with each bird that
+is studied. With almost all other birds the study will be far more
+interesting. The English sparrow may be considered as the A B C of
+birds in his appearance and in the kind of life he leads. He is
+therefore a good subject to begin with. But even he will be found to
+exhibit unexpected individuality.
+
+After a few days of this study, or at least before the spring birds
+begin to arrive, direct the children to try the following experiments.
+Scatter crumbs where they may be seen from the windows. Nail cups in
+the trees containing sugar and water, and others containing seeds.
+Nail up a bone or two, and a piece of suet as large as your two hands.
+This last will be relished by the birds, for it provides the kind of
+food most needed in cold weather.
+
+Watch carefully the birds that are attracted by the food. After
+feeding awhile they will become quite tame and may be closely
+approached. Write a description of each bird upon the plan used for
+the English sparrow. Encourage the children to add any observations of
+their own which throw light upon the habits and character of the
+birds, since one object of this study is the development of right
+feeling toward them.
+
+Among the first to arrive will probably be the blue jay, chickadee, or
+black-capped titmouse, and one or more of the woodpeckers. These all
+show individual character and are well worth studying.
+
+The blue jay by his striking appearance and outlandish voice
+challenges attention. He will be found to possess some gentlemanly
+traits. To illustrate, a number of blue jays were seen taking turns,
+waiting in line, to feed upon a bone where there was room for only
+one at a time. There was no scramble, no hurrying of the one who was
+eating. The blue jay is a most devoted parent, though not considered a
+good citizen by other birds. Contrary to the usual belief, he has a
+beautiful song. It is sweet and low and almost as varied as the
+catbird's, and can be heard only a short distance. It has a
+reminiscent character, as if he were thinking of past joys.
+
+The black-capped titmouse or the chickadee is noticeable for his
+sprightliness and cheeriness, and for his trim, tailor-made
+appearance. Emerson's poem worthily celebrates his brave spirit. He
+flits around a limb and clings to it with his head up or down, with
+his feet up or down, as if his movements were not physical exertions,
+but mental efforts. His simple little song rings out at all hours of
+the coldest day.
+
+The woodpecker gives himself freely to study. One winter we frequently
+counted from twelve to fourteen children standing under the tree on
+which a little sapsucker was at work. The upturned faces of the
+children did not disturb him at all, although he was only a little
+above their heads. He drilled away as if his work in the world was the
+work which must be done. A downy woodpecker with a slightly wounded
+wing was brought into one of our schoolrooms, where he lived
+contentedly for several days, pecking a dead treetop, which the boys
+brought in for him after a good deal of thought and several
+excursions. The only food he seemed to like was sweetened water,
+although the children brought him a great variety to choose from. No
+visitor to a schoolroom ever produced a better effect. His presence,
+instead of interfering with the regular order, pleased the children,
+and they did their work even better than usual. When his wing was
+healed he was dismissed from school through the window, and his flight
+to a neighboring treetop was anxiously watched.
+
+Upon many other occasions wounded birds have been brought into our
+schools. Some recovered and others died, but each visit was an epoch
+in the life of the school.
+
+The other birds most likely to visit this feast during January are the
+flicker, crow, purple finch, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch,
+snow-flake; American crossbill, white-throated sparrow, tree sparrow,
+junco, winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, and even
+the solitary robin. The sparrow hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk may
+visit the vicinity to feed upon the other feeders. On the first of
+January I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the spire of a church in the
+heart of a city of eighteen thousand people. After selecting a victim
+from the sparrows on the street below, he calmly spread his wings and
+pounced upon him, or with no effort at concealment chased the bird
+whose flight was nearest.
+
+A female sparrow hawk wintered in the eaves of an apartment house in
+Morningside Park, New York City. English sparrow was its principal
+diet, and every morning and afternoon an observer might have seen the
+hawk soar to the park grounds on its hunting trips.
+
+A few years ago a sharp-shinned hawk visited our yard. Apparently he
+lived upon the sparrows there for several days. There was no skill in
+his hunting or effort to take the game unawares. When he wanted a bird
+he simply left his perch and captured it by speed of wing. His ease of
+flight was remarkable; as a little boy said, "He just opened his wings
+and sailed away." He stayed until the sparrows left the neighborhood.
+
+As the season advances the birds will come in greater numbers. On the
+first of April a little girl in one of our schools had identified and
+described seventeen different species of birds which she had seen in
+her yard. The same child fed a family of chipping sparrows; they
+became so tame that they would come to meet her when she came with
+crumbs, and would pick them up even when they dropped close to her
+feet. The next year this family evidently came again and raised
+another brood and brought them along to be fed, for seven and
+sometimes eight would come when she called. The English sparrow came
+also, and the little maid drove them away without the chippies being
+disturbed. A boy from one of our schools was even more fortunate. In
+his yard were a number of trees in which ample provision had been made
+for the birds. Late in April, with other kinds a pair of scarlet
+tanagers and a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks visited the trees.
+These stayed and soon seemed to feel quite at home. To the great
+delight of their neighbors, the house-dwellers, they built their
+nests, the grosbeaks in a tree near one side of the porch, the
+tanagers in one near the opposite side. They became so friendly that
+sometimes when the boy came out upon the porch and played softly on a
+mouth organ, the grosbeak's silvery warble and the tanager's loud,
+clear voice joined him.
+
+Brief written descriptions should be made by the pupils, similar to
+the following:--
+
+     BLUEBIRD.--Length, six and a half inches; extent of wings,
+     about twelve inches; color, back, azure blue; throat,
+     breast, and sides, dull crimson; underpart, white; bill and
+     legs, blackish; eye, brown; arrives early in March; leaves
+     in late November. Song, soft and pleasing warble; sings both
+     in flight and at rest; nests in holes of trees or posts, or
+     in bird houses.
+
+     CHICKADEE.--Length, about five and a half inches; extent of
+     wings, about eight inches; legs, bluish gray; bill, black;
+     back, brownish gray; throat, chin, and top of head, black;
+     sides of head, white; underparts, whitish; wing and tail
+     feathers margined with white; nests in holes in trees and
+     stumps. The common name arises from their familiar note of
+     "chic-a-dee-dee."
+
+     CATBIRD.--Length, nine inches; extent of wings, eleven and a
+     half inches; bill and feet, black; eye, brown; color, slate
+     color, somewhat lighter beneath; top of head and tail,
+     black; reddish under the wings; arrives in May, leaves in
+     October; nests in bushes; lives in gardens and woodside
+     thickets; has a sharp cry not unlike the mewing of a cat,
+     but is a gifted songster.
+
+     MEADOW LARK.--Length, about ten and a half inches; extent of
+     wings, about sixteen and a half inches; female is smaller;
+     body, thick and stout; legs, large; hind toe reaches out
+     beyond the tail, its claw twice as long as the middle one;
+     bill, brown, lighter at the base, dark towards the point;
+     feet and legs, light brown; throat, breast, and edge of
+     wing, bright yellow; breast with a large black crescent;
+     nests on the ground in the open field; clumsy in flight and
+     in walking; song, a plaintive whistle; arrives in March,
+     leaves in October.
+
+     BARN SWALLOW.--Length, six and three fourths inches; spread
+     of wings, twelve and a half inches; bill, black; legs and
+     feet, light brown; color, upper parts glossy steel blue;
+     tail, very deeply forked, outer tail feathers much longer
+     and narrower than the others; forehead, chin, and throat,
+     deep chestnut; rest of the underparts lighter; nests usually
+     in barns.
+
+     WOOD THRUSH.--Length, eight inches; spread of wings,
+     thirteen inches; legs and feet, flesh-colored; bill,
+     blackish, lighter at base; upper parts cinnamon brown,
+     brightest on top of the head, and shading into olive near
+     the tail; lower parts white and marked with roundish, dusky
+     spots; arrives the first of May, leaves in October. Song
+     consists of sweet, ringing, bell-like notes.
+
+Later these outlines should be expanded into free descriptions,
+containing all that the pupil has learned about the bird, his habits,
+his character, and his life.
+
+Each school should aim to possess a bird manual, for the
+identification of the species. The following are recommended as
+sufficient for the purpose: "Birds of the United States," by A. C.
+Apgar; "Birds of Eastern North America," by Frank M. Chapman; "Bird
+Craft," by Mabel Osgood Wright; "Birds of Pennsylvania," second
+edition, by Warren (this may possibly be obtained at second-hand
+bookstores); "Our Common Birds and How to Know Them," by Grant. The
+report of your own state upon birds, if there is one, will also
+furnish valuable information.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
+
+
+Direct the children to put up boxes for martins, bluebirds, and wrens.
+These may be also put up around the schoolhouses, if fortunately there
+is a yard with trees. Boxes for the martins should be large,
+containing fifteen or more compartments, each ten inches high by eight
+wide and eight deep, and each having a separate entrance. The martin
+box or house should be placed twenty feet from the ground, upon the
+top of a strong post or platform sustained by four smaller posts. If
+vines are planted at the foot of the supports, they will be ornamental
+and will make the houses more attractive to the birds. The English
+sparrows will occupy these compartments; but if the martins conclude
+to take possession they will push out the sparrows and their
+belongings without assistance. Every spring I am amused in watching
+the summary process of ejectment which the martins serve upon the
+sparrows that have taken possession of their houses. In the morning
+the sparrows may be in undisturbed possession, but by afternoon the
+martins occupy their old quarters, having pushed out the nests of the
+sparrows with their eggs or young.
+
+The boxes for bluebirds and wrens should be smaller and have only one
+compartment. They should be nailed in the tops of trees. If the
+English sparrows build in them their nests should be broken up; and
+this repeatedly, so long as they persist in building. If this is not
+done the wrens and bluebirds will not come. They are incapable of
+coping with the sparrows.
+
+Note when the different birds arrive in the spring, making in this way
+a bird calendar.
