Full text of "Handbook Of Nature Study"

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HANDBOOK

OF
NATURE-STUDY

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

SEPTEMBER I, 1854- AUGUST 24, 1930

HANDBOOK

NATURE -STUDY

B r

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK, B.S., L.H.D.

LATE PROFESSOR OF NATURE-STUDY IN
CORNELL UNIVERSITY

TWENTY-FOURTH EDITION

COMSTOCK PUBLISHING ASSOCIATES

A DIVISION OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
ITHACA, NEW YORK

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must
not be reproduced in any form without permission in
writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
wishes to quote brief passages in a review of the book

24th Edition

Third printing, December, 1944

Fourth printing, March, 1945

Fifth printing, January, 1947

Sixth printing, November, 1947

Seventh printing, March, 1948

Eighth printing, December, 1948

Ninth printing, September, 1950

Tenth printing, September, 1951

Eleventh printing, February, 1952

Twelfth printing, February, 1953

Thirteenth printing, December, 1953

Fourteenth printing, July, 1955

Fifteenth printing, January, 1957

Sixteenth printing, December, 1957

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINCHAMTON, N. Y.

TO
LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY

UNDER WHOSE WISE, STAUNCH, AND INSPIRING LEADERSHIP

THE NATURE-STUDY WORK AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED

AND TO MY CO-WORKER

JOHN WALTON SPENCER

WHOSE COURAGE, RESOURCEFULNESS, AND UNTIRING ZEAL
WERE POTENT FACTORS IN THE SUCCESS OF THE CAUSE

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

MO. PUBLIC LIBRARY

0001 0006140 5

PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD

The publication of the twenty-fourth
edition of the Handbook of Nature-Study
seemed an appropriate time to make cer-
tain revisions which had become press-
ingly necessary, to replace and improve
the illustrations, and to incorporate sug-
gestions which had been received from
many interested friends. Accordingly, the
entire text has been carefully scrutinized,
and has been corrected or elaborated in
the light of the most recent knowledge.
Where the earlier treatment seemed in-
adequate new material has been added,
and Part IV in particular has been much
expanded. New subjects, such as soil con-
servation, have been introduced. We
think it is safe to say that the Handbook
has been well modernized.

But by far the greater part of Mrs.
ComstocFs work proved to be as accurate
and timely in 1939 as in 1911, a striking
tribute to the scientific genius of the
author. In such cases the language of the
earlier text has been preserved, for no
improvement could be made on the
charming style that has won friends in the
tens of thousands. And a careful attempt
has been made throughout to preserve the
method of treatment adopted by Mrs.
Comstock. Perhaps some justification of
this policy is needed. Some readers of the
Handbook have suggested that the new
edition be oriented away from the nature-
study approach, and be made instead to
serve as an introduction to the natural
sciences. For the convenience of readers
who wish preparation for the academic
studies, some scientific classifications and
terminology have been introduced. But
the nature-study approach has been pre-
served. The kernel of that method of
treatment is the study of the organism in
its environment, its relation to the world
about it, and the features which enable it
to function in its surroundings. This study

takes the individual organism, rather than
an abstract phylum or genus, as the point
of departure. Mrs. Comstock believed
that the student found in such a study a
fresh, spontaneous interest which was
lacking in formal textbook science, and
the phenomenal success of her work seems
to prove that she was right. Moreover,
nature-study as Mrs. Comstock conceived
it was an aesthetic experience as well as a
discipline. It was an opening of the eyes
to the individuality, the ingenuity, the
personality of each of the unnoticed life-
forms about us. It meant a broadening of
intellectual outlook, an expansion of
sympathy, a fuller life. Much of this Mrs.
Comstock succeeded in conveying into
her work; and perhaps it is this inform-
ing spirit that is the chief virtue of the
book.

But it should not be thought that
nature-study is not a science. The promis-
ing science of ecology is merely formalized
nature-study; indeed it might be said that
nature-study is natural science from an
ecological rather than an anatomical point
of view. The truth is that nature-study is
a science, and is more than a science; it is
not merely a study of life, but an experi-
ence of life. One realizes, as he reads these
pages, that with Mrs. Comstock it even
contributed to a philosophy of life.

Only the generous efforts of many
specialists made possible the thorough-
going revision of the book. Dr. Marjorie
Ruth Ross assumed in large part the re-
sponsibility for editorial supervision and
co-ordination, and performed most of the
labor of revision and replacement of il-
lustrations. Professor A. H. Wright and
Mrs. Wright made valuable suggestions
and criticisms of the book in general, pro-
vided hitherto unpublished photographs
for the sections on reptiles and amphibi-
ans, and read proof on those sections.

V1I1

Professor Glenn W. Herrick, Professor
J. G. Needhanx and Dr. Grace H. Gris-
wold made suggestions for the revision
of the material on insects, and supplied
illustrations for that section. Professor
E. F. Phillips contributed criticism for the
lesson on bees. Professor A. A. Allen
kindly made suggestions and provided il-
lustrations for the material on birds. Pro-
fessor B. P. Young gave assistance in the
treatment of aquatic life; Dr. W. J. Koster
made suggestions for improving the sec-
tion on fish; and Dr. Emmeline Moore
selected photographs of fish, and on be-
half of the New York State Department
of Conservation gave permission to use
them.

Thanks are due to Professor W. J.
Hamilton, Jr., for criticism of the section
on mammals and for supplying several
photographs; to Professor E. S. Harrison
for aid in revising the lesson on cattle and
supplying illustrations. Mrs. C. N. Stark
made helpful suggestions for the revision
of the lesson on bacteria. Miss Ethel Belk
suggested many revisions in the part on
plants. Professor W. C. Muenscher made
useful criticisms of the section on weeds,
and supplied illustrations. Professor C. H.
Guise revised the portion dealing with
the chestnut tree and Professor Ralph W.
Curtis gave valuable assistance in the re-
vision of the whole section on trees, and
furnished pictures. Professor Joseph Os-
kamp suggested several improvements in

PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD

the text on the apple tree. Mr. William
Marcus Ingram, Jr. prepared the captions
for the illustrations of shells.

Professor H. Ries made extensive re-
visions and additions in the lessons relat-
ing to geology. Professor H. O. Buckman
revised the lesson on soil. Professor A. F.
Gustafson revised the lesson on the
brook, and added material on soil conser-
vation. Professor S. L. Boothroyd not only
revised the old text on the sky, but he also
provided new material and supplied maps
and photographs to illustrate it. Dr. H. O.
Geren made valuable suggestions for the
revision of the text on weather. Miss
Theodosia Hadley supplied material for
the new bibliography; Dr. Eva L. Gordon
revised the bibliography, made numerous
suggestions for revision of other parts of
the text, and provided some of the illustra-
tions.

Dr. F. D. Wormuth acted as literary
editor of the manuscript. Dr. John M.
Raines composed many of the captions
for the new illustrations, and, with Mrs.
Raines, read proof of the entire book.

Many teachers throughout the country
offered constructive criticisms; an attempt
has been made to put them into effect.
To all of these persons the publishers wish
to express most cordial and sincere thanks.
THE PUBLISHERS
ITHACA, NEW YORK

January i, 1939

PREFACE

The Cornell University Nature-Study
propaganda was essentially an agricultural
movement in its inception and its aims;
it was inaugurated as a direct aid to better
methods of agriculture in New York
State. During the years of agricultural de-
pression 1891-1893, the Charities of New
York City found it necessary to help many
people who had come from the rural dis-
tricts a condition hitherto unknown.
The philanthropists managing the Associ-
ation for Improving the Condition of the
Poor asked, "What is the matter with
the land of New York State that it can-
not support its own population? " A con-
ference was called to consider the situa-
tion to which many people from different
parts of the State were invited; among
them was the author of this book, who
little realized that in attending that meet-
ing the whole trend of her activities would
be thereby changed. Mr. George T.
Powell, who had been a most efficient Di-
rector of Farmers' Institutes of New York
State, was invited to the conference as an
expert to explain conditions and give ad-
vice as to remedies. The situation seemed
so serious that a Committee for the Pro-
motion of Agriculture in New York State
was appointed. Of this committee the
Honorable Abram S. Hewitt was Chair-
man, Mr. R. Fulton Cutting, Treasurer,
Mr. Wm. H. Tolman, Secretary. The
other members were Walter L. Suydam,
Wm. E. Dodge, Jacob H. Schiff, George
T. Powell, G. Howard Davidson, Howard
Townsend, Professor I. P. Roberts, C.
McNamee, Mrs. J. R. Lowell, and Mrs.
A. B. Comstock. Mr. George T. Powell
was made Director of the Department of
Agricultural Education.

At the first meeting of this committee
Mr. Powell made a strong plea for inter-
esting the children of the country in
farming as a remedial measure, and main-

tained that the first step to\vard agricul-
ture was nature-study. It had been Mr.
Powell's custom to give simple agricul-
tural and nature-study instruction to the
school children of every town where he
was conducting a farmers' institute, and
his opinion was, therefore, based upon
experience. The committee desired to see
for itself the value of this idea, and experi-
mental work was suggested, using the
schools of Westchester County as a labo-
ratory. Mr. R. Fulton Cutting generously
furnished the funds for this experiment,
and work was done that year in the West-
Chester schools which satisfied the com-
mittee of the soundness of the project.

The committee naturally concluded that
such a fundamental movement must be a
public rather than a private enterprise;
and Mr. Frederick Nixon, then Chairman
of the Ways and Means Committee of
the Assembly, was invited to meet with
the committee at Mr. Hewitt's home. Mr.
Nixon had been from the beginning of his
public career deeply interested in im-
proving the farming conditions of the
State. In 1894, it was through his influ-
ence and the support given him by the
Chautauqua Horticultural Society under
the leadership of Mr. John W. Spencer,
that an appropriation had been given to
Cornell University for promoting the
horticultural interests of the western
counties of the State. In addition to other
work done through this appropriation,
horticultural schools were conducted un-
der the direction of Professor L. H. Bailey
with the aid of other Cornell instructors
and especially of Mr. E. G. Lodeman;
these schools had proved to be most use-
ful and were well attended. Therefore,
Mr. Nixon was open-minded toward an
educational movement. He listened to the
plan of the committee and after due con-
sideration declared that if this new meas-

lire would surely help the farmers of the
State, the money would be forthcoming.
The committee unanimously decided that
if an appropriation were made for this
purpose it should be given to the Cornell
College of Agriculture; and that year eight
thousand dollars were added to the Cor-
nell University Fund, for Extension
Teaching and inaugurating this work. The
work was begun under Professor I. P.
Roberts; after one year Professor Roberts
placed it under the supervision of Profes-
sor L. H. Bailey, who for the fifteen years
since has been the inspiring leader of the
movement as well as the official head.

In 1896, Mr. John W. Spencer, a fruit
grower in Chautauqua County, became
identified with the enterprise; he had
lived in rural communities and he knew
their needs. He it was who first saw clearly
that the first step in the great work was
to help the teacher through simply
written leaflets; and later he originated the
great plan of organizing the children in
the schools of the State into Junior Nat-
uralists Clubs, which developed a remark-
able phase of the movement. The mem-
bers of these clubs paid their dues by
writing letters about their nature observa-
tions to Mr. Spencer, who speedily be-
came their beloved "Uncle John"; a
button and charter were given for con-
tinued and earnest work. Some years,
30,000 children were thus brought into
direct communication with Cornell Uni-
versity through Mr. Spencer. A monthly
leaflet for Junior Naturalists followed; and
it was to help in this enterprise that Miss
Alice G. McCloskey, the able Editor of
the present Rural School Leaflet, was
brought into the work. Later, Mr. Spencer
organized the children's garden move-
ment by forming the children of the State
into junior gardeners; at one time he had
25,000 school pupils working in gardens
and reporting to him.

In 1899, Mrs. Maw Rogers Miller, who
had proven a most efficient teacher when
representing Cornell nature-study in the
State Teachers* Institutes, planned and
started the Home Nature-Study Course
Leaflets for the purpose of helping the

PREFACE

teachers by correspondence, a work which
fell to the author in 1903 when Mrs.
Miller was called to other fields.

For the many years during which New
York State has intrusted this important
work to Cornell University, the teaching
of nature-study has gone steadily on in the
University, in teachers' institutes, in State
summer schools, through various publica-
tions and in correspondence courses.
Many have assisted in this work, notably
Dr. W. C. Thro, Dr. A. A. Allen, and
Miss Ada Georgia. The New York Edu-
cation Department with Charles R. Skin-
ner as Commissioner of Education and
Dr. Isaac Stout as the Director of Teach-
ers 7 Institutes co-operated heartily with
the movement from the first. Later with
the co-operation of Dr. Andrew Draper,
as Commissioner of Education, many of
the Cornell leaflets have been written
with the special purpose of aiding in
carrying out the New York State Syllabus
in Nature-Study and Agriculture.

The leaflets upon which this volume is
based were published in the Home Na-
ture-Study Course during the years 1903-
1911, in limited editions and were soon
out of print. It is to make these lessons
available to the general public that this
volume has been compiled. While the
subject matter of the lessons herein given
is essentially the same as in the leaflets,
the lessons have all been rewritten for the
sake of consistency, and many new les-
sons have been added to bridge gaps and
make a coherent whole.

Because the lessons were written dur-
ing a period of so many years, each lesson
has been prepared as if it were the only
one, and without reference to others. If
there is any uniformity of plan in the les-
sons, it is due to the inherent qualities of
the subjects, and not to a type plan in the
mind of the writer; for, in her opinion,
each subject should be treated individu-
ally in nature-study; and in her long ex-
perience as a nature-study teacher she has
never been able to give a lesson twice alike
on a certain topic or secure exactly the
same results twice in succession. It should
also be stated that it is not because the

author undervalues physics nature-study
that it has been left out of these lessons,
but because her own work has been always
along biological lines.