+
+Notice also when the birds gather together into flocks in the late
+summer or autumn, preparatory to taking their leave. The last bird of
+his kind to leave should be as carefully noted as the first to arrive
+in your calendar. Distinguish carefully the birds of passage that stop
+only a short time to rest on their journeys north and south, and those
+that stay and help to make the summer.
+
+You will need to make frequent excursions afield, always taking your
+notebook. Take first a small area and master the birds in that; then
+gradually extend your territory. You can take no more healthful or
+happy exercise. It will greatly increase the interest of children in
+all their school duties if their teachers make occasional bird
+journeys with them. Limit the size of the party to that number which
+will keep still as a mouse while in bird-land. Encourage the children
+also to make frequent excursions by themselves, in parties of three or
+four. Instruct them to have the sun at their backs and to carry if
+possible one glass with each party. Reports of these excursions can be
+made in school, while particular attention should be given to the
+exchange of the knowledge of bird haunts. This can be done during the
+period devoted to bird study.
+
+Direct the party of excursionists to observe the same birds, notebook
+in hand, and let each one immediately put down what he actually sees.
+Afterward compare results. In this way improvement will be made in
+rapidity and accuracy of observing.
+
+There are two ways by which birds may be closely approached. The first
+is to go to some locality where birds have been seen and to stand or
+sit in perfect quiet and wait for them to come. We have known some of
+the shyest wood birds to come within a few feet of the motionless
+observer. It is not an uncommon thing for one who waits to be able to
+look directly into the eyes of the American redstart, the
+chestnut-sided and golden-winged warbler, the wood thrush, catbird,
+and of almost any other of the birds.
+
+If one can imitate the owl and make a fair "hoot," otherwise keeping
+still, he may attract many birds that will feel bound to settle the
+question of his identity. A young friend of mine, by a good imitation
+of a blue jay's quack, finds many little woods' folks peering at him
+from the trees which he might not otherwise see. The "smack" which is
+produced by violently kissing the back of the closed fingers will call
+many birds from their hiding places, especially during the nesting
+season. The sound is similar to that of a bird in distress.
+
+The second method is to follow a bird very quietly and slowly, being
+careful not to make any motions which would startle him. In this way a
+shore lark has been followed all over a field, the observer gradually
+coming near enough to the bird to see what he was doing, and to watch
+his movements as he pulled the larvae of beetles out of the ground,
+cracked their cases, and ate the contents. All birds that feed in the
+fields, the meadow larks, the plovers, and the sparrows, may be
+studied in the same way.
+
+It is commonly thought to be difficult to get close to the veery. On
+one occasion, while the writer and a companion were resting from a
+long ramble, the air was suddenly suffused with the songs of veeries.
+The music seemed to fill the woods, as an organ seems to fill the
+church with sound. It was weird and suggestive and never to be
+forgotten. The still, deep woods seemed like enchanted ground where
+nothing evil could come. After some search we saw one of the birds in
+a tree not far from us. As we approached him he flew to another tree.
+We humbly followed on foot from tree to tree, when to our surprise he
+stopped on a low tree on the outskirts of the wood and allowed us to
+come almost within reach of him, and to stand wonder-stricken while he
+sang in answer to his companions. We stayed for twenty minutes
+motionless. It was difficult to believe that this bird was singing.
+His notes had a ventriloquous effect, his beak was scarcely parted,
+and it was only by the trembling of the feathers of his throat that we
+were sure the song came from him. Since this time we have frequently
+found the veeries; in fact one locality is known to us as Veeryville.
+
+It is not necessary to live in the country in order to be a bird
+student and to carry out the suggestions here given. All the large
+cities have parks where birds may be observed and be encouraged to
+become friendly to the observer. Central Park in New York is the home
+of a great variety of birds. Bronx Park is said to be a paradise for
+them. On Boston Common most of the birds which come to that latitude
+have been seen. There is no city so poor that it cannot boast of a few
+birds in its vicinity.
+
+Great interest and delight may be added to the study of birds by the
+use of the camera. If the teacher or one of the older pupils is so
+fortunate as to have a kodak and will take it when visiting the woods,
+or will focus it upon birds in the dooryard, the pictures may possess
+much value. To attempt to "take" a bird in flight is, of course, a
+difficult matter, though it may be done; but birds upon the nest,
+birds feeding their young, or in the trees above the nest, evidently
+protecting it, have been successfully taken. Birds' nests with the
+eggs in make most fascinating pictures. At an entertainment given by
+the Pennsylvania Audubon Society in Philadelphia in December, 1898,
+the audience with one accord cheered the picture of a nest which was
+thrown upon a screen.
+
+Work of this kind is especially adapted for high schools, and there
+are sure to be several painstaking amateurs among the pupils. To
+possess genuine value from the point of view of the naturalist, the
+pictures should not be touched up, no matter how much artistic beauty
+might thus be given to them; they should be entirely true to nature.
+
+On no account should children be encouraged to make collections of
+birds or of eggs. The only objection the author has felt to the very
+fine bird manuals before the public is that they contain minute
+directions for the preparation of dead birds for purposes of mounting
+and preservation, and also for the collection and preservation of
+birds' eggs. If this were to cause the school children of the country
+to set out to make collections of birds and of eggs in order to study
+them, the study would better be omitted. Nothing more deadly than an
+opera glass should be aimed at a bird for a generation. The utility
+of a collection is not so great; a dead bird's plumage is not as
+beautiful as in life, and he loses every attitude and movement which
+makes him an individual. A corpse is not a bird. Persons who can
+identify birds by one glimpse of them through the trees, or by a few
+notes of their song, or by their flight are frequently at a loss to
+identify the same birds when they are dead, unless they are familiar
+with the dead birds.
+
+The only collection the children should be encouraged to make is that
+of nests after the birds are through with them; and especially of
+nests with whose family history they are acquainted. These may be
+brought into the schoolroom. In one of our school yards the children
+discovered a pair of red-eyed vireos building. The nest was so
+situated that it could be seen from one of the upper schoolroom
+windows. After the young had left, the nest was taken down, and to the
+pleasure which the children had enjoyed in watching its builders and
+their family was added another. They found in the bottom of the nest
+little bits of the papers they had used in school with their letters
+and figures upon them.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK
+
+
+Have the children give anecdotes about birds that they have observed.
+Let them describe actions which they saw them perform, paying
+particular attention to the ways of birds in eating. For example,
+sparrows were observed carrying hard crusts of bread to a little pool
+of water, formed in a dent in a tin roof, to soften before attempting
+to eat them. Day after day crusts were put out, and the water was
+renewed.
+
+_Written descriptions of birds feeding their young._--Young birds live
+entirely upon insect life. It has been computed that a bird during the
+first few weeks of its life consumes nearly one and one half times its
+weight of insects daily. Note the amazing amount of insect life that
+will be destroyed by the birds of a neighborhood in a single season.
+Give, if possible, illustrations from your own observation. A robin
+was noticed feeding one of its young, which sat on a limb with its
+mouth open, crying for more, except when it was stopped with food. The
+parent came with her beak filled with worms twenty-seven times in less
+than as many minutes, and then left her child seemingly as hungry as
+ever, for he complained and hopped along the limb, keeping a sharp
+lookout for several minutes. That chick must have been as full of
+worms as a fisherman's bait-box. Picture the condition of our lawns,
+gardens, and groves if all the birds were suddenly banished and the
+insects held full sway. In this connection, the writer should study
+and make quotations or abstracts from "The Birds of Killingworth," by
+Longfellow.
+
+In a recent lecture, Prof. Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia, cited many
+facts to show that birds are nature's great check on the excess of
+insects, and that they keep the balance between plants and insect
+life. Ten thousand caterpillars, it has been estimated, could destroy
+every blade of grass on an acre of cultivated ground. In thirty days
+from the time it is hatched an ordinary caterpillar increases 10,000
+times in bulk, and the food it lives and grows on is vegetable. The
+insect population of a single cherry tree infested with aphides was
+calculated by a prominent entomologist at no less than twelve million.
+The bird population of cultivated country districts has been estimated
+at from seven hundred to one thousand per square mile. This is small
+compared with the number of insects, yet as each bird consumes
+hundreds of insects every day, the latter are prevented from becoming
+the scourge they would be but for their feathered enemies.
+
+Mr. E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist of the Board of Agriculture of
+Massachusetts, states that the stomachs of four chickadees contained
+1,028 eggs of the cankerworm. The stomachs of four other birds of the
+same species contained about 600 eggs and 105 female moths of the
+cankerworm. The average number of eggs found in twenty of these moths
+was 185; and as it is estimated that a chickadee may eat thirty female
+cankerworm moths per day during the twenty-five days which these moths
+crawl up trees, it follows that in this period each chickadee would
+destroy 138,750 eggs of this noxious insect.
+
+A pamphlet issued by the Department of Agriculture of the United
+States says that the cuckoo, which is common in all the Eastern
+States, has been conclusively shown to be much given to eating
+caterpillars, and, unlike most birds, does not reject those that are
+covered with hair. In fact, cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillars
+that the hairs pierce the inner lining of their stomach and remain
+there, so that when the stomach is opened and turned inside out, it
+appears to be lined with a thin coating of hair. This bird also eats
+beetles, grasshoppers, sawflies, and spiders. It turns out from the
+investigations of the department that the suspicion with which all
+farmers look upon woodpeckers is undeserved by that bird. These birds
+rarely leave an important mark upon a healthy tree, but when a tree
+is affected by wood-boring larvae the insects are accurately located,
+dislodged, and devoured. In case the holes from which the borers are
+taken are afterward occupied and enlarged by colonies of ants, these
+ants are drawn out and eaten. Woodpeckers are great conservators of
+forests, and to them more than to any other agency is due the
+preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.
+
+The department defends the much-abused crow and states that he is not
+by any means the enemy of the farmer, in which role he is generally
+represented. The pamphlet shows that he is known to eat frogs, toads,
+salamanders, and some small snakes, and that he devours May beetles,
+June bugs, grasshoppers, and a large variety of other destructive
+insects. It is admitted that he does some damage to sprouting corn,
+but this can be prevented by tarring the seed, which not only saves
+the corn, but forces the crow to turn his attention to insects.