The reason why nature-study has not
yet accomplished its mission, as thought-
core for much of the required work in our
public schools, is that the teachers are as
a whole untrained in the subject. The
children are eager for it, unless it is spoiled
in the teaching; and whenever we find a
teacher with an understanding of out-of-
door life and a love for it, there we find
nature-study in the school is an inspira-
tion and a joy to pupils and teacher. It is
because of the author's sympathy with
the untrained teacher and her full com-
prehension of her difficulties and help-
lessness that this book has been written.
These difficulties are chiefly three-fold:
The teacher does not know what there is
to see in studying a planet or animal; she
knows little of the literature that might
help her; and because she knows so little
of the subject, she has no interest in giving
a lesson about it. As a matter of fact, the
literature concerning our common ani-
mals and plants is so scattered that a
teacher would need a large library and al-
most unlimited time to prepare lessons
for an extended nature-study course.

The writer's special work for fifteen
years in Extension teaching has been the
helping of the untrained teacher through
personal instruction and through leaflets.
Many methods were tried and finally
there was evolved the method followed in
this volume: All the facts available and
pertinent concerning each topic have been
assembled in the "Teacher's story" to
make her acquainted with the subject; this
is followed by an outline for observation
on the part of the pupils while studying
the object. It would seem that with the
teacher's story before the eyes of the
teacher, and the subject of the lesson be-
fore the eyes of the pupils with a number
of questions leading them to see the es-
sential characteristics of the object, there
should result a wider knowledge of nature
than is given in this or any other book.

That the lessons are given in a very in-

PREFACE xi

formal manner, and that the style of writ-
ing is often colloquial, results from the
fact that the leaflets upon which the book
is based were written for a correspondence
course in which the communications were
naturally informal and chatty. That the
book is meant for those untrained in sci-
ence accounts for the rather loose termi-
nology employed; as, for instance, the use
of the word seed in the popular sense
whether it be a drupe, an akene, or other
form of fruit; or the use of the word pod
for almost any seed envelope, and many
like instances. Also, it is very likely, that
in teaching quite incidentally the rudi-
ments of the principles of evolution, the
results may often seem to be confused
with an idea of purpose, which is quite
unscientific. But let the critic labor for
fifteen years to interest the untrained
adult mind in nature's ways, before he
casts any stones! And it should be always
borne in mind that if the author has not
dipped deep in the wells of science, she
has used only a child's cup.

For many years requests have been fre-
quent from parents who have wished to
give their children nature interests during
vacations in the country. They have been
borne in mind in planning this volume;
the lessons are especially fitted for field
work, even though schoolroom methods
are so often suggested.

The author feels apologetic that the
book is so large. However, it does not
contain more than any intelligent coun-
try child of twelve should know of his
environment; things that he should know
naturally and without effort, although it
might take him half his life-time to learn
so much if he should not begin before
the age of twenty. That there are incon-
sistencies, inaccuracies, and even blunders
in the volume is quite inevitable. The
only excuse to be offered is that, if through
its use, the children of our land learn early
to read nature's truths with their own
eyes, it will matter little to them what is
written in books.

The author wishes to make grateful ac-
knowledgment to the following people:
To Professor Wilford M. Wilson for his

xii PREFACE

chapter on the weather; to Miss Man- E.
Hill for the lessons on mould, bacteria,
the minerals, and reading the weather
maps; to Miss Catherine Straith for the
lessons on the earthworm and the soil; to
Miss Ada Georgia for much valuable as-
sistance in preparing the original leaflets
on which these lessons are based; to Dean
L. H. Bailey and to Dr. David S. Jordan
for permission to quote their writings; to
Mr. John W. Spencer for the use of his
story on the movements of the sun; to Dr.
Grove Karl Gilbert Dr. A. C. Gill Dr.
Benjamin Duggar, Professor S. H. Gage
and Dr. J. G. Needham for reading and
criticizing parts of the manuscript; to
Miss Eliza Tonks for reading the proof; to
the Director of the College of Agriculture
for the use of the engravings made for the
original leaflets; to Miss Martha Van
Rensselaer for the use of many pictures
from Boys and Girls; to Professor Cyrus

Crosby, and to Messrs. J. T. Lloyd, A. A.
Allen and R. Matheson for the use of
their personal photographs; to the U. S.
Geological Survey and the U. S. Forest
Sendee for the use of photographs; to
Louis A. Fuertes for drawings of birds; to
Houghton Mifflin & Company for the use
of the poems of Lowell, Harte and Lar-
com, and various extracts from Burroughs
and Thoreau; to Small, Maynard & Com-
pany and to John Lane & Company for
the use of poems of John T. Babb; to
Doubleday, Page & Company for the use
of pictures of birds and flowers; and to the
American Book Company for the use of
electrotypes of dragon-flies and astron-
omy. Especially thanks are extended to
Miss Anna C. Stryke for numerous draw-
ings, including most of the initials.

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK
ITHACA, NEW YORK
July, 1911

CONTENTS

PART I

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

What Nature-Study Is i

What Nature-Study Should Do for

the Child i

Nature-Study as a Help to Health 2
What Nature-Study Should Do for

the Teacher 3

When and Why the Teacher

Should Say " I Do Not Know! " . 3
Nature-Study, the Elixir of Youth 4
Nature-Study as a Help in School

Discipline 4

Relation of Nature-Study to Sci-
ence 5

Nature-Study Not for Drill ... 6
The Child Not Interested in Na-
ture-Study 6

When to Give the Lesson .... 6

Length of the Lesson 6

The Nature-Study Lesson Always

New 7

Nature-Study and Object Lessons . 7
Nature-Study in the Schoolroom . 8
Nature-Study and Museum Speci-
mens 8

Lens, Microscope and Field Glass as
Helps 9

Uses of Pictures, Charts, and Black-
board Drawings 10

Uses of Scientific Names .... 10
The Stow as a Supplement to the

Nature-Study Lesson 11

The Nature-Study Attitude toward

Life and Death 12

Should the Nature-Study Teacher
Teach How to Destroy Life? . . 13

The Field Notebook / 13

The Field Excursion 15

Pets as Nature-Study Subjects . . 15
Correlation of Nature-Study with

Language Work 16

Correlation of Nature-Study and

Drawing 17

Correlation of Nature-Study with

Geography 18

Correlation of Nature-Study with

History 18

Correlation of Nature-Study with

Arithmetic 19

Gardening and Nature-Study ... 20
Nature-Study and Agriculture . . 21

Nature-Study Clubs 22

How to Use This Book 23

PART II

ANIMALS

BIRDS 27

Beginning Bird Study in the Pri-
mary Grades 28

Feathers as Clothing 29

Feathers as Ornament 31

How Birds Fly 33

Migration of Birds 35

Eyes and Ears of Birds 38

Form and Use of Beaks .... 39

Feet of Birds

Songs of Birds ,

Attracting Birds

Value of Birds

Study of Birds' Nests in Winter

Chicken Ways

Pigeons

Canary and the Goldfinch . .
Robin

40
42

45
46

47
5
53
57

XIV

CONTENTS

Bluebird

\\Tiite-brcasted Nuthatch . . .

Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Sapsucker

Redheaded Woodpecker . . .
Flicker or Yellow-hammer . . .

Meadowlark

English Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow ........

Mockingbird

Catbird

Belted Kingfisher

Screech Owl

Hawks

Birds of Prey and Scavengers . .
Swallows and the Chimney Swift

Hummingbird

Red-winged Blackbird ....

Baltimore Oriole

Crow

Cardinal Grosbeak

Geese

Wild Geese

Game Birds

Turkey

Birds of Marsh and Shore . . .

FISHES

Goldfish . . .
Bullhead . . .
Common Sucker
Shiner ....
Brook Trout . .
Stickleback . .
Sunfish ....
Johnny Darter .

AMPHIBIANS

Tailless Amphibians

Common Toad

Tadpole Aquarium

Spring Peeper or Pickering's

Hyla

Frog

Tailed Amphibians

Newt or Eft

REPTILES

Garter or Garden Snake ....
Milk Snake or Spotted Adder . .
Water Snake

62
65

7
74
7 6

86
89
91

97
100

104
106
109

117

120
124

127
130

*33
136

138
142

144
144
148
152
154
156

*59

162

166

170
170
170

177
180
187
187

193
194
197
198

Other Snakes 200

Turtles 204

Lizards 210

MAMMALS 214

Cotton-tail Rabbit 215

Muskrat 219

House Mouse 224

Woodchuck 229

Red Squirrel or Chickaree ... 233

Furry 237

Chipmunk 239

Little Brown Bat 241

Skunk 245

Raccoon 247

Wolf 250

Fox 251

Dogs 254

Cat 260

Goat 266

Sheep 270

Horse 274

Cattle 280

Pig 286

Animals of Zoos and Parks . . . 290

INSECTS 294

Life History and Structure of In-
sects 294

INSECTS OF THE FIELDS AND WOODS 301

Black Swallowtail Butterfly . . 301

Monarch Butterfly 305

Isabella Tiger Moth or Woolly

Bear 310

Cecropia 313

Promethea 317

Cynthia 319

Hummingbird or Sphinx Moths 320

Codling Moth 325

Leaf-miners 329

Leaf-rollers 332

Gall Dwellers 335

Grasshopper 338

Katydid 343

Black Cricket 344

Snowy Tree Cricket 348

Cockroach 350

Aphids or Plant Lice 351

Ant Lion 354

Mother Lacewing and the Aphis

Lion 356

CONTENTS

Housefly 358

Colorado Potato Beetle , . . . 362

Ladybird 364

Firefly 367

Ways of the Ant 369

How to Make a Lubbock Ant-
nest 373

The Ant-nest and What May Be

Seen within It 374

Mud-dauber 378

Yellow Jacket 380

Leaf-cutter Bee 384

Little Carpenter Bee 386

Bumblebee 389

Honeybee 391

Honeycomb . . . 395

Industries of the Hive and the

Observation Hive 396

INSECTS OF THE BROOK AND POND . 400
How to Make an Aquarium for

Insects 400

Dragonflies and Damsel Flies . . 401

Other Aquatic Insects 402

Caddis Worms and the Caddis

Flies

Mosquito

408
411

OTHER

INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS

THAN INSECTS 416

Garden Snail 416

Shells of Florida and the East

Coast 418

Earthworm 422

Crayfish 425

Seashore Creatures 430

Daddy Longlegs or Grandfather

Greybeard 432

Spiders 435

Cobwebs 436

Funnel Web of a Grass Spider . 438

Orb Web 439

Filmy Dome 443

Ballooning Spiders 444

White Crab Spider 445

How r the Spider Mothers Take

Care of Their Eggs 446

Other Invertebrates 448

PART III
PLANTS

How to Begin the Study of Plants

and Their Flowers 453

Some Needs of Plants 454

How to Teach the Names of the

Parts of a Flower and of the Plant 456

Teach the Use of the Flower ... 457

Flower and Insect Partners .... 457

Relation of Plants to Geography . 458

Seed Germination 458

WILD FLOWERS 460

Hepatica 461

Yellow Adder 7 s-Tongue .... 463

Bloodroot 466

Trillium 4 68

DutchrnanVBreeches and Squir-
rel Com 47 1

Jack-in-the-Pulpit 473

Violet 47 6

May Apple or Mandrake .... 479

Bluets 4 8 3

Yellow Lady's-Slipper 484

Evening Primrose 488

Milkweed 491

White Water Lily 495

Pondweed 498

Cattail 500

Type Lesson for a Composite

Flower 503

Goldenrod 503

Asters 506

The Jewelweed or Touch-me-
not 508

WEEDS 512

Outline for the Study of a Weed 513

Poison Ivy 5*4

Prevention of Ivy Poisoning . . 514
Curative Treatment for Ivy Poi-
soning 514

Common or Field Buttercup . . 516

Hedge Bindweed 518

XVI

CONTENTS

Dodder

\\Tiite Daisy

Yellow Daisy or Black-eyed Susan

Thistle . .' " . . . .

Burdock

Prickly Lettuce, a Compass

Plant

Dandelion

Pearly Everlasting

Mullein

Teasel

Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Car-
""rot

520

524
527

5 2 9
531

53?

537
539

542

GARDEN FLOWERS 546

Crocus 547

Daffodils and Their Relatives . 549

Tulip 552

Pansy 555

Bleeding Heart 558

Poppies 560

California Poppy 563

Nasturtium 566

Bee-Larkspur 568

Blue Flag or Iris 571

Sunflower 574

Bachelors-Button 578

Salvia or Scarlet Sage 579

Petunias 581

Garden or Horseshoe Geranium 585

Sweet Pea 588

CULTIVATED CROP PLANTS .... 591

Clovers 591

Sweet Clover 594

White Clover 596

Maize or Indian Corn .... 598

Cotton Plant 604

Strawberry 608

Pumpkin 611

TREES 618

Parts of the Tree 618

The Way a Tree Grows .... 620

How to Begin Tree Study . . . 622

How to Make Leaf Prints . . . 626

Maples 628

American Elm 634

Oaks 638

Shagbark Hickory 643

Chestnut 645

Horse Chestnut 648

Willows 651

Cottonwood or Carolina Poplar . 655

White Ash 658

Apple Tree 661

How an Apple Grows 665

The Apple 667

Pines 670

Norway Spruce 675

Hemlock 679

Dogwood 680

Velvet or Staghorn Sumac ... 683

Witch Hazel 686

Mountain Laurel 689

FLOWERLESS PLANTS 693

Christmas Fern 693

Bracken 696

How a Fern Bud Unfolds ... 698

Fruiting of the Fern 699

Other Ferns 704

Field Horsetail 706

Hair-cap Moss or Pigeon Wheat 709

Other Mosses and Hepatics . . 712

Mushrooms and Other Fungi . . 714
How Mushrooms Look and How

They Live 716

Puffballs 720

Bracket Fungi 721

Hedgehog Fungi 725

Scarlet Saucer 725

Morels 726

Stinkhorns 727

Molds 727

Bacteria 729

PART IV
EARTH AND SKY

THE BROOK 736

Life in the Brook 739

How a Brook Drops Its Load . 740

ROCKS AND MINERALS 743

Rocks 744

Sedimentary Rocks 745

CONTENTS

Igneous Rocks

Metamorphic Rocks ....
Calcite, Limestone, and Mar-
ble

Minerals

Crystal Growth

Salt

Quartz

Feldspar

Fossils

Mica

THE SOIL

Soil Material

Soil Formation

Kinds of Soil

Soil Experiments

How Valuable Soil Is Lost .
Soil Erosion, an Old Problem
How to Conserve Our Soil .