+
+_Insects injurious to vegetation._--Essays may be written describing
+some of the insects injurious to fruit trees; also the birds that feed
+largely upon these insects--the warblers, thrushes, orioles, wrens,
+woodpeckers, vireos, and others. Tell, if possible, from your own
+observation, of their curious, but effective, ways of finding their
+food. Describe how the birds inspect the trees, limb by limb and bud
+by bud, in their eager search for the eggs, larvae, and mature forms of
+insects. Note, especially, the oriole as he runs spirally round a
+branch to the very tip, then back to the trunk, treating branch after
+branch in the same way, till the whole tree has been thoroughly
+searched, almost every bud having been in the focus of those bright
+eyes. It is hard to describe which is the more beautiful--their
+brilliant, flaming colors or their bugle-like bursts of music. Is the
+woodpecker's drumming, and apparent listening with the side of his
+head turned to the tree, all for fun, and nothing for reward?
+
+_Birds that feed upon the potato beetle._--The grosbeaks and the
+tanagers. Describe these. Why are these and other brightly colored
+birds so shy? What has been the effect of the extensive killing of
+them for ornament, and the equally cruel practice of securing their
+young to be kept in cages? Note how much more attractive our fields
+and gardens would be if these beautiful beings were common in them,
+and by their quaint ways were "teaching us manners."
+
+_Personations of birds._--Ask the children to write "personations" of
+birds, as if the writer were the bird. Give them the following
+directions: Write in the first person. Describe yourself as accurately
+as you are able, without telling your name. Tell of your habits and
+manner of life, your summer and winter homes, your home cares--your
+nest building, your parental joys and anxieties, the enemies you have
+to avoid. Mention at some length the trouble you take to give your
+little ones a good start in life, and to enable them to earn their own
+living. Describe your songs, and try to indicate why they differ, and
+what you mean by each one. Try to present a somewhat complete picture
+of the bird and its life, from the bird's point of view. At the close
+of your personation the hearers may vote upon the name of the bird
+presented.
+
+A family of birds may also be described, as if they were persons,--and
+are they not? A very fine model of this kind of work is "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.
+
+Have essays written upon the following subjects:--
+
+     Are there birds that do not sing?
+
+     What is the attitude of other birds to the owl?
+
+     Is any country too cold, or any too warm, for birds?
+
+     Have birds individuality?
+
+     What is the largest bird of North America?
+
+     The smallest?
+
+     What laws has your state made about birds?
+
+     Ought the "government to own" the birds? (That is, make laws
+     for their protection.)
+
+     Is the blue jay wicked?
+
+     What birds walk?
+
+     Do birds travel at night, during their migrations?
+
+Beginning in March, note for several days the different kinds of birds
+you see, which were not seen the day before. Make at least two
+observations daily, one in the morning and one after school. When is
+the greater number of new birds seen, in the morning or in the
+afternoon? Or, if you live in a comparatively quiet neighborhood, even
+in a large city, go out at night and listen for bird sounds in the
+air. You need not go far to make this trial--your own back door "opens
+into all outdoors."
+
+     What states have established a Bird Day by law?
+
+     Is woman cruel or only thoughtless?
+
+     Do robins raise more than one brood in a season? If so, do
+     they use the same nest twice? If they raise two broods, what
+     becomes of the first, while the mother is sitting upon the
+     eggs for the second?
+
+Watch for a robin leading out his family. Notice the feeding, after
+the birds are large enough to run and fly fairly well. The young birds
+are placed apart, and kept apart by the parent, who visits each one in
+turn, and rebukes any who tries to be piggish, sometimes rapping it
+with his bill when it runs out of turn. Notice this parent teaching
+the young to sing. It is a very interesting sight.
+
+     What birds have you heard sing at night?
+
+More birds sing at night than is commonly supposed. The female robin
+calls to her mate frequently during the night, and he responds with a
+song. The catbird also sings at night. Last May one was heard to sing
+three nights in succession from eleven o'clock until daylight in
+response to little complaining calls from his mate. The song sparrow,
+warblers, and many other birds sing at night. Their songs at these
+times sound as if the bird were sleepy and reluctant to sing, or as if
+he were startled and were hurrying through the performance. Make a
+note of songs heard at night and try to determine the cause. Learn to
+distinguish the call of the female from the song of the male.
+
+_The kinds of nests._--What birds are weavers? What ones are masons or
+plasterers? What ones are tailors, in the construction of their nests?
+
+Find a pair of birds engaged in nest building; robins may generally be
+found. Learn to distinguish the male from the female in appearance, as
+well as voice. Notice what materials they are using. Which bird takes
+the lead in building? What does the other bird do? Does he ever carry
+material, or does he simply act as escort? Does he ever protect his
+mate from other birds?
+
+Write this out, carefully drawing your conclusions from your own
+observations. After the young birds have left the nest and have no
+further use for it, you may take the nest and examine it closely. You
+will find that while there is a similarity in the nests of the same
+kind of birds, they differ considerably in the materials of which they
+are composed. For example, the typical robin's nest consists of straws
+and hairs plastered together with mud and lined with some soft
+material, but others have been found made entirely of raveled rope;
+others of carpet rags. The bird evidently is not guided in this matter
+by blind instinct, but uses its reason in adapting materials that are
+at hand.
+
+If you are fortunate you may find a pair of orioles building their
+nest. Place some bright-colored yarn or string in pieces of convenient
+length where the birds will see them. Some of them are almost sure to
+be woven into the nest. The oriole's nest may be attached to a limb by
+two or more cords; if it is, notice how it is prevented from swinging
+by side ropes. You will find it guyed against the prevailing winds.
+The oriole frequently ties several twigs together, and so uses these
+to suspend his nest. Notice the nest pouch; those built near houses
+are quite shallow; those near forests are much deeper. Can you tell
+why?
+
+_The wings of birds._--Describe the different kinds, as short and
+round, or long and slender, and the effect of the wing-shape upon the
+bird's motion in the air. Describe the flights of different birds.
+
+_Songs of birds._--Write the syllables which seem to you to express
+the different songs of birds. Notice the different songs of the same
+bird. A song sparrow was observed to have twelve different songs. He
+sang each one several times over, as if each song had a number of
+verses. Then changing his position, he would sing another. To most
+ears the robin's song is always the same, but close attention
+discovers that there are variations. Many birds are genuine musicians
+and compose as they sing, not having formal songs.
+
+_Free description of birds._--Write description of some bird of your
+acquaintance, noting the following:--
+
+_Its appearance._--Color, gait, flight, size from tip of beak to end
+of tail, spread of wings.
+
+_Its common name._--Why given?
+
+_Time of arrival and departure._
+
+_Character._--Is it trustful, or shy and retiring?
+
+_Song._--Season when song is most frequent, also times of day. Does it
+consist of many or only a few notes? Is it cheery, like the robin's,
+or tuneful, like the thrush's, or rollicking and rapturous, like the
+bobolink's, or a Romanza, like the catbird's? Notice the different
+emotion sounds, the notes of fear, of parental or conjugal reprimand,
+of joy, of anger, of deep sorrow, made by the bird at times.
+
+_Food._--Insects (kinds), seeds, fruit, etc.
+
+_Nest._--Where placed, how made?
+
+_Incidents._--From the writer's knowledge of the bird.
+
+_This bird in literature._--What writers have described, what poets
+have immortalized him? How did they characterize him?
+
+Some of the following books are almost indispensable to one who wishes
+to know the birds:--
+
+"Wake Robin," John Burroughs; "Birds and Poets," John Burroughs; "The
+Birds and Seasons of New England," Wilson Flagg; "Upland and Meadow,"
+Charles C. Abbott; "Bird Ways," Olive Thorne Miller; "Birds through an
+Opera Glass," Florence A. Merriam; "Birds in the Bush," Bradford
+Torrey; "The Birds About Us," Charles C. Abbott; "From Blomidon to
+Smoky," Frank Bolles.
+
+Recent magazines should be searched and the current ones scrutinized
+for articles by any of the above-named writers.
+
+_Destruction of birds._--Find out how many birds are annually
+slaughtered in the United States, and for what purposes.
+
+In the report of the American Ornithologist Union published in 1886,
+it was estimated that about five million birds were annually required
+to fill the demand for the ornamentation of the hats of the American
+women. In 1896 it was estimated that the number thus used was ten
+million. "The slaughter is not confined to song-birds; everything that
+wears feathers is a target for the bird butcher. The destruction of
+40,000 terns in a single season on Cape Cod, a million rail and reed
+birds (bobolinks) killed in a single month near Philadelphia, are
+facts that may well furnish food for reflection. The swamps and
+marshes of Florida are well known to have become depopulated of their
+egrets and herons, while the state at large has been for years a
+favorite slaughter ground of the milliners' emissaries." An article in
+_Forest and Stream_, speaking of the destruction of birds on Long
+Island, states that during a short period of four months 20,000 were
+supplied to the New York dealers from a single village.
+
+The Audubon Society of Massachusetts has looked up the figures and
+reports that "it is proved that into England alone between 25,000,000
+and 30,000,000 birds are imported yearly, and that for Europe the
+number reaches 150,000,000. Hence, the fashionable craze has annually
+demanded between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 birds. From the East
+Indies alone a dealer in London received 400,000 humming birds, 6,000
+birds of paradise, and 400,000 miscellaneous birds. In an auction
+room, also in London, within four months, over 800,000 East and West
+Indian and Brazilian bird skins, besides thousands of pheasants and
+birds of paradise, were put up for sale."
+
+This demand for birds has been going on for a quarter of a century,
+and billions of rich-plumaged creatures have been slaughtered to meet
+it, and several of the feathered tribes have been exterminated.
+
+Write to the following for literature upon the destruction of birds:--
+
+Humane Education Committee, 61 Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.;
+George T. Angell, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the Massachusetts
+Audubon Society, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the New York Audubon
+Society at New York; Secretary of the Department of Agriculture,
+Washington, D. C.; Secretary of the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania at
+Philadelphia; also write to the Department of Agriculture of your own
+state.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY
+
+
+A Bird Day exercise, in order to have much value educationally, should
+be largely the result of the pupils' previous work, and should not be
+the mere repetition of a prepared program taken verbatim from some
+paper or leaflet. It is, of course, better to have the pupils recite
+this leaflet or list of statements than it would be to have it ground
+out of a phonograph. The program should be prepared by the pupils
+under direction of the teacher.
+
+The following general suggestions are offered:--
+
+1. For the first observance of this day by a school it would be well
+to have some pupil read Senator Hoar's petition of the birds to the
+Legislature of Massachusetts.
+
+PETITION OF THE BIRDS
+
+_Written by Senator Hoar to the Massachusetts Legislature_
+
+The petition which was instrumental in getting the Massachusetts law
+passed, prohibiting the wearing of song and insectivorous birds on
+women's hats, was written by Senator Hoar. The petition read as
+follows:--
+
+     To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of
+     Massachusetts: We, the song birds of Massachusetts and their
+     playfellows, make this our humble petition. We know more
+     about you than you think we do. We know how good you are. We
+     have hopped about the roofs and looked in at your windows of
+     the houses you have built for poor and sick and hungry
+     people, and little lame and deaf and blind children. We have
+     built our nests in the trees and sung many a song as we flew
+     about the gardens and parks you have made so beautiful for
+     your children, especially your poor children to play in.
+     Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping all
+     the time where the sun is bright and warm. And we know that
+     whenever you do anything the other people all over this
+     great land between the seas and the Great Lakes find it out,
+     and pretty soon will try to do the same. We know. We know.
+
+     We are Americans just the same as you are. Some of us, like
+     you, came across the great sea. But most of the birds like
+     us have lived here a long while; and the birds like us
+     welcomed your fathers when they came here many, many years
+     ago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their best to
+     please your fathers and mothers.
+
+     Now we have a sad story to tell you. Thoughtless or bad
+     people are trying to destroy us. They kill us because our
+     feathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls, who we
+     should think would be our best friends, kill our brothers
+     and children so that they may wear our plumage on their
+     hats. Sometimes people kill us for mere wantonness. Cruel
+     boys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our young
+     ones. People with guns and snares lie in wait to kill us; as
+     if the place for a bird were not in the sky, alive, but in a
+     shop window or in a glass case. If this goes on much longer
+     all our song birds will be gone. Already we are told in some
+     other countries that used to be full of birds, they are now
+     almost gone. Even the nightingales are being killed in
+     Italy.
+
+     Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this and will save
+     us from this sad fate. You have already made a law that no
+     one shall kill a harmless song bird or destroy our nests or
+     our eggs. Will you please make another one that no one shall
+     wear our feathers, so that no one shall kill us to get them?
+     We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls are pretty
+     enough without them. We are told that it is as easy for you
+     to do it as for a blackbird to whistle.
+
+     If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times over. We
+     will teach your children to keep themselves clean and neat.
+     We will show them how to live together in peace and love and
+     to agree as we do in our nests. We will build pretty houses
+     which you will like to see. We will play about your garden
+     and flower beds--ourselves like flowers on wings, without
+     any cost to you. We will destroy the wicked insects and
+     worms that spoil your cherries and currants and plums and
+     apples and roses. We will give you our best songs, and make
+     the spring more beautiful and the summer sweeter to you.
+     Every June morning when you go out into the field, oriole
+     and bluebird and blackbird and bobolink will fly after you
+     and make the day more delightful to you. And when you go
+     home tired after sundown, vesper sparrow will tell you how
+     grateful we are. When you sit down on your porch after dark,
+     fifebird and hermit thrush and wood thrush will sing to you;
+     and even whip-poor-will will cheer you up a little. We know
+     where we are safe. In a little while all the birds will come
+     to live in Massachusetts again, and everybody who loves
+     music will like to make a summer home with you.
+
+The signers are:--
+
+Brown Thrasher,
+Robert o' Lincoln,
+Hermit Thrush,
+Vesper Sparrow,
+Robin Redbreast,
+Song Sparrow,
+Scarlet Tanager,
+Summer Redbird,
+Blue Heron,
+Humming Bird,
+Yellowbird,
+Whip-poor-will,
+Water Wagtail,
+Woodpecker,
+Pigeon Woodpecker,
+Indigo Bird,
+Yellowthroat,
+Wilson's Thrush,
+Chickadee,
+Kingbird,
+Swallow,
+Cedar Bird,
+Cowbird,
+Martin,
+Veery,
+Chewink,
+Vireo,
+Oriole,
+Blackbird,
+Fifebird,
+Wren,
+Linnet,
+Pewee,
+Phoebe,
+Yoke Bird,
+Lark,
+Sandpiper.
+
+It should be noted that the result of this petition was the passage of
+a law by the Legislature of Massachusetts forbidding the wearing of
+parts of wild birds. A bill forbidding the transportation of feathers
+or the skins of birds from one state to another was also introduced by
+Senator Hoar in the United States Senate.
+
+2. At this first exercise it would be well to have read "Our New
+Neighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.
+
+3. The best essays that have been written by the pupils during their
+preliminary study may be given. If the school has not made this
+preliminary study, select subjects and have essays written according
+to the directions already given, allowing as much time as possible for
+original observations.
+
+4. Have recitations from the poets. These will add a peculiar charm to
+the occasion. A short list of suitable poems will be given. Many
+others may be found in a book called "Voices of the Speechless,"
+published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+The works of John Burroughs, Bradford Torrey, Maurice Thompson, Mrs.
+Olive Thorne Miller, and Dr. C. C. Abbott abound in passages which are
+excellent for recitation. It is surprising how familiar the best-known
+novelists have been and are with birds. In appreciation of them they
+are second only to the poets. Charles Reade's description of the
+lark's song in the mines of Australia, in "Never Too Late to Mend," is
+an inspiring recitation.
+
+5. Short quotations from well known authors should be given, if
+possible, by every pupil in the school. We give a few taken almost at
+random:--
+
+     Away over the hayfield the lark floated in the blue, making
+     the air quiver with his singing; the robin, perched on a
+     fence, looked at us saucily and piped a few notes by way of
+     remark; the blackbird was heard, flute-throated, down in the
+     hollow recesses of the wood; and the thrush, in a holly tree
+     by the wayside, sang out his sweet, clear song that seemed
+     to rise in strength as the wind awoke a sudden rustling
+     through the long woods of birch and oak.--WILLIAM BLACK, in
+     _Adventures of a Phaeton_.
+
+     We seemed to hear all the sounds within a great compass--in
+     the hedges and in the roadside trees, far away in woods or
+     hidden up in the level grayness of the clouds: twi, twi,
+     trrrr-weet!--droom, droom, phloee!--tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck,
+     feer!--that was the silvery chorus from thousands of
+     throats. It seemed to us that all the fields and hedges had
+     but one voice, and that it was clear and sweet and
+     piercing.--WILLIAM BLACK, _Ibid._
+
+     Silvia could hear the twittering of the young starlings in
+     their nests as their parents went and came carrying food,
+     and the loud and joyful "tirr-a-wee, tirr-a-wee, prooit,
+     tweet!" of the thrushes, and the low currooing of the wood
+     pigeon, and the soft call of the cuckoo, that seemed to come
+     in whenever an interval of silence fitted. The swallows
+     dipped and flashed and circled over the bosom of the lake.
+     There were blackbirds eagerly but cautiously at work, with
+     their spasmodic trippings, on the lawn. A robin perched on
+     the iron railing eyed her curiously and seemed more disposed
+     to approach than to retreat.--WILLIAM BLACK, in _Green
+     Pastures and Piccadilly_.
+
+     A jay fled screaming through the wood, just one brief
+     glimpse of brilliant blue being visible.--WILLIAM BLACK,
+     _Ibid._
+
+     And as they came near to one dark patch of shrubbery, lo!
+     the strange silence was burst asunder by the rich, full song
+     of a nightingale.--WILLIAM BLACK, _Ibid._
+
+     A sudden sound sprang into the night, flooding all its
+     darkness with its rich and piercing melody--a joyous, clear,
+     full-throated note, deep-gurgling now, and again rising with
+     thrills and tremors into bursts of far-reaching silver song
+     that seemed to shake the hollow air. A single nightingale
+     had filled the woods with life. We cared no more for those
+     distant and silent stars. It was enough to sit here in the
+     gracious quiet and listen to the eager tremulous outpouring
+     of this honeyed sound.--WILLIAM BLACK, in _Strange
+     Adventures of a House-Boat_.
+
+     Shoot and eat my birds! The next step beyond, and one would
+     hanker after Jenny Lind or Miss Kellogg.--HENRY WARD
+     BEECHER.
+
+     There on the very topmost twig, that rises and falls with
+     willowy motion, sits that ridiculous, sweet-singing
+     bobolink, singing as a Roman candle fizzes, showers of
+     sparkling notes.--_Ibid._
+
+This poet affirms that our bobolink is superior to the nightingale:--
+
+    Bobolink, that in the meadow,
+    Or beneath the orchard's shadow,
+    Keepest up a constant rattle
+    Joyous as my children's prattle,
+    Welcome to the North again,
+    Welcome to mine ear thy strain,
+    Welcome to mine eye the sight
+    Of thy buff, thy black and white.
+    Brighter plumes may greet the sun
+    By the banks of Amazon;
+    Sweeter tones may weave the spell
+    Of enchanting Philomel;
+    But the tropic bird would fail,
+    And the English nightingale,
+    If we should compare their worth
+    With thine endless, gushing mirth.
+
+--THOMAS HILL.
+
+     The mocking bird is a singer that has suffered much from its
+     powers of mimicry. On ordinary occasions, and especially in
+     the daytime, it insists on playing the harlequin. But when
+     free in its own favorite haunts at night, it has a song, or
+     rather songs, which are not only purely original, but are
+     also more beautiful than any other bird music whatsoever.