THE MAGNET

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

Tower of the Winds

Historical

Atmosphere

Air as a Gas

Composition of Air

Pressure of Atmosphere ....

The Barometer

Height of the Atmosphere . . .

Temperature of the Atmosphere

Thermometer Scales in Use . .

Distribution of Temperature and
Pressure

Winds of the World

Storms

Weather Maps

The Principles of Weather Fore-
casting

Forecasts Based on Weather
Maps

Maps, Where Published and
How Obtained

746
748

748

75 1
753
754

755
756

758

760
761
762
763
764
766
769

77
776

780
781
781
783
783
783
785
787
788
790

791
791
798

799

800

Value of Weather Sendee . . .
How to Read Weather Maps . .

Highs and Lows

Observations Concerning the

Weather

Weather Proverbs

xvn

801

806

807

WATER FORMS 808

THE SKIES

The Story of the Stars

How to Begin Star Study ....
Circumpolar Constellations . .
The Polestar and the Dippers . .
Cassiopeia's Chair, Cepheus, and

the Dragon

Winter Stars

Orion

Aldebaran and the Pleiades .
The Two Dog Stars, Sirius and

Procyon

Capella and the Heavenly Twins

Stars of Summer

Regulus

Arcturus

The Crown

Spica

Vega

Antares

Deneb or Arided

Altair

The Sun

Comets and Meteors

Shooting Stars

The Relation between the Tropic

of Cancer and the Planting of

the Garden

The Ecliptic and the Zodiac . .

The Sky Clock

Equatorial Star Finder

The Relations of the Sun to the

Earth

How to Make a Sundial ....
The Moon

815
815
818
818
818

821
823
823
826

829

830
831
831
832
832
832
832
833

833
838
839

841
843
844

847

851

853
855

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NATURE STUDY IN GENERAL ... 863
General Information and Stories 863
Essays and Travel 866

Poetry

History and Biography
Textbooks and Readers

870
870
872

XV111

CONTENTS

Books for Parents and Teachers 874

Magazines and Periodicals . . . 875

ANIMAL LIFE 877

Animals in General 877

Mammals 880

Birds 884

Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish 888

Insects and Other Invertebrates 890

PLANT LIFE 895

Plants in General 895

Wild Flowers and Weeds . . . 897

Flowerless Plants 898

Garden Flowers and Cultivated

Crop Plants 899

Trees 7 Shrubs, and Woody Vines 901

EARTH AND SKY 904

The Earth and Its Life .... 904

Weather and Climate 906

Stars and Sky 907

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

909

INDEX 911

FULL-PAGE PLATES

BIRDS OF PREY AND SCAVENGERS . . 107
Sparrow Hawks Snowy Owl
Screech Owl Herring Gull
Black Vulture Audubon's Ca-
racara

GAME BIRDS 137

Ring-necked Pheasants Wild
Turkey Ruffed Grouse ? Nest of
Eastern Bobwhite or Quail
Dusky Grouse Woodcock on
Nest"

143

BIRDS OF MARSH AND SHORE . . .
Shoveller Mallard Lesser
Scaup Ducks Pied-billed Grebe
Spotted Sandpiper Wilson's
Plover King Rail Common
Tern American Egret Ameri-
can Bittern

TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 185

American Bell Toad Oak Toad

Narrow Mouth Toad Can-
yon or Spotted Toad Great
Plains Toad Spadefoot Toad

Hammond's Spadefoot
Canadian or Winnipeg Toad
Yosemite Toad

TAILED AMPHIBIANS 191

Spotted Salamander Red Sala-
mander Marbled Salamander

Mud Puppy Tiger Salaman-
der Slimy Salamander Slen-
der Salamander Cave Salaman-
der

SNAKES I 201

Ribbon Snake Coral Snake
Rubber Boa Rough Green
Snake Timber Rattlesnake
Desert Gopher Snake or Bull
Snake Ring-necked Snake

Sidewinder or Horned Rattle-
snake

SNAKES II 203

Pike-headed Tree Snake or Ari-
zona Long-headed Snake Pilot
Black Snake Copperhead
Boyle's King Snake or Boyle's
Milk Snake Gray Pilot Snake

Water Moccasin or Cotton-
mouth California Lyre Snake

Southern Hognose Snake

LIZARDS I 211

Banded Gecko Chameleon
Fence Lizard Glass Snake or
Legless Lizard Alligator Liz-
ard or Plated Lizard Sonoran
Skink Gila Monster

LIZARDS II 213

Regal Horned Toad Horned
Toad Male Fence Lizard
Mountain Boomer or Collared
Lizard Whip-tail or Race Run-
ner Chuck-walla

ANIMALS OF Zoos AND PARKS . . . 291
Rhinoceros Hippopotamus
Kangaroo Zebra Malay Tiger

Polar Bear Nubian Gi-
raffe Bactrian or Two-humped
Camel Wapiti or American
Elk " - Virginia or White-
tailed Deer

AQUATIC INSECTS 403

"Stone Fly May Fly Back
Swimmer Water Boatman
Water Walking Stick Water
Scorpion Water Bug Giant
Water Bug or Electric-Light Bug

Water Strider Dobson
Predacious Diving Beetle Div-
ing Beetle Water Scavenger

FULL-PAGE PLATES

Beetle Whirligig Beetle - Wa-
ter Penny or Riffle Beetle
Black Fly Crane Fly Drone
Fly

SHELLS OF FLORIDA AND THE EAST

COAST 419

Crown Melongena Brown-
mouth Cymatium White-
mouth Cymatium Lined Mu-
rex Mossy Ark Black Lace
Murex Apple Murex
White-spike Murex Moon
Shell - Rock Worm Shell -
Mouse Cone Florida Cone
Giant Band Shell - Lettered
Olive Netted Olive Mottled
Top Shell Ridged Chione
Beaming Scallop - Vase Shell
Ponderous Ark Spiny Pearl
Shell Little Red Murex
Rose Euglandina Calico Scal-
lop Volcano Shell

SEASHORE CREATURES 431

Sea Urchin Fiddler Crab
Common Starfish Egg Cases
or Fisherman's Purses Notch-
side Shell Sand Dollar Giant
Whelk Great Ark Shell -
Star Coral Sand Crab Jelly-
fish

INVERTEBRATES 449

Water Spider House Centi-
pede Scorpion Millipede

Water Sow Bug Fairy
Shrimps Tadpole Shrimp
Dog Louse Scud Water
Flea Pleurocera Copepod
Fresh-water Limpet Gonioba-
sis Vivipara Wheel Snails
Campeloma Valvata By-
thinia Amnicola - Paludes-
trina Common Pond Snail
Pouch Snail - Fingernail Clam
-Paper-shell Mussel

FERNS 705

Purple Cliff Brake Climbing
Fern Grape Fern Hart's-
Tongue Hay-scented Fern

Maidenhair Fern Inter-
rupted Fern Walking Leaf
Fern Cinnamon Fern Royal
or Flowering Fern

MOSSES AND HEPATICS 713

Broom Moss Common Hair-
Cap, Bird Wheat, or Pigeon
Wheat Moss Common Fern
Moss Awned Hair-Cap Moss

Plume Moss Purple-fringed
Riccia True Liverwort

FOSSILS 757

Hypohippus Brachiopods
Crane Fly - Trilobites Cy-
cads Crinoid or Sea Lily
Brachiopod Dinosaur Tracks

PART I
THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

WHAT NATURE-STUDY Is

Nature-study is, despite all discussions
and perversions, a study of nature; it con-
sists of simple, truthful observations that
may ? like beads on a string, finally be
threaded upon the understanding and
thus held together as a logical and har-
monious whole. Therefore, the object of
the nature-study teacher should be to cul-
tivate in the children powers of accurate
observation and to build up within them
understanding.

WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD Do
FOR THE CHILD

First, but not most important, nature-
study gives the child practical and help-
ful knowledge. It makes him familiar with

Ralph W. Curtis

nature's ways and forces, so that he is not
so helpless in the presence of natural mis-
fortune and disasters.

Nature-study cultivates the child's im-
agination, since there are so many wonder-
ful and true stories that he may read with
his own eyes, which affect his imagination
as much as does fairy lore; at the same
time nature-study cultivates in him a per-
ception and a regard for what is true, and
the power to express it. All things seem
possible in nature; yet this seeming is
always guarded by the eager quest of what
is true. Perhaps half the falsehood in the
world is due to lack of power to detect
the truth and to express it. Nature-study
aids both in discernment and in expression
of things as they are.

Nature-study cultivates in the child a

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

love of the beautiful; it brings to him early
a perception of color, form, and music. He
sees whatever there is in his environment,
whether it be the thunder-head piled up
in the western sky, or the golden flash of
the oriole in the elm; whether it be the
purple of the shadows on the snow, or
the azure glint on the wing of the little
butterfly. Also, what there is of sound, he

Louis Agassiz Fuertes Council, Boy Scouts of America

A nature hike

hears; he reads the music score of the bird
orchestra, separating each part and know-
ing which bird sings it. And the patter of
the rain, the gurgle of the brook, the sigh-
ing of the wind in the pine, he notes and
loves and becomes enriched thereby.

But, more than all, nature-study gives
the child a sense of companionship with
life out-of-doors and an abiding love of
nature. Let this latter be the teacher's
criterion for judging his or her work. If
nature-study as taught does not make the
child love nature and the out-of-doors,
then it should cease. Let us not inflict
permanent injury on the child by turning
him away from nature instead of toward
it. However, if the love of nature is in the
teacher's heart, there is no danger; such

a teacher, no matter by what method,
takes the child gently by the hand and
walks with him in paths that lead to the
seeing and comprehending of what he
may find beneath his feet or above his
head. And these paths, whether they lead
among the lowliest plants, or whether to
the stars, finally converge and bring the
wanderer to that serene peace and hope-
ful faith that is the sure inheritance of all
those who realize fully that they are work-
ing units of this wonderful universe.

NATURE-STUDY AS A HELP TO HEALTH

Perhaps the most valuable practical les-
son the child gets from nature-study is a
personal knowledge that nature's laws are
not to be evaded. Wherever he looks, he
discovers that attempts at such evasion
result in suffering and death. A knowledge
thus naturally attained of the immuta-
bility of nature's " must " and " shall not "
is in itself a moral education. The realiza-
tion that the fool as well as the transgres-
sor fares ill in breaking natural laws makes
for wisdom in morals as well as in hygiene.

Out-of-door life takes the child afield
and keeps him in the open air, which not
only helps him physically and occupies
his mind with sane subjects, but keeps
him out of mischief. It is not only during
childhood that this is true, for love of
nature counts much for sanity in later life.
This is an age of nerve tension, and the
relaxation which comes from the comfort-
ing companionship found in woods and
fields is, without doubt, the best remedy
for this condition. Too many men who
seek the out-of-doors for rest at the present
time, can only find it with a gun in hand.
To rest and heal their nerves they must
go out and try to kill some unfortunate
creature the old, old story of sacrificial
blood. Far better will it be when, through
properly training the child, the man shall
be enabled to enjoy nature through seeing
how creatures live rather than watching
them die. It is the sacred privilege of
nature-study to do this for future genera-
tions and for him thus trained, shall the
words of Longfellow's poem to Agassiz
apply:

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY 3

And he wandered away and away, with

Nature the dear old nurse,
Who sang to him night and day, the

rhymes of the universe.
And when the way seemed long, and his

heart began to fail,
She sang a more wonderful song, or told

a more wonderful tale.

WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD Do FOR
THE TEACHER

During many years, I have been watch-
ing teachers in our public schools in their
conscientious and ceaseless work; and so
far as I can foretell, the fate that awaits
them finally is either nerve exhaustion or
nerve atrophy. The teacher must become
either a neurasthenic or a " clam."

I have had conversations with hundreds
of teachers in the public schools of New
York State concerning the introduction
of nature-study into the curriculum, and
most of them declared, " Oh, we have not
time for it. Every moment is full now! "
Their nerves were at such a tension that
with one more thing to do they must fall
apart. The question in my own mind dur-
ing these conversations was always, how
long can she stand it! I asked some of
them, " Did you ever try a vigorous walk
in the open air in the open country every
Saturday or every Sunday of your teach-
ing year? " " Oh no! " they exclaimed in
despair of making me understand. " On
Sunday we must go to church or see our
friends and on Saturday we must do our
shopping or our sewing. We must go to
the dressmaker's lest we go unclad, we
must mend, and darn stockings; we need
Saturday to catch up."

Yes, catch up with more cares, more
worries, more fatigue, but not with more
growth, more strength, more vigor, and
more courage for work. In my belief, there
are two and only two occupations for Sat-
urday afternoon or forenoon for a teacher.
One is to be out-of-doors and the other
is to lie in. bed, and the first is best.
Out in this, God's beautiful world, there
is everything waiting to heal lacerated
nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to
please and content the soul that is torn

to shreds with duty and care. To the
teacher who turns to nature's healing, na-
ture-study in the schoolroom is not a trou-
ble; it is a sweet, fresh breath of air blown
across the heat of radiators and the noi-
some odor of overcrowded small human-
it}'. She who opens her eyes and her heart
nature-ward even once a week finds na-
ture-study in the schoolroom a delight and
an abiding joy. What does such a one
find in her schoolroom instead of the ter-
rors of discipline, the eternal watching and
eternal nagging to keep the pupils quiet
and at work? She finds, first of all, com-
panionship with her children; and second,
she finds that without planning or going
on a far voyage, she has found health and
strength.

WHEN AND WHY THE TEACHER SHOULD
SAY " I Do NOT KNOW "

No science professor in any university,
if he be a man of high attainment, hesi-
tates to say to his pupils, " I do not know/'
if they ask for information beyond his
knowledge. The greater his scientific rep-
utation and erudition, the more readily,
simply, and without apology he says this.
He, better than others, comprehends how
vast is the region that lies beyond man's
present knowledge. It is only "the teacher
in the elementary schools who has never
received enough scientific training to re-
veal to her how little she does know, who
feels that she must appear to know every-
thing or her pupils will lose confidence
in her. But how useless is this pretense, in
nature-study! The pupils, whose younger
eyes are much keener for details than hers,
will soon discover her limitations and then
their distrust of her will be real.

In nature-study any teacher can with
honor say, " I do not know "; for perhaps
the question asked is as yet unanswered
by the great scientists. But she should not
let lack of knowledge be a wet blanket
thrown over her pupils' interest. She
should say frankly, " I do not know; let
us see if we cannot together find out this
mysterious thing. Maybe no one knows it
as yet, and I wonder if you will discover
it before I do/ 7 She thus conveys the right

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

she is never allowed to forget that she
knows them, and finally her interests be-
come limited to what she knows.
pupils feel the thrill and zest of in- After all what is the chief sign of

r __ x- :n <,i^w* fk/^r r^crv-H- growing old? Is it not me reeling mat

we know all there is to be known? It is

impression, that only a little about the in-
tricate life of plants and animals is yet
known; and at the same time she makes

vestigation. Nor will she lose their respect

bv doing this, if she does it in the right .

soirit For three rears I had for com- not years which make people old; it is
rades'in my walks afield two little chil- +* - A "*** "* ^"* W1 ''
dren and they kept me busy saying, " I
do not know." But they never lost confi-
dence in me or in my knowledge; they

Leonard "K. Beyer

Long -spurred violet

simply gained respect for the vastness
of the unknown.

The chief charm of nature-study would
be taken away if it did not lead us through
the border-land of knowledge into the
realm of the undiscovered. Moreover, the
teacher,, in confessing her ignorance and
at the same time her interest in a sub-
ject, establishes between herself and her
pupils a sense of companionship which re-
lieves the strain of discipline, and gives
her a new and intimate relation with her
pupils which will surely prove a potent
element in her success. The best teacher
is always one who is the good comrade of
her pupils.

NATURE-STUDY, THE ELIXIR OF YOUTH
The old teacher is too likely to be-
come didactic, dogmatic, and " bossy ?> if
she does not constantly strive with her-
self. Why? She has to be thus five days in
the week and, therefore, she is likely to
be so seven. She knows arithmetic, gram-
mar, and geography to their uttermost,

ruts, and a limitation of interests. When
w r e no longer care about anything except
our own interests, we are then olcl ? it
matters not whether our years be twenty
or eighty. It is rejuvenation for the
teacher, thus growing old, to stand ig-
norant as a child in the presence of one
of the simplest of nature's miracles
the formation of a crystal, the evolution
of the butterfly from the caterpillar, the
exquisite adjustment of the silken lines
in the spider's orb web. I know how to
"make magic" for the teacher who is
growing old. Let her go out with her
youngest pupil and reverently watch with
him the miracle of the blossoming violet
and say: "Dear Nature, I know naught
of the wondrous life of these, your small-
est creatures. Teach me! " and she will
suddenly find herself young.

NATURE-STUDY AS A HELP IN
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

Much of the naughtiness in school is
a result of the child's lack of interest in
his work, augmented by the physical in-
action that results from an attempt to sit
quietly. The best teachers try to obviate
both of these causes of misbehaviour
rather than to punish the naughtiness that
results from them. Nature-study is an aid
in both respects, since it keeps the child
interested and also gives him something
to do.

In the nearest approach to an ideal
school that I have ever seen, for children
of second grade, the pupils were allowed,
as a reward of merit, to visit the aquaria
or the terrarium for periods of five min-
utes, which time was given to the blissful
observation of the fascinating prisoners.
The teacher also allowed the reading of
stories about the plants and animals un-
der observation to be regarded as a re-
ward of merit. As I entered the school-

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

room, eight or ten of the children were
at the windows watching eagerly what
was happening to the creatures confined
there in the various cages. There was a
mud aquarium for the frogs and sala-
manders, an aquarium for fish, many
small aquaria for insects, and each had
one or two absorbedly interested specta-
tors who were quiet, well-behaved, and
were getting their nature-study lessons
in an ideal manner. The teacher told me
that the problem of discipline was solved
by this method, and that she was rarely
obliged to rebuke or punish. In many
other schools, watching the living crea-
tures in the aquaria or terraria has been
used as a reward for other work well done.

THE RELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
TO SCIENCE

Nature-study is not elementary science
as so taught, because its point of attack
is not the same; error in this respect has
caused many a teacher to abandon nature-
study and many a pupil to hate it. In
elementary science the work begins with
the simplest animals and plants and pro-
gresses logically through to the highest
forms; at least this is the method pursued
in most universities and schools. The ob-
ject of the study is to give the pupils an
outlook over all the forms of life and their
relation one to another. In nature-study
the w 7 ork begins with any plant or crea-
ture which chances to interest the pupil.
It begins with the robin when it comes
back to us in March, promising spring;
or it begins with the maple leaf which
flutters to the ground in all the beauty of
its autumnal tints. A course in biological
science leads to the comprehension of
all kinds of life upon our globe. Nature-
study is for the comprehension of the
individual life of the bird, insect, or plant
that is nearest at hand.

Nature-study is perfectly good science
within its limits, but it is not meant to
be more profound or comprehensive than
the capabilities of the child's mind. More
than all, nature-study is not science be-
littled as if it were to be looked at through
the reversed opera glass in order to bring

it down small enough for the child to
play with. Nature-study, as far as it goes,
is just as large as is science for " grown-
ups. 77 It may deal with the same subject
matter and should be characterized by
the same accuracy. It simply does not go
so far.

To illustrate: If we are teaching the
science of ornithology, we take first the
Archaeopteryx, then the swimming and
scratching birds, and finally reach the song
birds, studying each as a part of the
whole. Nature-study begins with the robin
because the child sees it and is interested
in it, and notes the things about the
habits and appearance of the robin that
may be perceived by intimate observa-

An aquarium

Hugh Spencer

tion. In fact, he discovers for himself all
that the most advanced book of ornithol-
ogy would give concerning the ordinary
habits of this one bird; the next bird
studied may be the turkey in the barn-
yard, or the duck on the pond, or the
screech owl in the spruces, if any of these
happen to impinge upon his notice and
interest. However, such nature-study
makes for the best of scientific ornithol-
ogy 7 , because by studying the individual
birds thus thoroughly, the pupil finally
studies a sufficient number of forms so
that his knowledge, thus assembled, gives
him a better comprehension of birds as
a whole than could be obtained by the
routine study of them. Nature-study
does not start out with the classification
given in books, but in the end it builds
up in the child's mind a classification
which is based on fundamental knowl-

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

edge; it is a classification like that evolved
by the first naturalists, because it is built
on careful personal observations of both
form and life.

NATURE-STUDY NOT FOR DRILL
If nature-study is made a drill, its peda-
gogic value is lost. When it is properly
taught, the child is unconscious of mental
effort or that he is suffering the act of
teaching. As soon as nature-study be-
comes a task, it should be dropped; but
how could it ever be a task to see that
the sky is blue, or the dandelion golden,
or to listen to the oriole in the elm!

Stanley Mulaik

A young entomologist

THE CHILD NOT INTERESTED
IN NATURE-STUDY

What to do with the pupil not inter-
ested in nature-study subjects is a prob-
lem that confronts many earnest teachers.
Usually the reason for this lack of inter-
est is the limited range of subjects used
for nature-study lessons. Often the teacher
insists upon flowers as the lesson subject,
when toads or snakes would prove the key
to the door of the child's interest. But
whatever the cause may be, there is only
one right way out of this difficulty: The
child not interested should be kept at
his regular school work and not admitted
as a member of the nature-study class,
where his influence is always demoraliz-

ing. He had much better be learning his
spelling lesson than learning to hate na-
ture through being obliged to study sub-
jects in which he is not interested. In
general, it is safe to assume that the pu-
pil's lack of interest in nature-study is
owing to a fault in the teacher's method.
She may be trying to fill the child's mind
with facts when she should be leading
him to observe these for himself, which
is a most entertaining occupation for the
child. It should always be borne in mind
that mere curiosity is always impertinent,
and that it is never more so than when
exercised in the realm of nature. A genu-
ine interest should be the basis of the
study of the lives of plants and lower
animals. Curiosity may elicit facts, but
only real interest may mold these facts
into wisdom.

WHEN TO GIVE THE LESSON

There are two theories concerning the
time when a nature-study lesson should
be given. Some teachers believe that it
should be a part of the regular routine;
others have found it of greatest value if
reserved for that period of the school
day when the pupils are weary and rest-
less, and the teacher's nerves strained to
the snapping point. The lesson on a tree,
insect, or flower at such a moment affords
immediate relief to everyone; it is a men-
tal excursion, from which all return re-
freshed and ready to finish the duties of
the day.

While I am convinced that the use of
the nature-study lesson for mental re-
freshment makes it of greatest value, yet
I realize fully that if it is relegated to
such periods, it may not be given at all.
It might be better to give it a regular
period late in the day, for there is strength
and sureness in regularity. The teacher
is much more likely to prepare herself for
the lesson, if she knows that it is required
at a certain time.

THE LENGTH OF THE LESSON

The nature-study lesson should be
short and sharp and may vary from ten
minutes to a half hour in length. There

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

should be no dawdling; if it is an observa-
tion lesson, only a few points should be
noted and the meaning for the observa-
tions made clear. If an outline be sug-
gested for field observation, it should be
given in an inspiring manner which shall
make each pupil anxious to see and read
the truth for himself. The nature story
when properly read is never finished; it
is always at an interesting point, " con-
tinued in our next/'

The teacher may judge as to her own
progress in nature-study by the length
of time she is glad to spend in reading
from nature's book what is therein writ-
ten. As she progresses, she finds those
hours spent in studying nature speed
faster, until a day thus spent seems but
an hour. The author can think of nothing
she would so gladly do as to spend days
and months with the birds, bees, and flow-
ers with no obligation to tell what she
should see. There is more than mere in-
formation in hours thus spent. Lowell
describes them well when he says:

Those old days when the balancing of a
yellow butterfly o'er a thistle bloom

Was spiritual food and lodging for the
whole afternoon.

THE NATURE-STUDY LESSON

ALWAYS NEW

A nature-study lesson should not be
repeated unless the pupils demand it. It
should be done so well the first time that
there is no need of repetition, because it
has thus become a part of the child's con-
sciousness. The repetition of the same les-
son in different grades was, to begin with,
a hopeless incubus upon nature-study.
One disgusted boy declared, " Darn ger-
mination! I had it in the primary and last
year and now I am having it again. I
know all about germination." The boy's
attitude was a just one; but if there had
been revealed to him the meaning of
germination, instead of the mere process,
he would have realized that until he had
planted and observed every plant in the
world he would not know all about ger-
mination, because each seedling has its

own interesting story. The only excuse
for repeating a nature-study lesson is in
recalling it for comparison and contrast
with other lessons. The study of the violet
will naturally bring about a review of the
pansy; the dandelion, of the sunflower;
the horse, of the donkey; the butterfly, of
the moth.

NATURE-STUDY AND OBJECT LESSONS

The object lesson method was intro-
duced to drill the child to see a thing
accurately, not only as a whole but in de-
tail, and to describe accurately what he
saw. A book or a vase or some other ob-
ject was held up before the class for a

Leonard K. Beyer

A mountain brook

moment and then removed; afterwards
the pupils described it as perfectly as pos-
sible. This is an excellent exercise and the
children usually enjoy it as if it were a
game. But if the teacher has in mind the
same thought when she is giving the na-
ture-study lesson, she has little compre-
hension of the meaning of the latter and
the pupils will have less. In nature-study,
it is not desirable that the child see all
the details, but rather those details that
have something to do with the life of the
creature studied; if he sees that the grass-
hopper has the hind legs much longer
than the others, he will inevitably note
that there are two other pairs of legs and he

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

will in the meantime have come into an il-
luminating comprehension of the reason
the insect is called "grasshopper." The
child should see definitely and accurately
all that is necessary for the recognition
of a plant or animal; but in nature-study,
the observation of form is for the purpose
of better understanding life. In fact, it is
form linked with life, the relation of *' be-
ing " to " doing."

NATURE-STUDY IN THE SCHOOLROOM
Many subjects for nature-study lessons
may be brought into the schoolroom.
Whenever it is possible, the pupils should
themselves bring the material, as the col-
lecting of it is an important part of the

eEI

A. I. Root Co.

An observation beehive

lesson. There should be in the school-
room conveniences for caring for the little
prisoners brought in from the field. A
terrarium and breeding cages of different
kinds should be provided for the insects,
toads, and little mammals. Here they may
live in comfort, when given their natural
food, while the children observe their
interesting ways. The ants' nest and the
observation hive yield fascinating views
of the marvelous lives of the insect so-
cialists, while the cheerful prisoner in the
bird cage may be made a constant illus-
tration of the adaptations and habits of
all birds. The aquaria for fishes, tadpoles,
and insects afford the opportunity for con-
tinuous study of these water creatures and
are a never-failing source of interest to the
pupils, while the window garden may be
made not only an ornament and an aes-

thetic delight, but a basis for interesting
study of plant growth and development.
A schoolroom thus equipped is a place
of delight as well as enlightenment to
the children. Once, a boy whose luxurious
home was filled with all that money could
buy and educated tastes select, said of a
little nature-study laboratory which was
in the unfinished attic of a school build-
ing, but which was teeming with life, " I
think this is the most beautiful room in
the world."

NATURE-STUDY AND MUSEUM
SPECIMENS

The matter of museum specimens is
another question for the nature-study
teacher to solve, and has a direct bearing
on an attitude toward taking life. There
are many who believe the stuffed bird or
the case of pinned insects have no place
in nature-study; and certainly these
should not be the chief material. But
let us use our common sense; the boy
sees a bird in the woods or field and does
not know its name; he seeks the bird in
the museum and thus is able to place it
and read about it and is stimulated to
make other observations concerning it.
Wherever the museum is a help to the
study of life in the field, it is well and
good. Some teachers may give a live les-
son from a stuffed specimen, and other
teachers may stuff their pupils with facts
about a live specimen; of the two, the
former is preferable.