+     Once I listened to a mocking bird singing the livelong
+     spring night, under the full moon, in a magnolia tree; and I
+     do not think I shall ever forget its song.
+
+     The great tree was bathed in a flood of shining silver; I
+     could see each twig, and mark every action of the singer,
+     who was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as I
+     have never listened to before or since. Sometimes he would
+     perch motionless for many minutes, his body quivering and
+     thrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would drop
+     softly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached,
+     when he would rise, fluttering and leaping through the
+     branches, his song never ceasing for an instant until he
+     reached the summit of the tree and launched into the warm
+     scent-laden air, floating in spirals, with outspread wings,
+     until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree and
+     down through the branches, while his song rose into an
+     ecstasy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like a
+     clarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered the
+     widest possible compass; theme followed theme, a torrent of
+     music, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any two
+     bars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him; he
+     was singing when I went to sleep; he was still singing when
+     I woke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelong
+     night.--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+     Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered the rights of cattle,
+     and said that they should have a Sabbath. "Thou shalt not do
+     any work, thou, nor thy cattle." He declared with infinite
+     emphasis that the ox on the threshing-floor should have the
+     privilege of eating some of the grain as he trod it out, and
+     muzzling was forbidden. If young birds were taken from the
+     nest for food, the despoiler's life depended on the mother
+     going free. God would not let the mother-bird suffer in one
+     day the loss of her young and her own liberty. And he who
+     regarded in olden time the conduct of man toward the brutes,
+     to-day looks down from heaven and is interested in every
+     minnow that swims the stream, and every rook that cleaves
+     the air.--DEWITT TALMAGE, D.D.
+
+     And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! The
+     face beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems to
+     possess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, this
+     woman, for they are cheap enough and plentiful enough,
+     heaven knows; but she has them not, therefore she must wear
+     within things infinitely precious, namely, good sense, good
+     taste, good feeling. Does any woman imagine these withered
+     corpses (cured with arsenic), which she loves to carry
+     about, are beautiful? Not so; the birds lost their beauty
+     with their lives.--CELIA THAXTER.
+
+     I walked up my garden path as I was coming home from
+     shooting. My dog ran on before me; suddenly he went slower
+     and crept carefully forward as if he scented game. I looked
+     along the path and perceived a young sparrow, with its downy
+     head and yellow bill. It had fallen from a nest (the wind
+     was blowing hard through the young birch trees beside the
+     path) and was sprawling motionless, helpless, on the ground,
+     with its little wings outspread. My dog crept softly up to
+     it, when suddenly an old black-breasted sparrow threw
+     himself down from a neighboring tree and let himself fall
+     like a stone directly under the dog's nose, and, with
+     ruffled feathers, sprang with a terrified twitter several
+     times against his open, threatening mouth. He had flown down
+     to protect his young at the sacrifice of himself. His little
+     body trembled all over, his cry was hoarse, he was
+     frightened to death; but he sacrificed himself. My dog must
+     have seemed to him a gigantic monster, but for all that, he
+     could not stay on his high, safe branch. A power stronger
+     than himself drove him down. My dog stopped and drew back;
+     it seemed as if he, too, respected this power. I hastened to
+     call back the amazed dog, and reverently withdrew. Yes,
+     don't laugh; I felt a reverence for this little hero of a
+     bird, with his paternal love.
+
+     Love, thought I, is mightier than death and the fear of
+     death; love alone inspires and is the life of all.--IVAN
+     TOURGUENEFF.
+
+     The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger
+     hope than ever! The faint, silvery warblings heard over the
+     partially bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the song
+     sparrow, and the redwing, as if the last flakes of winter
+     tinkled as they fell!--H. D. THOREAU.
+
+     I heard a robin in the distance, the first I had heard for
+     many a thousand years, methought, whose note I shall not
+     forget for many a thousand more,--the same sweet, powerful
+     song as of yore.--_Ibid._
+
+     Walden is melting apace. A great field of ice has cracked
+     off from the main body. I hear a song sparrow from the
+     bushes on the shore,--_olit, olit, olit--chip, chip, chip,
+     che char--che wis, wis, wis_. He, too, is helping to crack
+     the ice.--_Ibid._
+
+     The bluebird carries the sky on his back.--_Ibid._
+
+6. One of the most interesting features of a Bird Day program will be
+the personations of birds.
+
+The following was given by a boy in the seventh grade:--
+
+     One day in February a gentleman and his wife stopped beside
+     the wall of old Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, to listen to
+     my song. The sun was shining brightly, and little white
+     flowers were blooming in the green turf about the old fort.
+     It was not time yet to build my nest, so I had nothing to do
+     but sing and get my food and travel a little every day
+     toward my Northern home.
+
+     I am about as large as a robin, and although there is
+     nothing brilliant in my plumage I am not a homely bird. I
+     like the songs of other birds and sometimes sing them. I
+     frequently sing like my cousins, the catbirds and robins and
+     thrushes. But I have my own song, which is unlike all the
+     others. My mate and I build a large nest of small sticks,
+     pieces of string, cotton, and weeds, in thick bushes or low
+     trees. We have five eggs that are greenish blue and spotted
+     with brown. We eat many beetles, larvae, and many kinds of
+     insects which we find feeding upon plants. The worst enemy
+     we have is man. He steals our children almost before we have
+     taught them to sing, and puts them in cages. He is a
+     monster.
+
+     Many poems have been written about me. One of the finest is
+     by Sidney Lanier, in which he calls me "yon trim Shakespeare
+     on the tree."
+
+     Any one who has heard my song can never forget me.
+
+     What is my name?
+
+7. Bird facts and proverbs form a valuable part of a program and may
+be given by some of the children. Let the pupils search for them and
+bring some similar to these:--
+
+     Birds flock together in hard times.
+
+     A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand.
+
+     The American robin is not the same bird as the English.
+
+     The bluebird and robin may be harbingers of spring, but the
+     swallow is the harbinger of summer.
+
+     The dandelion tells me to look for the swallow; the
+     dog-toothed violet when to expect the wood thrush.--JOHN
+     BURROUGHS.
+
+     It is not thought that any one bird spends the year in one
+     locality, but that all birds migrate, if only within a
+     limited range.
+
+     A loon was caught, by a set line for fishing, sixty-five
+     feet below the surface of a lake in New York, having dived
+     to that depth for a fish.
+
+     The wood pewee, like its relative, the phoebe, feeds
+     largely on the family of flies to which the house fly
+     belongs.
+
+     The birds of prey, the majority of which labor night and day
+     to destroy the enemies of the husbandman, are unceasingly
+     persecuted.
+
+     Seventy-five per cent of the food of the downy woodpecker is
+     insects.
+
+     The cow blackbird lays its eggs in other birds' nests, one
+     in a nest. What happens afterwards?
+
+     Why should not a man love a bird? If the palm of one could
+     clasp the pinion of the other, there would come together two
+     of the greatest implements God and nature have ever given
+     any two creatures to explore the world with, and when two
+     bipeds gaze at each other, eye to eye, the intelligence in
+     the one might well take off its hat to the subtle instincts
+     in the other.--JAMES NEWTON BASKETT.
+
+     A bird on the bonnet means so much less bread on the table.
+     A bird in the orchard is a sort of scavenger and pomologist
+     combined, and does his share in giving you a dish of fruit
+     for dinner. The scarlet tanager looks like a living ruby in
+     a green tree; but--I speak bluntly--it looks like a chunk of
+     gore on a woman's bonnet. In behalf of good taste and the
+     birds, I enter my protest against this barbarous
+     Custom.--LEANDER T. KEYSER.
+
+    What does it cost, this garniture of death?
+      It costs the life which God alone can give;
+    It costs dull silence, where was music's breath;
+      It costs dead joy, that foolish pride may live.
+    Ah, life, and joy, and song, depend upon it,
+    Are costly trimmings for a woman's bonnet.
+
+--MAY RILEY SMITH.
+
+The program may be diversified by songs about birds. Many suitable for
+this occasion will be found in a collection called "Songs of Happy
+Life," made by Sarah J. Eddy. It is published by the Nature Study
+Publishing Company, of Providence, R. I.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE POETS AND THE BIRDS
+
+
+"The birds are the poets' own," says Burroughs. How could it be
+otherwise? The bird, with his large brain, quick circulation, and high
+temperature, is possessed of a tropical, ecstatic soul that blossoms
+into music as naturally as a bulb bursts into bloom and fragrance. He
+is a creature of marvelous inheritance. Poetry is a true bird-land,
+where you shall hear the birds as often as in any meadow or orchard on
+a May morning. All poets have been their lovers, from the psalmist of
+old, who knew "all the birds of the mountains," to our own Lowell with
+his "Gladness on wings--the bobolink is here."
+
+The poets, who voice our deepest thoughts, have studied birds with the
+utmost care. It is astonishing to note the mention made of them in the
+pages of Browning, Tennyson, and in fact of every great maker of
+verse. Not merely as adjuncts of the landscape are they mentioned, but
+with intensity of feeling, as in William Watson's poem on his recovery
+from temporary loss of mind--one of the most pathetic poems ever
+written--where he thanks the Heavenly Power for letting him feel once
+again at home in nature and again related to the birds and to human
+life. Dr. Van Dyke's wish that, when his twilight hour is come, he
+"may hear the wood note of the veery" finds response in the heart of
+every one who has listened to that song. Frequently the poet seems to
+have entered into the life of the bird and to have found his inner
+secret, as Keats in the "Ode to a Nightingale":--
+
+    Immortal bird, thou wast not born for death,
+    No hungry generations tread thee down.
+
+Sometimes the words seem to have caught the rhythm and ripple of the
+song, as in Browning's reference to the thrush:--
+
+    The wise thrush, he sings each song twice over,
+    Lest you think he never could recapture
+    That first fine careless rapture.