There is no question that making a col-
lection of insects is an efficient way of
developing the child's powers of close
observation, as well as of giving him man-
ual dexterity in handling fragile things.
Also it is a false sentiment which attrib-
utes to an insect the same agony at be-
ing impaled on a pin that we might suffer
at being thrust through by a stake. The
insect nervous system is far more con-
veniently arranged for such an ordeal than
ours; and, too, the cyanide bottle brings
immediate and painless death to the in-
sects placed within it; moreover, the in-
sects usually collected have short lives
anyway. So far as the child is concerned,

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

Mounted twigs and nuts. These may be put
in the bottom, of a shallow box with a sheet of
cellophane pasted over the top

he is thinking of his collection of moths
or butterflies and not at all of taking life;
so it is not teaching him to wantonly
destroy living creatures. However, an in-
discriminate encouragement of the mak-
ing of insect collections cannot be ad-
vised. There are some children who will
profit by it and some who will not, and
unquestionably the best kind of study of
insects is watching their interesting ways
while they live.

To kill a creature in order to prepare
it for a nature-study lesson is not only
wrong but absurd, for nature-study has to
do with life rather than death, and the
form of any creature is interesting only
when its adaptations for life are studied.
But again, a nature-study teacher may be
an opportunist; if without any volition
on her part or the pupils', a freshly killed
specimen comes to hand, she should
make the most of it. The writer remem-
bers most illuminating lessons from a par-
tridge that broke a window and its neck

simultaneously during its flight one win-
ter night, a yellow hammer that killed
itself against an electric wire, and a musk-
rat that turned its toes to the skies for
no understandable reason. In each of
these cases the creature's special physical
adaptations for living its own peculiar life
were studied, and the effect was not the
study of a dead thing, but of a successful
and wonderful life.

THE LENS, MICROSCOPE, AND FIELD
GLASS AS HELPS IN NATURE-STUDY
In elementary grades, nature-study
deals with objects which the children can
see with the naked eye. However, a lens
is a help in almost all of this work be-
cause it is such a joy to the child to gaze
at the wonders it reveals. There is no les-
son given in this book which requires
more than a simple lens for seeing the
most minute parts discussed. An excel-
lent lens may be bought for a dollar,
and a fairly good one for fifty cents or
even twenty-five cents. The lens should
be chained to a table or desk where it
may be used by the pupils at recess. This
gives each an opportunity for using it and
obviates the danger of losing it. If the
pupils themselves own lenses, they should
be fastened by a string or chain to the
pocket.

A microscope has no legitimate part in
nature-study. But if there is one available,
it reveals so many wonders in the com-
monest objects that it can ofttimes be

Bausch & Lornb Optical Co.

Hand lenses

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.

A field glass

made a source of added interest. For
instance, thus to see the scales on the
butterfly's wing affords the child pleasure
as well as edification. Field or opera
glasses, while indispensable for bird study,
are by no means necessary in nature-
study. However, the pupils will show
greater interest in noting the birds' colors
if they are allowed to make the observa-
tions with the help of a glass.

USES OF PICTURES, CHARTS, AND
BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS

Pictures alone should never be used
as the subjects for nature-study lessons,
but they may be of great use in illustrat-
ing and illuminating a lesson. Books well
illustrated are more readily compre-
hended by the child and are often very
helpful to him, especially after his inter-
est in the subject is thoroughly aroused.
If charts are used to illustrate the lesson,
the child is likely to be misled by the
size of the drawing, which is also the case
in blackboard pictures. However, this er-
ror may be avoided by fixing the atten-
tion of the pupil on the object first. If
the pupils are studying the ladybird and
have it in their hands, the teacher may
use a diagram representing the beetle as
a foot long and it will still convey the
idea accurately; but if she begins with
the picture, she probably can never con-

vince the children that the picture has
anything to do with the insect.

In making blackboard drawings illus-
trative of the lesson, it is best, if possible,
to have one of the pupils do the drawing
in the presence of the class; or, if the
teacher does the drawing, she should hold
the object in her hand while doing it
and look at it often so that the children
may see that she is trying to represent it
accurately. Taking everything into con-
sideration, however, nature-study charts
and blackboard drawings are of little use
to the nature-study teacher,

THE USES OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES

Disquieting problems relative to scien-
tific nomenclature always confront the
teacher of nature-study. My own practice
has been to use the popular names of spe-
cies, except in cases where confusion might
ensue, and to use the scientific names for
anatomical parts. However, this matter is
of little importance if the teacher bears in
mind that the purpose of nature-study
is to know the subject under observation
and to learn the name incidentally.

Common tree frog or tree toad, Hyla versi-
cplor versicolor. Another species, Hyla cru-
cifer, is also often catted the tree frog and tree
toad. Common names, then } will not distin-
guish these amphibians one from another;
the scientific names must be applied

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

If the teacher says, " I have a pink he-
patica. Can anyone find me a blue one? "
the children, who naturally like grownup
words, will soon be calling these flowers
hepaticas. But if the teacher says, " These
flowers are called hepaticas. Now please
everyone remember the name. Write it
in your books as I write it on the black-
board, and in half an hour I shall ask you
again what it is," the pupils naturally look
upon the exercise as a word lesson and its
real significance is Ipst. This sort of nature-
study is dust and ashes and there has been
too much of it. The child should never
be required to learn the name of any-
thing in the nature-study work; but the
name should be used so often and so
naturally in his presence that he will
learn it without being conscious of the
process.

THE STORY AS A SUPPLEMENT TO
THE NATURE-STUDY LESSON

Many of the subjects for nature lessons
can be studied only in part, since but one
phase may be available at the time. Often,
especially if there is little probability that
the pupils will find opportunity to com-
plete the study, it is best to round out
their knowledge by reading or telling the
story to supplement the facts which they
have discovered for themselves. This
story should not be told as a finality or
as a complete picture but as a guide and
inspiration for further study. Always
leave at the end of the story an interroga-
tion mark that will remain aggressive and
insistent in the child's mind. To illus-
trate: Once a club of junior naturalists
brought me rose leaves injured by the leaf-
cutter bee and asked me why the leaves
were cut out so regularly. I told them the
story of the use made by the mother bee
of these oval and circular bits of leaves
and made the account as vital as I was
able; but at the end I said, " I do not
know which species of bee cut these
leaves. She is living here among us and
building her nest with your rose leaves,
which she is cutting every day almost
under your very eyes. Is she then so

much more clever than you that you can-
not see her or find her nest? " For two
years following this lesson I received let-
ters from members of this club. Two car-
penter bees and their nests were discov-
ered by them and studied before the
mysterious leaf-cutter was finally ferreted

The leaf-cutter bee

out. My story had left something inter-
esting for the young naturalists to dis-
cover. The children should be impressed
with the fact that the nature story is
never finished. There is not a weed or
an insect or a tree so common that the
child, by observing carefully, may not see
things never yet recorded in scientific
books; therefore the supplementary story
should be made an inspiration for keener
interest and further investigation on the
part of the pupil. The supplementary
story simply thrusts aside some of the
obscuring underbrush, thus revealing
more plainly the path to further knowl-
edge.

THE NATURE-STUDY ATTITUDE
TOWARD LIFE AXD DEATH

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

but become a vegetarian, and even then
there might arise refinements in this ques-
tion of taking life; she might have to con-
Perhaps no greater danger besets the sider the cruelty to asparagus in cutting
pathwav of the natuie-studv teacher than it off in plump infancy, or the ethics of
he question involved in her pupils 7 atti- devouring in the turnip the food laid up
tude toward life and death. To inculcate by the mother plant to perfect her seed.

In fact, a most rigorous diet would be
forced upon the teacher who should re-
fuse to sustain her own existence at the
cost of life; and if she should attempt to

in the child a reverence for life and yet
to keep him from becoming mawkish
and morbid is truly a problem. It is al-
most inevitable that the child should be-
come sympathetic with the life of the
animal or plant studied, since a true un-
derstanding of the life of any creature
creates an interest which stimulates a de-

teach the righteousness of such a diet
she would undoubtedly forfeit her posi-
tion; and yet what is she to do! She will
soon find herself in the position of a cer-

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sire to protect this particular creature and tain lady who placed sheets of sticky tty-

. i . / i i *. r . _ "iT *__ ,-..r^^- st*-xMi<t-t.ir[ T~/3-r "Ir-!+TT*l/an f 1 /^ Tirl Tlfr M mi Qf*

make its life less hard. Many times, within
my own experience, have I known boys,
who began by robbing birds' nests for
egg collections, to end by becoming most
zealous protectors of the birds. The hu-
mane qualities within these boys budded
and blossomed in the growing knowledge
of the lives of the birds. At Cornell Uni-
versity, it is a well-known fact that those
students who turn aside so as not to crush
the ant, caterpillar, or cricket on the pave-
ment are almost invariably those that are
studying entomology 7 ; and in America it
is the botanists themselves who are lead-
ing the crusade for flower protection.

Thus, the nature-study teacher, if she
does her work well, is a sure aid in in-
culcating a respect for the rights of all
living beings to their own lives; and she
needs only to lend her influence gently
in this direction to change carelessness
to thoughtfulness and cruelty to kindness.
But with this impetus toward a reverence
for life, the teacher soon finds herself in
a dilemma from which there is no logical
way out, so long as she lives in a world
where Iamb chop, beefsteak, and roast
chicken are articles of ordinary diet; a
world in fact, where every meal is based
upon the death of some creature. For if
she places much emphasis upon the sa-
credness of life, the children soon begin to
question whether it be right to slay the
lamb or the chicken for their own food.
It would seem that there is nothing for
the consistent nature-study teacher to do

paper around her kitchen to rid her house
of flies, and then in mental anguish picked
off the buzzing, struggling victims and
sought to clean their too adhesive wings
and legs.

In fact, drawing the line between what
to kill and what to let live requires the
use of common sense rather than logic.
First of all, the nature-study teacher, while
exemplifying and encouraging the hu-
mane attitude toward the lower creatures,
and repressing cruelty which wantonly
causes suffering, should never magnify
the terrors of death. Death is as natural
as life and is the inevitable end of physical
life on our globe. Therefore, every story
and every sentiment expressed which
makes the child feel that death is terrible
is wholly wrong. The one right way to
teach about death is not to emphasize it
one way or another, but to deal with it
as a circumstance common to all; it should
be no more emphasized than the fact that
creatures eat or fall asleep.

Another thing for the nature-study
teacher to do is to direct the interest of
the child so that it shall center upon the
hungry creature rather than upon the one
which is made into the meal. It is well
to emphasize that one of the conditions
imposed upon every living being in the
woods and fields is that if it is clever
enough to get a meal it is entitled to one
when it is hungry. The child naturally
takes this view of it. I remember well
that as a child I never thought particu-

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

larly about the mouse which my cat
was eating; in fact, the process of trans-
muting mouse into cat seemed altogether
proper, but when the cat played with the
mouse, that was quite another thing, and
was never permitted. Although no one ap-
preciates more deeply than I the debt
which we owe to Thompson Seton and
writers of his kind, who have placed be-
fore the public the animal story from the
animal point of view and thus set us all
to thinking, yet it is certainly wrong to
impress this view too strongly upon the
young and sensitive child. In fact, this
process should not begin until the judg-
ment and the understanding are well de-
veloped, for we all know that although
seeing the other fellow's standpoint is a
source of strength and breadth of mind,
yet living the other fellow 7 s life is, at
best, an enfeebling process and a futile
waste of energy.

SHOULD THE NATURE-STUDY TEACHER
TEACH How TO DESTROY LIFE?

It is probably within the proper scope
of the nature-study teacher to place em-
phasis upon the domain of man, who, be-
ing the most powerful of all animals, as-
serts his will as to which ones shall live in
his midst. From a standpoint of abstract
justice, the stray cat has just as much
right to kill and eat the robin which
builds in the vine of my porch as the
robin has to pull and eat the earth-
worms from my lawn; but the place is
mine, and I choose to kill the cat and pre-
serve the robin.

When emphasizing the domain of
man, we may have to deal with the kill-
ing of creatures which are injurious to
his interests. Nature-study may be tribu-
tary to this, in a measure and indirectly,
but the study of this question is surely
not nature-study. For example, the child
studies the cabbage butterfly in all its
stages, the exquisitely sculptured yellow
egg, the velvety green caterpillar, the
chrysalis with its protecting colors, the
white-winged butterfly, and becomes in-
terested in the life of the insect. Not
under any consideration, when the atten-

tion of the child is focused on the insect,
should we suggest a remedy for it when
it becomes a pest. Let the life story of the
butterfly stand as a fascinating page of
nature's book. But later, when the child
enters on his career as a gardener, when
he sets out his row of cabbage plants and
waters and cultivates them, and does his
best to bring them to maturity, along
conies the butterfly, now an arch enemy,
and begins to rear her progeny on the
product of his toil. Now the child's in-
terest is focused on the cabbage, and the
question is not one of killing insects so
much as of saving plants. In fact there is
nothing in spraying the plants with Paris
green which suggests cruelty to innocent
caterpillars, nor is the process likely to
harden the child's sensibilities.

To gain knowledge of the life stow of
insects or other creatures is nature-study.
To destroy them as pests is a part of agri-
culture or horticulture. The one may be
of fundamental assistance to the other,
but the two are quite separate and should
never be confused.

THE FIELD NOTEBOOK

A field notebook may be made a joy
to the pupil and a help to the teacher.
Any kind of blank book will do for this,
except that it should not be too large to
be carried in the pocket, and it should
always have the pencil attached. To make
the notebook a success the following rules
should be observed:

(a) The book should be considered
the personal property of the child and
should never be criticized by the teacher
except as a matter of encouragement; for
the spirit in which the notes are made is
more important than the information
they cover.

(b) The making of drawings to illus-
trate what is observed should be encour-
aged. A graphic drawing is far better than
a long description of a natural object.