+
+Or the bird's voice may be so suggestive as to lead the seer to the
+very limits of thought and aspiration, like Shelley's "Skylark." As we
+need the help of the naturalists, who see more accurately than we, we
+also need the assistance of the poet's clearer vision, with its wider
+and deeper sweep. How completely Sidney Lanier summed up the mocking
+bird! and how much more pleasing is the bird in the tree because of
+the bird in the poem:--
+
+    Superb and sole, upon a plumed spray
+    That o'er the general leafage boldly grew,
+    He summed the woods in song; or typic drew
+    The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay
+    Of languid doves when long their lovers stray,
+    And all birds' passion plays that sprinkle dew
+    At morn in brake or bosky avenue.
+    Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.
+    Then down he shot, bounced airily along
+    The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song
+    Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.
+    Sweet science, this large riddle read me plain:--
+    How may the death of that dull insect be
+    The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?
+
+Recitations from the poets should be a prominent feature of Bird Day
+exercises. Readings and studies of poems about birds may be very
+profitably made a part of the literary work of the year.
+
+The following poems are suitable for recitation and study:--
+
+"The Birds' Orchestra," Celia Thaxter; "The Robin," Celia Thaxter;
+"The Song Sparrow," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The
+Raven's Shadow," William Watson; "On Seeing a Wild Bird," Alice Cary;
+"What Sees the Owl?" Elizabeth S. Bates; "Lament of a Mocking Bird,"
+Frances Anne Kemble; "The Snow-bird," Dora Read Goodale; "To a
+Seabird," Bret Harte; "The Rain Song of the Robin," Kate Upson Clark;
+"The Swallow," Owen Meredith; "A Bird at Sunset," Owen Meredith; "The
+Titlark's Nest," Owen Meredith; "The Dead Eagle," Campbell; "Ode to a
+Nightingale," John Keats; "What the Birds Said," John Greenleaf
+Whittier; "The Sandpiper," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird and the
+Rooks," Dinah Mulock Craik; "The Canary in his Cage," Dinah Mulock
+Craik; "The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Titmouse," Ralph Waldo
+Emerson; "The Stormy Petrel," Barry Cornwall; "To the Skylark," Percy
+Bysshe Shelley; "The O'Lincoln Family," Wilson Flagg; "To a
+Waterfowl," William Cullen Bryant; "Robert of Lincoln," William Cullen
+Bryant; "The Return of the Birds," William Cullen Bryant, "The Eagle,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "To the Eagle," James G. Percival; "The Forerunner,"
+Harriet Prescott Spofford; "The Skylark," James Hogg; "To the
+Skylark," William Wordsworth; "Sir Robin," Lucy Larcom; "The Pewee,"
+J. T. Trowbridge; "The Yellowbird," Celia Thaxter "The Dying Swan,"
+Alfred Tennyson; "Story of a Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The Blue Jay,"
+Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Song Sparrow," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The
+Catbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "Sparrows," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney;
+"The Ovenbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Vireos," Mrs. A. D. T.
+Whitney; "The Ovenbird," Frank Bolles; "Whip-poor-will," Frank Bolles;
+"The Veery," Henry Van Dyke; "The Song Sparrow," Henry Van Dyke; "The
+Wings of a Dove," Henry Van Dyke; "The Whip-poor-will," Henry Van
+Dyke; "To the Cuckoo," William Wordsworth; "Secrets," Susan Coolidge;
+"The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Mocking Bird," Sidney Lanier;
+"Forbearance," Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The Mocking Bird," Clinton
+Scollard; "The Mocking Bird," Maurice Thompson; "The Mocking Bird," R.
+H. Wilde; "The Mocking Bird," A. B. Meek; "The Mocking Bird," Albert
+Pike; "The Song of the Thrush," Edward Markham.
+
+This list can of course be indefinitely extended.
+
+IN CHURCH
+
+    Just in front of my pew sits a maiden--
+      A little brown wing on her hat,
+    With its touches of tropical azure,
+      And sheen of the sun upon that.
+
+    Through the bloom-colored pane shines a glory
+      By which the vast shadows are stirred,
+    But I pine for the spirit and splendor
+      That painted the wing of the bird.
+
+    The organ rolls down its great anthem;
+      With the soul of a song it is blent;
+    But for me, I am sick for the singing
+      Of one little song that is spent.
+
+    The voice of the curate is gentle:
+      "No sparrow shall fall to the ground;"
+    But the poor broken wing on the bonnet
+      Is mocking the merciful sound.
+
+--_Anonymous._
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY
+
+
+The general observance of a "Bird Day" in our schools would probably
+do more to open thousands of young minds to the reception of bird lore
+than anything else that can be devised. The scattered interests of the
+children would thus be brought together, and fused into a large and
+compact enthusiasm, which would become the common property of all.
+Zeal in a genuine cause is more contagious than a bad habit.
+
+The first Bird Day in the schools was celebrated on the first Friday
+in May, 1894. This is as good a date as any for the sections not in
+the extreme North or South.
+
+It would better come a little after the birds begin to arrive. The
+afternoon session will be found sufficient to devote to the special
+exercises. The date should be announced some time beforehand, so that
+the children may prepare for it. They will not only prepare
+themselves, but will have the whole community aroused by the sharp
+points of their inquisitorial weapons. Exercises should be held in all
+grades, from the primary to the high school.
+
+We quote the following from circular No. 17 sent out by the United
+States Department of Agriculture:--
+
+OBJECT OF BIRD DAY
+
+     From all sides come reports of a decrease in native birds,
+     due to the clearing of the forests, draining of the swamps,
+     and cultivation of lands, but especially to the increasing
+     slaughter of birds for game, the demand for feathers to
+     supply the millinery trade, and the breaking up of nests to
+     gratify the egg-collecting proclivities of small boys. An
+     attempt has been made to restrict these latter causes by
+     legislation. Nearly every State and Territory has passed
+     game laws, and several States have statutes protecting
+     insectivorous birds. Such laws are frequently changed and
+     cannot be expected to accomplish much unless supported by
+     popular sentiment in favor of bird protection. This object
+     can only be attained by demonstrating to the people the
+     value of birds, and how can it be accomplished better than
+     through the medium of the schools?
+
+     Briefly stated, the object of Bird Day is to diffuse
+     knowledge concerning our native birds and to arouse a more
+     general interest in bird protection. As such it should
+     appeal not only to ornithologists, sportsmen, and farmers,
+     who have a practical interest in the preservation of birds,
+     but also to the general public, who would soon appreciate
+     the loss if the common songsters were exterminated.
+
+     It is time to give more intelligent attention to the birds
+     and appreciate their value. Many schools already have
+     courses in natural history or nature study, and such a day
+     would add zest to the regular studies, encourage the pupils
+     to observe carefully, and give them something to look
+     forward to and work for. In the words of the originator of
+     the day, "the general observance of a Bird Day in our
+     schools would probably do more to open thousands of young
+     minds to the reception of bird lore than anything else that
+     can be devised." The first thing is to interest the scholars
+     in birds in general and particularly in those of their own
+     locality. Good lists of birds have been prepared for several
+     of the States, and popular books and articles on ornithology
+     are within the reach of every one. But the instruction
+     should not be limited to books; the children should be
+     encouraged to observe the birds in the field, to study their
+     habits and migrations, their nests and food, and should be
+     taught to respect the laws protecting game and song birds.
+
+VALUE OF BIRD DAY
+
+     When the question of introducing Arbor Day into the schools
+     was brought before the National Educational Association in
+     February, 1884, the objection was made that the subject was
+     out of place in the schools. The value of the innovation
+     could not be appreciated by those who did not see the
+     practical bearing of the subject on an ordinary school
+     course. But at the next meeting of the Association the
+     question was again brought up and unanimously adopted--to
+     the mutual benefit of the schools and of practical forestry.
+     With the advent of more progressive ideas concerning
+     education there is a demand for instruction in subjects
+     which a few years ago would have been considered out of
+     place, or of no special value. If the main object of our
+     educational system is to prepare boys and girls for the
+     intelligent performance of the duties and labors of life,
+     why should not some attention be given to the study of
+     nature, particularly in rural schools where the farmers of
+     the next generation are now being educated?
+
+     The study of birds may be taken up in several ways and for
+     different purposes; it may be made to furnish simply a
+     course in mental training or to assist the pupil in
+     acquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be taken up
+     alone or combined with composition, drawing, geography, or
+     literature. But it has also an economic side which may
+     appeal to those who demand purely practical studies in
+     schools. Economic ornithology has been defined as the "study
+     of birds from the standpoint of dollars and cents." It
+     treats of the direct relations of birds to man, showing
+     which species are beneficial and which injurious, teaching
+     the agriculturist how to protect his feathered friends and
+     guard against the attacks of his foes. This is a subject in
+     which we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge,
+     but it is none the less deserving of a place in our
+     educational system on this account. Its practical value is
+     recognized both by individual States and by the National
+     Government, which appropriate considerable sums of money for
+     investigations of value to agriculture. Much good work has
+     been done by some of the experiment stations and State
+     boards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana,
+     Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In the
+     United States Department of Agriculture, the Division of
+     Biological Survey (formerly the Division of Ornithology)
+     devotes much attention to the collection of data respecting
+     the geographic distribution, migration, and food of birds,
+     and to the publication and diffusion of information
+     concerning species which are beneficial or injurious to
+     agriculture. Some of the results of these investigations are
+     of general interest, and could be used in courses of
+     instruction in even the lower schools. Such facts would thus
+     reach a larger number of persons than is now possible, and
+     would be made more generally available to those interested
+     in them.
+
+     If illustrations of the practical value of a knowledge of
+     zooelogy are necessary they can easily be given. It has been
+     estimated recently that the forests and streams of Maine are
+     worth more than its agricultural resources. If this is so,
+     is it not equally as important to teach the best means of
+     preserving the timber, the game, and the fish, as it is to
+     teach students how to develop the agricultural wealth of the
+     State? In 1885 Pennsylvania passed its famous "scalp act,"
+     and in less than two years expended between $75,000 and
+     $100,000 in an attempt to rid the State of animals and birds
+     supposed to be injurious. A large part of the money was
+     spent for killing hawks and owls, most of which belonged to
+     species which were afterwards shown to be actually
+     beneficial. Not only was money thrown away in a useless war
+     against noxious animals, but the State actually paid for the
+     destruction of birds of inestimable value to its farmers.
+     During the last five or six years two States have been
+     engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to exterminate English
+     sparrows by paying bounties for their heads. Michigan and
+     Illinois have each spent more than $50,000; but, although
+     millions of sparrows have been killed, the decrease in
+     numbers is hardly perceptible. A more general knowledge of
+     the habits of the English sparrow at the time the bird was
+     first introduced into the United States would not only have
+     saved this outlay of over $100,000, but would also have
+     saved many other States from loss due to depredations by
+     sparrows.
+
+     Is it not worth while to do something to protect the birds
+     and prevent their destruction before it is too late? A
+     powerful influence for good can be exerted by the schools if
+     the teachers will only interest themselves in the movement,
+     and the benefit that will result to the pupils could hardly
+     be attained in any other way at so small an expenditure of
+     time. If it is deemed unwise to establish another holiday,
+     or it may seem too much to devote one day in the year to the
+     study of birds, the exercises of Bird Day might be combined
+     with those of Arbor Day.
+
+     It is believed that Bird Day can be adopted with profit by
+     schools of all grades, and the subject is recommended to the
+     thoughtful attention of teachers and school superintendents
+     throughout the country, in the hope that they will cooeperate
+     with other agencies now at work to prevent the destruction
+     of our native birds.
+
+T. S. PALMER,
+
+_Acting Chief of Division_.
+
+Approved:
+
+CHAS. W. DABNEY, JR.,
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., July 2, 1896.
+
+The results of Bird Day are noticeable in the schools in which it has
+been observed. The spirit of the schools has become fresher and
+brighter. There has been more marked improvement in the composition
+work and in the language of the pupils. Most of the children know the
+names of many of our birds and considerable of their ways of life, and
+wish to know more, and are their warm friends and protectors. The old
+relations between the small boy and the birds have been entirely
+changed. The birds themselves have been affected. They have become
+much more numerous. Many that were formerly rare visitants now nest
+freely in the shade trees of the city; for example, the orioles, the
+grosbeaks, the scarlet tanagers, and even the wood thrushes, and their
+nests are about as safe as the other homes. The children say that the
+birds know about Bird Day, and have come to help it along.
+
+The correlation of the public library and the public schools is
+assured in those towns where Bird Day has been introduced. If there
+were no other result of this new day, the demand for healthful
+literature would be enough. The call for Burroughs and Bradford
+Torrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and the other writers of our out-of-doors
+literature is so great as to attract attention in the libraries. In
+fact, in one the writer knows well there is a constant and steady
+demand, particularly from the boys. Frank Bolles is a great favorite
+with them. The excursions to the woods have a new and aesthetic
+interest. What would Emerson have thought when he wrote that matchless
+bit--
+
+    Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?
+    Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk?
+
+if he had known that the boys of another generation would be able to
+answer as he would have liked to have them!
+
+The effect upon teachers is not less marked. The trip to the woods in
+the early morning and at sunset, sometimes with the children and
+sometimes in parties by themselves, has resulted in physical and
+mental good. A new and charming relation has sprung up between
+teachers and children. The tie of community of interests is a strong
+one. A taste in common is always conducive to friendship.
+
+The surprising thing about this new departure in nature study is that
+once taken up it will never be abandoned. There is something
+fascinating in it. One may love trees and flowers, but their processes
+and habits of growth are in a way unrelated to us; but our "little
+brothers in feathers" are kin to us in their hopes and fears.
+
+"When I think," said a bright woman the other day, "that this summer I
+have learned to know by plumage and by song twenty birds, and when I
+realize the delight the knowledge has given me, I feel as if I ought
+to go out as a missionary to the heathen women in my neighborhood."
+She did not exaggerate the feeling of every bird lover. So much is
+lost to life and good cheer by this ignorance.
+
+Now that the Bird Day idea is being taken up and spread by the United
+States Government in the interests of economy, it will do much to
+sweeten the lives of the coming generation. The natural impulse to
+love and watch the birds will be encouraged instead of being
+disregarded.
+
+    Hast thou named all the birds, without a gun?
+    Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
+    O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!
+
+--EMERSON.
+
+    No longer now the winged inhabitants
+    That in the woods their sweet lives sing away,
+    Flee from the form of man, but gather round,
+    And prune their feathers on the hands
+    Which little children stretch in friendly sport
+    Towards these dreadless partners of their play.
+
+--_Extract from_ SHELLEY'S _Queen Mab_.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+NOTES ON REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS
+
+
+
+
+KINGBIRD (_Tyrannus tyrannus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BEE BIRD, BEE MARTIN, AND TYRANT FLYCATCHER
+
+
+Length, about eight and one-half inches; spread of wings, fourteen and
+one-half inches. The upper parts of body are a blackish ash; top of
+head, black; crown with a concealed patch of orange red; lower parts
+pure white, tinged with pale bluish ash on the sides of the throat and
+across the breast; sides of the breast and under the wings rather
+lighter than the back; the wings dark brown, darkest towards the ends
+of the quills; upper surface of the tail glossy black, the feathers
+tipped with white.
+
+This bird is a common summer resident of the Middle States, where it
+usually arrives the last of April. The name _tyrannus_ given to it is
+descriptive of the character of the male, since during the breeding
+season he is anxious to attack everything wearing feathers. His
+particular aversion is hawks and crows, which he assails by mounting
+above his adversary and making repeated and violent assaults upon his
+head. He will even drive the eagle from his vicinity.
+
+The farmer could have no better protection for his corn fields than
+the near-by nest of a pair of kingbirds. They eat some honeybees, but
+for every bee thus taken they destroy ten noxious insects. They can be
+easily frightened away from the vicinity of the hives without being
+killed.
+
+The kingbird's nest is made of slender twigs, weed stalks, and
+grasses, and is placed among the branches of trees, fifteen to
+twenty-five feet from the ground. There are usually four or five eggs,
+white, spotted with brown. They have generally two broods a year.
+
+[Illustration: KINGBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+FLICKER (_Colaptes auratus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO YELLOW-HAMMER, PIGEON WOODPECKER, HITTOCK, AND YUCKER
+
+
+Length, twelve and one-half inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+back and wings above are of a dark umber, cross marked with streaks of
+black; parts surrounding the eyes, a bright cinnamon color; upper part
+of head, dark gray; strip of black on each side of the throat about
+one inch long; a narrow crescent-shaped spot of a vivid red upon the
+back of the head. The breast is ornamented with a broad crescent of
+black; under parts of the body, white, tinged with yellow, and having
+many round spots of black; the lower side of the wing and tail, a
+beautiful golden yellow; the rump, white.
+
+This bird may be easily distinguished by the white rump and the bright
+yellow under the wings seen in flight.
+
+Its food consists largely of wood lice, ants, of which it is very
+fond, and of other insects which it finds upon the ground or upon
+trees. The female differs from the male in appearance, the black
+strips upon the sides of the throat being very indistinct or wanting
+entirely.
+
+The flicker's nest, like those of other woodpeckers, may be found in
+maples, oaks, apple trees, and occasionally pines or birches. They are
+more frequently built in clusters of trees than in exposed places, and
+from ten to thirty feet from the ground. The male has been noticed
+coming to the ground and throwing chips about, so that the
+nest-building might not be observed. The eggs are plain white.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER]
+
+
+
+
+RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_)
+
+
+Length, nine and one-half inches; extent, eighteen inches. The head
+and neck are crimson; a narrow crescent of black on the upper part of
+the breast; back, outer part of the wings, and tail, black glossed
+with blue; rump, lower part of the back, inner part of the wings, and
+the whole under parts, from the breast downwards, white; legs and
+feet, bluish green; claws, light blue. Like all woodpeckers, the tail
+feathers are sharp and stiff and help the bird to sustain itself upon
+the tree. It can strike hard blows with its bill, and drill into the
+hardest wood with rapidity and apparent ease. It will locate
+accurately the position of a grub or an insect that is within the wood
+of a tree, drill a hole to the inmate, and pull it out with its long,
+sticky tongue. The female is like the male in appearance, except that
+her colors are somewhat fainter. Woodpeckers as a class are
+beneficial, and do much to preserve trees from destructive insects.
+
+The red-headed woodpecker builds its nest at the bottom of a tunnel in
+a tree, dug by other birds, or adapted to use from an already existing
+cavity. The nest is a mere heap of soft, decaying wood, more attention
+being paid by the bird to securing protection against rain than in
+having the nest clean and nice. The eggs are white, speckled with
+reddish brown, and are usually six in number.
+
+[Illustration: RED-HEADED WOODPECKER]
+
+
+
+
+BLUE JAY (_Cyanocitta cristata_)
+
+
+Length, twelve inches; extent, seventeen inches. The head is crested;
+crest and upper back are a light purplish blue; wings and tail, bright
+blue; a collar of black proceeds from the hind part of the head,
+gracefully curving down each side of the neck to the upper part of the
+breast, where it forms a crescent; the chin, throat, and under parts
+are white or slightly tinged with blue; the tail is long and composed
+of twelve feathers marked with cross curves of black, each feather
+being tipped with white, except the two middle ones, which are a dark
+purple at the ends. The legs and bill are black.
+
+The nest of the blue jay is large and clumsily made, and is placed
+high in the branches of tall trees, the cedar being preferred. It is
+lined with fine, fibrous roots. The eggs are four or five in number,
+of a dull olive, spotted with brown.