(c) The notebook should not be re-
garded as a part of the work in English.
The spelling, language, and writing of the
notes should all be exempt from criticism.

(d) As occasion offers, outlines for ob-

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

. a.73.

297

t f

J a r* u

t t

TWk-s.

A page from the field notebook of a boy of fourteen who read Thoreau and admired the books

of Ernest Thompson Seton

serving certain plants or animals may be
placed in the notebook previous to the
field excursion so as to give definite points
for the work.

(e) No child should be compelled to
have a notebook.

The field notebook is a veritable gold
mine for the nature-study teacher to work.

in securing voluntary and happy observa-
tions from the pupils concerning their
out-of-door interests. It is a friendly gate
which admits the teacher to a knowledge
of what the child sees and cares for.
Through it she may discover where the
child's attention impinges upon the
realm of nature and thus may know

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

A brook in winter

where to find the starting point for cul-
tivating larger intelligence and wider in-
terest.

I have examined many field notebooks
kept by pupils in the intermediate grades
and have been surprised at their pleni-
tude of accurate observation and graphic
illustration. These books ranged from
blank account books furnished by the
family grocer up to a quarto, the pages of
which were adorned with many marginal
illustrations made in passionate admira-
tion of Thompson Seton's books and
filled with carefully transcribed text that
showed the direct influence of Thoreau.
These books, of whatever quality, are pre-
cious beyond price to their owners. And
why not? For they represent what cannot
be bought or sold, personal experience in
the happy world of out-of-doors.

THE FIELD EXCURSION
Many teachers look upon the field ex-
cursion as a precarious voyage, steered be-
tween the Scylla of hilarious seeing too
much and the Charybdis of seeing noth-
ing at all because of the zest which comes
from freedom in the fields and wood.
This danger can be obviated if the teacher
plans the work definitely before starting,
and demands certain results.

It is a mistake to think that a half day
is necessary for a field lesson, since a very

efficient field trip may be made during the
ten or fifteen minutes at recess, If it is~well
planned. Certain questions and lines of
investigation should be given the pupils

before starting and given in such a man-
ner as to make them thoroughly inter-
ested in discovering the facts ^ A "certain

teacher in New York State lias studied all
the common plants and trees in the vi-
cinity- of her school by means of these re-
cess excursions and the pupils have been
enthusiastic about the work.

The half-hour excursion should be pre-
ceded by a talk concerning the purposes
of the outing and the pupils must know
that certain observations are to be made
or they will not be permitted to go again.
This should not be emphasized as a pun-
ishment; but they should be made to un-
derstand that a field excursion is only,
naturally enough, for those who wish to
see and understand outdoor life. For all
field work, the teacher should make use
of the field notebook which should be
a part of the pupils" equipment.

PETS AS NATURE-STUDY SUBJECTS
Little attention has been given to mak-
ing the child understand what would be
the lives of his pets if they were in their
native environment, or to relating their
habits and lives as wild animals. Almost
any pet, if properly observed, affords an
admirable opportunity for understanding
the reasons why its structure and peculiar
habits may have made it successful among
other creatures and in other lands.
Moreover., the actions and the daily

W. J. Hamilton, Jr.

Young woodchucks

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

life of the pet make interesting subject
matter for a notebook. The lessons on
the dog, rabbit and horse as given in this
volume may suggest methods for such
stud}', and with apologies that it is not
better and more interesting, I have placed
with the story of the squirrel a few pages
from one of my own notebooks regard-
ing my experiences with " Furry." I in-
clude this record as a suggestion for the
children that they should keep notebooks
of their pets. It will lead them to closer
observation and to a better and more nat-
ural expression of their experiences.

THE CORRELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
WITH LANGUAGE WORK

Nature-study should be so much a part
of the child's thought and interest that it
will naturally form a thought core for
other subjects quite unconsciously on his
part. In fact, there is one safe rule for cor-
relation in this case it is legitimate and
excellent training as long as the pupil does
not discover that he is correlating. But
there is something in human nature which
revolts against doing one thing to accom-
plish quite another. A boy once said to
me, " I'd rather never go on a field ex-
cursion than to have to write it up for
English/' a sentiment I sympathized with
keenly; ulterior motive is sickening to the
honest spirit. But if that same boy had
been a member of a field class and had en-
joyed all the new experiences and had
witnessed the interesting things discov-
ered on this excursion, and if later his
teacher had asked him to write for her
an account of some part of it, because
she wished to know what he had discov-
ered, the chances are that he would have
written his story joyfully and with a
certain pride that would have counted
much for achievement in word expres-
sion.

When Mr. John Spencer, known to so
many children in New York State as
" Uncle John," was conducting the Junior
Naturalist Clubs, the teachers allowed
letters to him to count for language ex-
ercises; and the eagerness with which

these letters were written should have
given the teachers the key to the proper
method of teaching English. Mr. Spencer
requested the teachers not to correct the
letters, because he wished the children
to be thinking about the subject matter
rather than the form of expression. But
so anxious were many of the pupils to
make their letters perfect that they ear-
nestly requested their teachers to help
them write correctly, which was an ideal
condition for teaching them English.
Writing letters to Uncle John was such
a joy to the pupils that it was used as a
privilege and a reward of merit in many
schools. One rural teacher reduced the
percentage of tardiness to a minimum by
giving the first period in the morning to
the work in English which consisted of
letters to Uncle John.

Why do pupils dislike writing English
exercises? Simply because they are not
interested in the subject they are asked
to write about, and they know that the
teacher is not interested in the informa-
tion contained in the essay. But when
they are interested in the subject and
write about it to a person who is inter-
ested, the conditions are entirely changed.
If the teacher, overwhelmed as she is by
work and perplexities, could only keep in
mind that the purpose of a language is,
after all, merely to convey ideas, some of
her perplexities would fade away. A con-
veyance naturally should be fitted for the
load it is to carry, and if the pupil ac-
quires the load first he is very likely to
construct a conveyance that will be ade-
quate. How often the conveyance is made
perfect through much effort and polished
through agony of spirit and the load en-
tirely forgotten!

Nature-study lessons give much excel-
lent subject matter for stories and essays,
but these essays should never be criticized
or defaced with the blue pencil. They
should be read with interest by the
teacher; the mistakes made in them, so
transformed as to be unrecognizable, may
be used for drill exercises in grammatical
construction. After all, grammar and spell-
ing are only gained by practice and there

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

is no royal road leading to their acquire-
ment.

THE CORRELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
AND DRAWING

The correlation of nature-study and
drawing is so natural and inevitable that
it needs never be revealed to the pupil.
When the child is interested in studying
any object, he enjoys illustrating his ob-
servations with drawings; the happy ab-

r " ~~'

A mounted fern. A pressed dry fern placed
on a layer of cotton batting backed by card-
board is covered with a sheet of cellophane
and is slipped into an envelope from which a
panel has been cut

sorption of children thus engaged is a
delight to witness. At its best, drawing is
a perfectly natural method of self-expres-
sion. The savage and the young child,
both untutored, seek to express them-
selves and their experiences by this means.
It is only when the object to be drawn
is foreign to the interest of the child that
drawing is a task.

Nature-study offers the best means for
bridging the gap that lies between the

kindergarten child who makes drawings
because he loves to and is impelled to
from within, and the pupil in the grades
who is obliged to draw what the teacher
places before him. From making crude
and often meaningless pencil strokes,
which is the entertainment of the voting
child, to the outlining of a leaf or some
other simple and interesting natural ob-
ject is a normal step full of interest for
the child because it is still self-expression.

Miss Man" E. Hill, formerly of the
Goodyear School of Syracuse, s;ave each
year an exhibition of the drawings made
by the children in the nature-study classes;
and these were universally so excellent
that most people regarded them as an
exhibition from the art department; and
yet many of these pupils never had had
lessons in drawing. They had learned to
draw because they liked to make pictures
of the living objects which they had
studied. One year there were in this ex-
hibit many pictures of toads in various
stages, and although their anatomy was
sometimes awry in the pictures, yet there
was a certain vivid expression of life in
their representation; one felt that the
toads could jump. Miss Hill allowed the
pupils to choose their own medium, pen-
cil, crayon, or water color, and said that
they seemed to feel which was best. For
instance, when drawing the outline of
trees in winter they chose pencil, but when
representing the trill iuni or iris they pre-
ferred the water color, while for bitter-
sweet and crocuses they chose the colored
crayons.

It is through this method of drawing
that which interests him that the child
retains and keeps as his own what should
be an inalienable right, a graphic method
of expressing his own impressions. Too
much have we emphasized drawing as art
art; it may be an art, if the one who draws
is an artist; but if he is not an artist, he
still has a right to draw if it pleases him
to do so. We might as well declare that
a child should not speak unless he put
his words into poetry, as to declare that
he should not draw because his drawings
are not artistic.

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

THE CORRELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
WITH GEOGRAPHY

Life depends upon its environment.
Geographical conditions and limitations
have shaped the mold into which plastic
life has been poured and by which its
form has been modified. It may be easy
for the untrained mind to see how the
deserts and oceans affect life. Cattle may
not roam in the former because there is

U. S. Geological Survey Photo by W. G. Pierce

A meandering stream

nothing there for them to eat, nor may
they occupy the latter because they are
not fitted for breathing air in the water.
And yet the camel can endure thirst and
live on the scant food of the desert; and
the whale is a mammal fitted to live in
the sea. The question is, how are we to
impress the child with the " have to "
which lies behind all these geographical
facts? If animals live in the desert they
have to subsist on scant and peculiar food
which grows there; they have to get along
with little water; they have to endure heat
and sand storms; they have to have eyes
that will not become blinded by the vivid
reflection of the sunlight on the sand; they
have to be of sand color so that they may
escape the eyes of their enemies or creep
upon their prey unperceived.

All these " have to's " are not mere
chance, but they have existed so long that
the animal, by constantly coming in con-
tact with them, has attained its present
form and habits.

There are just as many " have to's " in
the stream or the pond back of the school-
house, on the dry hillside behind it, or
in the woods beyond the creek as there
are in desert or ocean; and when the child

gets an inkling of this fact, he has made
a great step into the realm of geography.
When he realizes why water lilies can
grow only in still water that is not too
deep and which has a silt bottom, and
why the cattails grow in swamps where
there is not too much water, and why the
mullein grows in the dry pasture, and
why the hepatica thrives in the rich,
damp woods, and why the daisies grow
in the meadows, he will understand that
this partnership of nature and geography
illustrates the laws which govern life.
Many phases of physical geography be-
long to the realm of nature-study: the
brook, its course, its work of erosion and
sedimentation; the rocks of many kinds,
the soil, the climate, the weather, are all
legitimate subjects for nature-study les-
sons.

THE CORRELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
WITH HISTORY

There are many points where nature-
study impinges upon history in a way
that may prove the basis for an inspiring
lesson. Many of our weeds, cultivated
plants, and domestic animals have been
introduced from Europe and are a part of
our colonial history; while many of the
most commonly seen creatures have played
their part in the history of ancient times.
For instance, the bees which gave to man
the only means available to him for sweet-
ening his food until the iyth century, were
closely allied to the home life of ancient
peoples. The buffalo which ranged our
western plains had much to do with the
life of the red man. The study of the grass-
hopper brings to the child's attention
stories of the locusts' invasion mentioned
in the Bible, and the stars which witnessed
our creation and of which Job sang and
the ancients wrote, shine over our heads
every night.

But the trees, through the lengthy span
of their lives, cover more history individu-
ally than do other organisms. In glancing
across the wood-covered hills of New
York one often sees there, far above the
other trees, the gaunt crowns of old white
pines. Such trees belonged to the forest

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

primeval and may have attained the age
of two centuries; they stand there look-
ing out over the world, relics of another
age when America belonged to the red
man, and the bear and the panther played
or fought beneath them. The cedars live

The Arnold Arboretum

The Endicott pear tree. This tree was
planted by Governor John Endicott in his
garden in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1630.
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and
Daniel Webster enjoyed the fruit of this
patriarchal tree. Sprouts, shown above, from
the old tree still bear

longer than do the pines, and the great
scarlet oak may have attained the age of
four centuries before it yields to fate.

Perhaps in no other way can the atten-
tion of the pupil be turned so naturally
to past events as through the thought
that the life of such a tree has spanned
so much of human history. The life his-
tory of one of these ancient trees should
be made the center of local history; let
the pupils find when the town was first
settled by the whites and where they came
from, and how large the tree was then;
what Indian tribes roamed the woods be-
fore that and what animals were common
in the forest when this tree was a sapling.
Thus may be brought out the chief events
in the history of the county and town-
ship, when they were established and for

whom or what they were named; and a
comparison of the present industries may
be made with those of a hundred years
ago.

THE CORRELATION OF NATURE-STUDY
WITH ARITHMETIC

The arithmetical problems presented
by nature-study are many; some of them
are simple and some of them are com-
plicated, and all of them are illuminating.
Seed distribution especially lends itself to
computation; a milkweed pod contains
140 seeds; there are five such pods on
one plant; each milkweed plant requires
at least one square foot of ground to grow
on; how much ground would be required
to grow all of the seeds from this one
plant? Or, count the seeds in one dande-
lion head, multiply by the number of
flower heads on the plant and estimate
how many plants can grow on a square
foot, then ask a boy how long it would
take for one dandelion plant to cover his

W. C. Muenscher

A red cedar and its seedlings

father's farm with its progeny; or count
the blossoms on one branch of an apple
tree, later count the ripened fruit; what
percentage of blossoms matured into fruit?
Measuring trees, their height and thick-
ness and computing the lumber they will
make combines arithmetic and geometry,
and so on ad infinitum.

2 o THE TEACHING OF

As a matter of fact, the teacher will
find in almost every nature lesson an
arithmetic lesson; and when arithmetic
is used in this work, it should be vital and
inherent and not " tacked on "; the pu-
pils should be really interested in the an-
swers to their problems; and as with all
correlation, the success of it depends upon
the genius of the teacher.

GARDENING AND NATURE-STUDY
Erroneously, some people maintain
that gardening is nature-study; this is not
so necessarily nor ordinarily. Gardening
may be a basis for nature-study, but it is
rarely made so to any great extent. Even
the work in children's gardens is so con-
ducted that the pupils know little or
nothing of the flowers or vegetables which
they grow except their names, their uses
to man, and how to cultivate them. They
are taught how to prepare the soil, but
the reason for this from the plant's stand-
point is never revealed; and if the child
becomes acquainted with the plants in
his garden, he makes the discovery by
himself. All this is nothing against gar-
dening! It is a wholesome and valuable
experience for a child to learn how to
make a garden even if he remains ignorant
of the interesting facts concerning the
plants which he there cultivates. But if
the teachers are so inclined, they may
find in the garden and its products the
most interesting material for the best of
nature lessons. Every plant the child
grows is an individual with its own pe-
culiarities as well as those of its species
in manner of growth. Its roots, stems, and
leaves are of certain form and structure;
and often the special uses to the plant of
its own kind of leaves, stems, and roots
are obvious. Each plant has its own form
of flower and even its own tricks for se-
curing pollination; and its own manner of
developing and scattering its seeds. Every
weed of the garden has developed some
special method of winning and holding
its place among the cultivated plants; and
in no other way can the child so fully
and naturally come into a comprehension
of that term " the survival of the fittest "

NATURE-STUDY

as by studying the ways of the fit as exem-
plified in the triumphant weeds of his
garden.

Every earthworm working below the
soil is doing something for the garden.
Every bee that visits the flowers there is
on an errand for the garden as well as for
herself. Every insect feeding on leaf or
root is doing something to the garden.
Every bird that nests near by or that ever
visits it, is doing something which affects
the life and the growth of the garden.
What all of these uninvited guests are
doing is one field of garden nature-study.
Aside from all this study of individual
life in the garden, which even the young-
est child may take part in, there are the
more advanced lessons on the soil. What
kind of soil is it? From what sort of rock
was it formed? What renders it mellow
and fit for the growing of plants? More-
over, what do the plants get from it? How
do they get it? What do they do with
what they get?

This leads to the subject of plant physi-
ology, the elements of which may be
taught simply by experiments carried on
by the children themselves, experiments
which should demonstrate the sap cur-
rents in the plant; the use of water to

carry food and to make the plant rigid;
the use of sunshine in making the plant
food in the leaf laboratories; the nourish-
ment provided for the seed and its germi-
nation, and many other similar lessons.

A child who makes a garden, and thus
becomes intimate with the plants he cul-
tivates, and comes to understand the in-
terrelation of the various forms of life

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

which he finds in his garden, has pro-
gressed far in the fundamental knowledge
of nature's ways as well as in a practical
knowledge of agriculture.

NATURE-STUDY AND AGRICULTURE
Luckily, thumb-rule agriculture is be-
ing pushed to the wall in these enlight-
ened days. Thumb rules would work
much better if nature did not vary her
performances in such a confusing way.
Government experiment stations were es-
tablished because thumb rules for farm-
ing were unreliable and disappointing;
and all the work of all the experiment
stations has been simply advanced nature-
study and its application to the practice
of agriculture. Both nature-study and ag-
riculture are based upon the study of life
and the physical conditions which en-
courage or limit life; this is known to the
world as the study of the natural sciences;
and if we see clearly the relation of nature-
study to science, we may understand
better the relation of nature-study to ag-
riculture, which is based upon the sciences.
Nature-study is science brought home.
It is a knowledge of botany, zoology, and
geology as illustrated in the dooryard, the
cornfield or the woods back of the house.
Some people have an idea that to know
these sciences one must go to college;
they do not understand that nature has
furnished the material and laboratories
on every farm in the land. Thus, by be-
ginning with the child in nature-study we
take him to the laboratory of the wood
or garden, the roadside or the field, and
his materials are the wild flowers or the

Marion E. Wesp

A wheat shock

Dept. of Agronomy, N. Y. State College of Agriculture

A meadow at harvest time

weeds, or the insects that visit the golden-
rod or the bird that sings in the maple
tree, or the woodchuck whistling in the
pasture. The child begins to study living
things anywhere or everywhere, and his
progress is always along the various tracks
laid down by the laws of life, along which
his work as an agriculturist must always
progress if it is to be successful.

The child through nature-study learns
the way a plant grows, whether it be an
oak, a turnip, or a pigweed; he learns how
the roots of each are adapted to its needs;
how the leaves place themselves to get
the sunshine and why they need it; and
how the flowers get their pollen carried
by the bee or the wind; and how the
seeds are finally scattered and planted.
Or he learns about the life of the bird,
whether it be a chicken, an owl, or a
bobolink; he knows how each bird gets
its food and what its food is, where it
lives, where it nests, and its relation to
other living things. He studies the bum-
blebee and discovers its great mission of
pollen-carrying for many flowers, and in
the end would no sooner strike it dead
than he would voluntarily destroy his
clover patch. This is the kind of learn-
ing we call nature-study and not science
or agriculture. But the country child can
never learn anything in nature-study that
has not something to do with science, and
that has not its own practical lesson for
him, when he shall become a farmer.

Some have argued, " Why not make
nature-study solely along the lines of agri-

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

culture? Why should not the child begin
nature-study with the cabbage rather than
with the wild flowers?'' This argument
carried out logically provides recreation
for a boy in hoeing corn rather than in
playing ball. Many parents in the past
have argued thus and have, in conse-
quence, driven thousands of splendid
boys from the country to the city with a
loathing in their souls for the drudgery
which seemed all there was to farm life.
The reason the wild flowers may be se-
lected for beginning the nature-study of
plants is that every child loves these wood-
land posies, and his happiest hours are
spent in gathering them. Never yet have
we known of a case where a child, having
gained his knowledge of the way a plant
lives through studying the plants he loves,
has failed to be interested and delighted
to find that the wonderful things he dis-
covered about his wild flower may be true
of the vegetable in the garden, or the
purslane which fights with it for ground
to stand upon.

Some have said, " We, as farmers, care
only to know what concerns our pocket-
books; we wish only to study those things
which we must, as farmers, cultivate or
destroy. We do not care for the butterfly,
but we wish to know the plum weevil; we
do not care for the trillium, but we are
interested in the onion; we do not care
for the meadowlark, but we cherish the
gosling." This is an absurd argument
since it is a mental impossibility for any
human being to discriminate between
two things when he knows or sees only
one. In order to understand the impor-
tant economic relations to the world of
one plant or animal, it is absolutely nec-
essary to have a wide knowledge of other
plants and animals. One might as well
say, " I will see the approaching cyclone,
but never look at the sky; I will look at the
clover, but not see the dandelion; I will
look for the sheriff when he comes over
the hill, but will not see any other team
on the road."

Nature-study is an effort to make the
individual use his senses instead of losing
them; to train him to keep his eyes open

to all things so that his powers of dis-
crimination shall be based on wisdom.
The ideal farmer is not the man who by
hazard and chance succeeds; he is the
man who loves his farm and all that sur-
rounds it because he is awake to the
beauty as well as to the wonders which
are there; he is the man who understands
as far as may be the great forces of nature
which are at work around him, and there-
fore he is able to make them work for
him. For what is agriculture save a diver-
sion of natural forces for the benefit of
man! The farmer who knows these forces
only when restricted to his paltry crops,
and has no idea of their larger application,
is no more efficient as a farmer than a man
who knew only how to start and stop an
engine would be as an engineer.

In order to appreciate truly his farm,
the farmer must needs begin as a child
with nature-study; in order to be success-
ful and make the farm pay, he must needs
continue in nature-study; and to make his
declining years happy, content, full of
wide sympathies and profitable thought,
he must needs conclude with nature-
study; for nature-study is the alphabet of
agriculture and no word in that great vo-
cation may be spelled without it.

NATURE-STUDY CLUBS

The organizing by the pupils of a club
for studying out-of-door life is a great help
and inspiration to the work in nature-study
in the classroom. The essays and the talks
before the club prove efficient aid in Eng-
lish composition; and the varied interests
of the members of the club furnish new
and vital material for study. A button or a
badge may be designed for the club and,
of course, it must have a constitution and
bylaws. The proceedings of the club meet-
ings should be conducted according to
parliamentary rules; but the field excur-
sions should be entirely informal.

The meetings of the Junior Naturalists
Clubs, as organized in the schools of New
York State by Mr. John W. Spencer,
were most impressive. The school session
would be brought to a close, the teacher
stepping down and taking a seat with the

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

pupils. The president of the club, some
bashful boy or slender slip of a girl,
would take the chair and conduct the
meeting with a dignity and efficiency
worthy of a statesman. The order was per-
fect, the discussion much to the point.
I confess to a feeling of awe when I at-
tended these meetings, conducted so seri-
ously and so formally, by such youngsters.
Undoubtedly, the parliamentary training
and experience in speaking impromptu are
among the chief benefits of such a club.
These clubs may be organized for spe-
cial study. In one bird club of which I
know there have been contests. Sides
were chosen and the number of birds seen

from May i to 31 inclusive was the
test of supremacy. Notes on the birds
were taken in the field with such care
that, when at the end of the month each
member handed in his notes, they could
be used as evidence of accurate identifica-
tion. An umpire decided the doubtful
points with the help of bird manuals. The
contest was always close and exciting.

The programs of the nature club should
be varied so as to be continually interest-
ing. Poems and stories concerning the
objects studied help make the program
attractive. Observing nature, however,
should be the central theme of all
meetings.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

First and indispensably, the teacher
should have at hand the subject of the
lesson. She should make herself familiar
with the points covered by the questions
and read the story before giving the les-
son. If she does not have the time to go
over the observations suggested before
giving the lesson, she should take up the
questions with the pupils as a joint inves-
tigation, and be boon companion in dis-
covering the story.

The story should not be read to the
pupils. It is given as an assistance to the
teacher, and is not meant for direct in-
formation to the pupils. If the teacher
knows a fact in nature's realm, she is then
in a position to lead her pupils to dis-
cover this fact for themselves.

Make the lesson an investigation and
make the pupils feel that they are in-
vestigators. To tell the story to begin
with inevitably spoils this attitude and
quenches interest.

The "leading thought" embodies
some of the points which should be in
the teacher's mind while giving the les-
son; it should not be read or declared to
the pupils.

The outlines for observations herein
given by no means cover all of the ob-
servations possible; they are meant to sug-

gest to the teacher observations of her
own, rather than to be followed slavishly.
The suggestions for observations have
been given in the form of questions,
merely for the sake of saving space. The
direct questioning method, if not em-
ployed with discretion, becomes tiresome

Marion E. Wesp

to both pupil and teacher. If the ques-
tions do not inspire the child to investi-
gate, they are useless. To grind out an-
swers to questions about any natural
object is not nature-study, it is simply
" grind," a form of mental activity which
is of much greater use when applied to
spelling or the multiplication table than
to the study of nature. The best teacher
will cover the points suggested for ob-
servations with few direct questions. To
those who find the questions inadequate I

THE TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY

will say that, although I have used these
outlines once, I am sure I should never be
able to use them again without making
changes.

A hickory tree

Marion E. Wesp

The topics chosen for these lessons may
not be the most practical or the most
interesting or the most enlightening
that are to be found; they are simply
those subjects which I have used in my
classes, because we happened to find them
at hand the mornings the lessons were
given.

While an earnest attempt has been
made to make the information in this
book accurate, it is to be expected and to
be hoped that many discrepancies will
be found by those who follow the lessons.
No two animals or plants are just alike,
and no two people see things exactly the
same way. The chief aim of this volume
is to encourage investigation rather than
to give information. Therefore, if mis-
takes are found, the object of the book
will have been accomplished, and the
author will feel deeply gratified. If the
teacher finds that the observations made
by her and her pupils do not agree with
the statements in the book, I earnestly
enjoin upon her to trust to her own eyes
rather than to any book.

No teacher is expected to teach all the
lessons in this book. A wide rarige of
subjects is given, so that congenial choice
may be made.

PART II
ANIMALS

ANIMAL GROUPS

For some inexplicable reason, the word
animal ? in common parlance, is restricted
to the mammals. As a matter of fact, the
bird, the fish, the insect, and the snake
have as much right to be called animals as
the squirrel or the deer. And while I be-
lieve that much freedom in the matter of
scientific nomenclature is permissible in
nature-study, I also believe that it is well
for the child to have a clearly defined idea
of the classes into which the animal king-
dom is divided; I would have him gain
this knowledge by noting how one animal

differs from another rather than by study-
ing the classification of animals in books.
He sees that the fish differs in many ways
from the bird and that the toad differs
from the snake; and it will be easy for
him to grasp the fact that the mammals
differ from all other animals in that their
young are nourished by milk from the
breasts of the mother; when he appreci-
ates this, he will understand that such
diverse forms as the whale, the cow, the
bat, and man are members of one great
class of animals.

BIRDS

Young phoebes that have just left the nest

The reason for studying any bird is to
ascertain what it does; in order to accom-
plish this, it is necessary to know what
the bird is, learning what it is being
simply a step that leads to a knowledge
of what it does. But, to hear some of our
bird devotees talk, one would think that
to be able to identify a bird is all of bird
study. On the contrary, the identification
of birds is simply the alphabet to the real
study, the alphabet by means of which
we may spell out the life habits of the
bird. To know these habits is the ambition
of the true ornithologist, and should like-
wise be the ambition of the beginner,
even though the beginner be a young
child.

Several of the most common birds have
been selected as subjects for lessons in
this book; other common birds, like the
phosbe and the wrens, have been purposely
omitted; after the children have studied
the birds, as indicated in the lessons, they
will enjoy working out lessons for them-
selves with other birds. Naturally, the se-
quence of these lessons does not follow
scientific classification; in the first lessons,
an attempt has been made to lead the

child gradually into a knowledge of bird
life. Beginning with the chicken there fol-
low naturally the lessons with pigeons and
the canary; then there follow the careful
and detailed study of the robins and con^
stant comparison of them with the blue-
birds. This is enough for the first year
in the primary grades. The next year the
work begins with the birds that remain
the North during the winter, the

Leonard K. Beyer

A family of cedar waxwings

chickadee, nuthatch, and downy wood-
pecker. After these have been studied care-
fully, the teacher may be an opportunist
when spring comes and select any of the
lessons when the bird subjects are at hand.
The classification suggested for the wood-
peckers and the swallows is for more ad-
vanced pupils, as are the lessons on the
geese and turkeys. It is to be hoped that
these lessons will lead the child directly to
the use of the bird books, of which there
are many excellent ones; for these, see the
bibliography.