+
+[Illustration: BLUE JAY]
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK (_Dolichonyx oryzivorus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO RICEBIRD, REEDBIRD, AND BOBLINCOLN
+
+
+Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, twelve and one-fourth
+inches. The female is a little smaller than the male. The male has the
+top and sides of the head and under parts black; large yellowish patch
+on the back of the neck; middle of back is streaked with buff; lower
+part of the back and upper tail feathers, grayish white; wings and
+tail, black; the bill is short, conical, and is blue black. The tail
+feathers are sharp-pointed and stiff like a woodpecker's. The female
+has the upper parts olive buff streaked with black; yellowish beneath;
+two stripes on the top of head; wings and tail, brownish; tail
+feathers with pointed tips. In the autumn the male puts on a dress
+similar to that of the female, the colors being a little more
+pronounced.
+
+The nest is built on the ground, of grasses. It contains from four to
+seven grayish eggs, spotted with blotches of brown.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINK]
+
+
+
+
+RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (_Agelaius phoeniceus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO AMERICAN REDWING, MARSH BLACKBIRD, AND SWAMP BLACKBIRD
+
+
+Length, nine and one-half inches; spread of wings, fifteen and
+one-fourth inches. The male is of a uniform black, which glistens in
+the sunshine; shoulders bright scarlet bordered with brownish yellow;
+bill, legs, and feet black. The female is smaller than the male, and
+differs greatly from him in appearance. She is dark brown above,
+streaked with lighter and darker shades; below, gray streaked with
+brown; throat and edge of wing tinged with pink or yellow, but mostly
+pink in the summer. The young male at first resembles the female, but
+may soon be recognized by black feathers appearing in patches.
+
+The nests, which are composed chiefly of coarse grasses lined with
+finer grass, are built upon the ground or in low bushes. Those built
+in bushes are compact, the others are generally loosely made. The eggs
+number four to six, spotted and lined with black and brown.
+
+[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+MEADOW LARK (_Sturnella magna_)
+
+CALLED ALSO FIELD LARK
+
+
+Length of male, ten and one-half inches; spread of wings, sixteen
+inches. The female is smaller. The feathers above are dark brown, with
+transverse dark brown bars across the wings and tail; the outer tail
+feathers, white; the throat, breast, under parts and edge of wing,
+bright yellow. A yellow spot extends from the nostril to the eye. The
+breast has a large black crescent, the points of which reach halfway
+up the neck; hind toes long, its claws twice as long as the middle
+one. The female is like the male, but duller in color.
+
+Their food is various forms of insects, beetles, grasshoppers,
+cutworms, larvae, sometimes varied by the seeds of grasses and weeds,
+wild cherries, and berries.
+
+The nest is built upon the ground, of dried grasses, carefully
+concealed in tufts of grass. The eggs are oval, usually five in
+number; they are white, dotted with reddish brown. Both sexes engage
+in building the nest.
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK]
+
+
+
+
+BALTIMORE ORIOLE (_Icterus galbula_)
+
+CALLED ALSO GOLDEN ROBIN, FIREBIRD, AND HANGBIRD
+
+
+Length, about eight inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches. The
+head, throat, and upper part of the back are black; the lower part of
+the back, the breast, and forward part of the wing are a brilliant
+orange. The base of the middle tail feathers is orange, the ends
+black; all the others are orange, with a black band in the middle. The
+female is smaller, and colors are not so bright.
+
+The nest is composed of various materials, such as grasses, plant
+fibers, hairs, strings, which are capable of being interwoven. It is
+suspended near the end of a limb. The eggs are commonly five in
+number. They are whitish and variously marked with black and brown
+spots and lines.
+
+[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE]
+
+
+
+
+SONG SPARROW (_Melospiza fasciata_)
+
+
+Length, a little over six inches; extent, about eight and one-half
+inches. General color of the upper parts brown streaked with black,
+gray, and different shades of brown; no white wing bars; the crown
+dull brown, with a faint grayish line in the middle; white line over
+the eye; under parts whitish with numerous dark brown streaks on the
+neck, breast, and sides; a conspicuous black spot in the middle of the
+breast; bill, legs, and feet are brownish. The female is the same as
+the male.
+
+The nest is composed of grasses, lined with finer grass. It is built
+in a low bush or on the ground. The eggs vary greatly both in size and
+in markings. They are generally five in number, and are greenish or
+bluish white, variously spotted with brown. These birds raise two and
+sometimes three broods.
+
+Not to know the song sparrow is to miss one of the delights of
+summer.
+
+[Illustration: SONG SPARROW]
+
+
+
+
+GOLDFINCH (_Spinus tristis_)
+
+CALLED ALSO YELLOWBIRD, THISTLE-BIRD, AND WILD CANARY
+
+
+Length, five and one-fourth inches; extent, nearly nine inches. The
+back and under parts are bright yellow; wings and crown cap, black;
+tips of the wing and tail feathers, white on their inner webs. The
+male in autumn loses his black cap, and his bright yellow parts change
+to a dull brownish yellow similar to the female; the wings and tail,
+however, remain darker and the white markings are more noticeable than
+those of the female. The female has no black cap; the wings and tail
+are dusky, marked with white as in the male; lower parts, yellowish
+gray; upper parts inclining to olive.
+
+The nest is cup-shaped, composed of plant fibers, lined with downy
+substances. The eggs are usually five in number, white or faintly
+bluish.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDFINCH]
+
+
+
+
+ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (_Habia Ludoviciana_)
+
+
+Length, eight inches; extent, thirteen inches. Back, throat, and head
+are black; breast and under wings, rose-red; wings, black; rump, white
+tipped with black. The female is about the same size as the male. Her
+upper parts are brown, margined with buff and pale brown, with whitish
+line over the eye; wings and tail, dark gray; feathers of the fore
+wing tipped with white; under parts yellowish, streaked with brown.
+
+The nest is a thin, flat structure made of dried grasses and small
+twigs. The eggs are greenish white with brown spots; they are usually
+four in number. These birds are said to be great destroyers of potato
+bugs.
+
+[Illustration: ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK]
+
+
+
+
+CEDAR BIRD (_Ampelis cedrorum_)
+
+CALLED ALSO CHERRY BIRD, AMERICAN WAXWING, AND CANADIAN ROBIN
+
+
+Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, about twelve inches. The
+head is crested; general color, grayish brown; forehead, chin, and a
+line through the eye, black; tail and wings, gray; tail tipped with
+yellow; some of the shorter wing feathers are tipped with small oblong
+beads of red, resembling sealing wax.
+
+These birds are fond of cherries and berries. The fruit grower can
+protect his interests by planting some choke cherries, mulberries, and
+mountain ash trees at the edges of his orchard. Cedar birds destroy
+great quantities of insects, and are entitled to a part of the fruit
+which they have helped to save.
+
+The nest is large and loosely made of strips of bark, leaves, grasses,
+sometimes of mud, lined with finer materials. The eggs are usually
+five in number, dull gray spotted with black and brown.
+
+[Illustration: CEDAR BIRD]
+
+
+
+
+BROWN THRUSH (_Harporhynchus rufus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BROWN THRASHER
+
+
+Length, eleven and one-fourth inches; extent, thirteen inches; tail,
+five and one-half inches long. The iris is yellow; upper parts,
+reddish or cinnamon brown; lower parts, white; feathers of middle wing
+edged with white; the breast and sides strongly spotted with dark
+brown.
+
+The nest is a carelessly made, bulky affair, composed of rootlets,
+strips of bark, twigs, leaves, and other material. It is generally
+poorly concealed in some low tree or even in the corner of a fence.
+For this reason it is frequently broken up. The eggs, four or five in
+number, are brownish mottled with darker brown. During the nesting
+season the bird at morning and in the afternoon ascends to the tops of
+trees and pours forth his wonderful song. He has even been thought to
+be "showing off," for he will sing almost as long as any one will stay
+to listen; but he is probably attracting attention to himself in order
+to detract it from his nest, which is always somewhere within the
+circle of his song.
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRUSH]
+
+
+
+
+CHICKADEE (_Parus atricapillus_)
+
+CALLED ALSO BLACKCAP TITMOUSE
+
+
+Length, five and one-half inches; extent, eight inches. The general
+color of back is ashy; the top of head, throat, and chin black; no
+crest; under parts, whitish with buff on the sides; wing and tail
+feathers edged with white; legs, bluish gray; bill, black. The song of
+this bird is an oft-repeated _chick-a-dee_, from which it takes its
+name. Its call consists of two high notes, the first one a third above
+the second, which may be easily imitated, and the bird attracted to
+the vicinity of the person answering his call.
+
+Its nest is made of grasses and feathers, placed in a hole in a stump
+or tree; frequently in the deserted cavity made by a woodpecker. The
+eggs, six or seven, are white, spotted with brown about the larger
+end.
+
+[Illustration: CHICKADEE]
+
+
+
+
+CATBIRD (_Galeoscoptes Carolinensis_)
+
+
+Length, nine inches; extent, eleven and one-half inches. The general
+color is dark slate, somewhat lighter beneath; top of the head and
+tail, black; under side of tail near the base, chestnut; bill and
+feet, black; eye, brown. The female is like the male, but smaller. As
+a musician, this bird closely approaches the brown thrush. There are
+great differences in individual singers.
+
+The nest is bulky, composed of twigs, rootlets, dead leaves, strips of
+bark, etc. Strips of grapevine bark are quite commonly used, some
+nests being constructed almost wholly of this material. The eggs are
+generally four in number and of a greenish blue, unmarked.
+
+[Illustration: CATBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+BLUEBIRD (_Sialia sialis_)
+
+
+Length, six and one-half inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches.
+The upper parts, wings, and tail are bright blue; sides of the head
+and upper part of chin also blue; throat, breast, and sides, reddish
+brown; abdomen and under side of tail, white; legs and bill, blackish;
+eye, brown. The female is similarly marked, but the colors are duller.
+
+The bluebird's song is a continued pleasing, rich warble.
+
+The nest is loosely built of grasses, feathers, and soft material, in
+holes of trees, in hollows of posts, or in bird boxes. The eggs are
+light blue and are four or five in number.
+
+[Illustration: BLUEBIRD]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bird Day; How to prepare for it, by
+Charles Almanzo Babcock
+
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