BEGINNING BIRD STUDY IN THE
PRIMARY GRADES

The hen is especially adapted as an ob-
ject lesson for the young beginner of bird
study. First of all, she is a bird, notwith-
standing the adverse opinions of two of
my small pupils who stoutly maintained
that " a robin is a bird, but a hen is a hen/ 7
Moreover, the hen is a bird always avail-
able for nature-study; she looks askance
at us from the crates of the world's
marts; she comes to meet us in the coun-
try barnyard, stepping toward us sedately;
looking at us earnestly with one eye, then

Leonard K. Beyer

A redstart at her nest

turning her head so as to check up her
observations with the other; meantime
she asks us a little question in a whee-
dling, soft tone, which we understand per-
fectly to mean, " Have you perchance

ANIMALS

but she is a bird with problems; and by
studying her carefully we may be intro-
duced into the very heart and center of
bird life.

This lesson may be presented in two
ways : First, if the pupils live in the coun-
try, where they have poultry at home, the
whole series of lessons may best be accom-
plished through talks by the teacher, fol-
lowed on the part of the children by ob-
servations to be made at home. The re-
sults of these observations should be given
in school in oral or written lessons. Sec-
ond, if the pupils are not familiar with
fowls, a hen and a chick, if possible, should
be kept in a cage in the schoolroom for a
few days, and a duck or gosling should be
brought in one day for observation. The
crates in which fowls are sent to market
make very good cages. One of the teachers
of the Elmira, N. Y. schools introduced
into the basement of the schoolhouse a
hen, which there hatched her brood of
chicks, much to the children's delight and
edification. After the pupils have become
thoroughly interested in the hen and are
familiar with her ways, after they have feel
her and watched her, and have for her a
sense of ownership, the following lessons
may be given in an informal manner, as if
they were naturally suggested to the
teacher's mind through watching the fowl.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Cards, by Allan Brooks, with text by
Alden H. Hadley; Audubon Bird Leaflets,
published by the National Association of
Audubon Societies; The Bird Book, by
Neltje Blanchan; Bird Guide: Land Birds
East of the Rodcies, by Chester A. Reed;
Bird Guide; Water Birds, Game Birds
and Birds of Prey East of the Rockies, by
Chester A. Reecl; Bird Life, by Frank M.
Chapman; Birds of America, edited by
T. Gilbert Pearson; Birds of Massachu-
setts and Other New England States, by
Edward H. Forbusli; Birds of Minnesota,
Bird Portraits in Color, A Manual for the
Identification of the Birds of Minnesota
and Neighboring States, 295 American
Birds (pictures in spiral binding or loose

brought me something to eat? " Not only in portfolio), all by Thomas S. Roberts;
is the hen an interesting bird in herself, Birds of New York, by E. H. Eaton; The

BIRDS

Book of Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; The
Book of Birds, edited by Gilbert Grosve-
nor and Alexander Wetmore; The Chil-
dren's Book of Birds ( First Book of Birds
and Second Book of Birds), by Olive
Thorne Miller; A Field Guide' to the
Birds, by Roger Tory Peterson; Handbook
of the Birds of Eastern North America,
by Frank M. Chapman; Ornithology
Laboratory Notebook, by A. A. Allen; Red
Book of Birds of America, Blue Book of
Birds of America, Green Book of Birds

of America, by Frank G. Ashbrook; What
Bird is That?" by Frank M. Chapman.

(These books contain descriptions and
accounts of all the wild birds considered
in this section of the Handbook. Addi-
tional references are to be found in the
bibliography in the back of the book, un-
der various headings: Birds, Animals in
General, Nature Study in General, Text-
books and Readers, Nature Poetry, Maga-
zines and Periodicals, Books for Parents
and Teachers.)

FEATHERS AS CLOTHING

The bird's clothing affords a natural
beginning for bird study because the wear-
ing of feathers is a most striking character-
istic distinguishing birds from other crea-

Hooks on barbels

A feather

tares; also, feathers and flying are the first
things the young child notices about birds.
The purpose of all these lessons on
the hen are: (a) To induce the child to
make continued and sympathetic observa-
tions on the habits of the domestic birds.

(b) To cause him involuntarily to com-
pare the domestic with the wild birds.

(c) To induce him to think for himself
how the shape of the body, wings, head,
beak, feet, legs, and feathers are adapted in
each species to protect the bird and assist
it in getting its living.

The overlapping of the feathers on a
hen's back and breast is a pretty illustra-
tion of nature's method of shingling, so
that the rain, finding no place to enter,
drips off, leaving the bird's underclothing
quite dry. It is interesting to note how a
hen behaves in the rain; she droops her
tail and holds herself so that the water
finds upon her no resting place, but simply
a steep surface down which to flow to the
ground.

Each feather consists of three parts, the
shaft or quill, which is the central stiff

Feathers help birds to endure the cold

stem of the feather, giving it strength.
From this quill come off the barbs which,
toward the outer end, join together in
a smooth web, making the thin, fanlike
portion of the feather; at the base is the
fluff, which is soft and downy and near
to the body of the fowl. The teacher

should put on the blackboard this figure
so that incidentally the pupils may learn
the parts of a feather and their struc-
ture. If a microscope is available, show
both the web and the fluff of a feather
under a three-fourths objective.

The feathers on the back of a hen are
longer and narrower in proportion than
those on the breast and are especially fit-
ted to protect the back from rain; the
breast feathers are shorter and have more
of the fluff, thus protecting the breast
from the cold as well as the rain. It is plain
to any child that the soft fluff is com-
parable to our underclothing while the
smooth, overlapping web forms a rain-
and wind-proof outer coat. Down is a
feather with no quill; young chicks are
covered with down. A pin-feather is simply
a young feather rolled up in a sheath,
which bursts later and is shed, leaving the
feather free to assume its form. Take a
large pin-feather and cut the sheath open
and show the pupils the young feather
lying within.

When a hen oils her feathers it is a
process well worth observing. The oil
gland is on her back just at the base of
the tail feathers; she squeezes the gland
with her beak to get the oil and then
rubs the beak over the surface of her

ANIMALS

hen oils her feathers it is a sure sign of
rain. The hen sheds her feathers once a
year and is a most untidy looking bird
meanwhile, a fact that she seems to real-
ize, for she is as shy and cross as a young
lady caught in company with her hair in
curlers; but she seems very pleased with

Young pelicans are born naked, but are soon
covered with white down

feathers and passes them through it; she
spends more time oiling the feathers on
her back and breast than those on the
other parts, so that they will surely shed
water. Country people say that when the

J. E. Rice

Feathers of a rooster, showing their relative
size, shape, and position

1, neck hackle; 2, breast; 3, wing shoulder covert; 4,
wing flight covert ; 5, wing primary ; 6, wing .secondary ;
7, wing covert; 8, back; 9, tail covert; 10, main tail;
11, fluff; 12, thigh; 13, saddle hackle; 14, the sickle or
feather of beauty ; 15, lesser sickle

herself when she finally gains her new
feathers.

SUGGESTED READING The Bird Boole,
by Fannie H. Eckstorm; Bird Friends, by
Gilbert H. Trafton; Bird Life, by Frank
M. Chapman; Birds and Their Attributes,
by Glover M. Allen; The Book of Bird
Life, by A. A. Allen; The Children's Book
of Birds (First Book of Birds and Second
Book of Birds), by Olive Thome Miller;
Nature by Seaside and Wayside, by
Mary G. Phillips and Julia M. Wright,
Book 3, Plants and Animals.

LESSON i

FEATHERS AS CLOTHING

LEADING THOUGHT Feathers grow
from the skin of a bird and protect the
bird from rain, snow, wind, and cold.
Some of the feathers act as cloaks or

BIRDS

mackintoshes and others as undercloth-
ing.

METHOD The hen should be at close
range for this lesson where the children
may observe how and where the different
kinds of feathers grow. The pupils should
also study separately the form of a feather
from the back, from the breast, from the
under side of the body, and a pin-feather.

OBSERVATIONS FOR PUPILS i. How
are the feathers arranged on the back of
the hen? Are they like shingles on the
roof?

2. How does a hen look when standing
in the rain?

3. How are the feathers arranged on
the breast?

4. Compare a feather from the back
and one from the breast and note the
difference.

5. Are both ends of these feathers alike?
If not, what is the difference?

6. Is the fluffy part of the feather on

3 1

the outside or next to the bird's skin?
What is its use?

7. Why is the smooth part of the
feather (the web) on the outside?

8. Some feathers are all fluff and are
called " down/' At what age was the fowl
all covered with down?

9. What is a pin-feather? Why do you
think it is so called?

10. How do hens keep their feathers
oily and glossy so they will shed water?

11. Where does the hen get the oil?
Describe how she oils her feathers; which
ones does she oil most? Does she oil her
feathers before a rain?

" How beautiful your feathers be/ "
The Redbird sang to the Tulip-tree

New garbed in autumn gold.
" Alas/ " the bending branches sighed,
" They cannot like your leaves abide
To keep us from the cold/ "

JOHN B. TABB.

FEATHERS AS ORNAMENT

The ornamental plumage of birds is
one of the principal illustrations of a great
principle of evolution. The theory is that
the male birds win their mates because
of their beauty, those that are not beauti-
ful being doomed to live single and leave
no progeny to inherit their dullness. On
the other hand, the successful wooer
hands down his beauty to his sons. How-
ever, another quite different principle acts
upon the coloring of the plumage of the
mother birds; for if they should develop
bright colors themselves, they would at-
tract the eyes of the enemy to their pre-
cious hidden nests; only by being incon-
spicuous are they able to protect their
eggs and nestlings from discovery and
death. The mother partridge, for instance,
is so nearly the color of the dead leaves on
the ground about her that we may almost
step upon her before we discover her; if
she were the color of the male oriole or
tanager she would very soon be the center
of attraction to every prowler. Thus it has

come about that among the birds the male
has developed gorgeous colors which at-
tract the female, while the female has
kept modest, unnoticeable plumage.

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

Not a candidate for a beauty contest. A young
belted kingfisher clothed in pin feathers

The curved feathers of the rooster's
tail are weak and mobile and could not
possibly be of any use as a rudder; but

3 2

they give grace and beauty to the fowl
and cover the useful rudder feathers un-
derneath by a feather fountain of irides-
cence. The neck plumage of the cock

Peacock feathers. Is beauty use,

is also often luxurious and beautiful in
color and quite different from that of
the hen. Among the Rouen ducks the
brilliant blue-green iridescent head of the
drake and his wing bars are beautiful, and
make his wife seem Quaker-like in con-
trast.

As an object lesson to instill the idea
that the male bird is proud of his beautiful
feathers, I know of none better than that
presented by the turkey gobbler, for he
is a living expression of self-conscious van-
ity. He spreads his tail to the fullest extent
and shifts it this way and that to show the
exquisite play of colors over the feathers
in the sunlight, meanwhile throwing out
his chest to call particular attention to his
blue and red wattles; and to keep from
bursting with pride he bubbles over in
vainglorious " gobbles."

The hen with her chicks and the turkey
hen with her brood, if they follow their
own natures, must wandei in the fields for
food. If they were bright in color, the
hawks would soon detect them and their
chances of escape would be small; this is
an instance of the advantage to the young
of adopting the colors of the mother
rather than of the father; a fact equally
true of the song birds in cases where the
males are brilliant in color at maturity.
The male Baltimore oriole does not assist
his mate in brooding, but he sits some-
where on the home tree and cheers her by
his glorious song and by glimpses of his
gleaming orange coat. Some have accused
him of being lazy; on the contrary, he is

ANIMALS

a wise householder, for, instead of attract-
ing the attention of crow or squirrel to his
nest, he distracts their attention from it
by both color and song.

A peacock's feather should really be a
lesson by itself, it is so much a thing of
beauty. The brilliant color of the purple
eye-spot, and the graceful flowing barbs
that form the setting to the central gem,
are all a training in aesthetics as well as
in nature-study. After the children have
studied such a feather let them see the
peacock, either in reality or in picture, and
give them stories about this bird of Juno
a bird so inconspicuous, except for his
great spread of tail, that a child seeing
him for the first time cried, " Oh, oh, see
this old hen all in bloom! "

The whole question of sexual selection
may be made as plain as need be for the
little folks, by simply telling them that
the mother bird chooses for her mate the
one which is most brightly and beautifully
dressed; make much of the comb and wat-
tles of the rooster and gobbler as additions
to the brilliancy of their appearance.

SUGGESTED READING See suggested
reading for " Feathers as Clothing."

LESSON 2
FEATHERS AS ORNAMENT

LEADING THOUGHT The color of
feathers and often their shape make some
birds more beautiful; while in others, the
color of the feathers serves to protect
them from the observation of their ene-
mies.

METHOD While parts of this lesson
relating to fowls may be given in primary
grades, it is equally fitted for pupils who
have a wider knowledge of birds. Begin
with a comparison of the plumage of the
hen and the rooster. Then, if possible,
study the turkey gobbler and a peacock in
life or in pictures. Also the plumage of a
Rouen duck and drake, and if possible,
the Baltimore oriole, the goldfinch, the
scarlet tanager, and the cardinal.

OBSERVATIONS i. Note the difference
in shape and color of the tail feathers of
hen and rooster.

BIRDS

2. Do the graceful curved tail feathers
of the rooster help him in flying? Are they
stiff enough to act as a rudder?

3. If not of use in flying what are they
for? Which do you think the more beauti-
ful the hen or the rooster?

4. In what respects is the rooster a more
beautiful fowl?

5. What other parts of the rooster's
plumage are more beautiful than that of
the hen?

6. If a turkey gobbler sees you looking
at him he begins to strut. Do you think
he does this to show off his tail feathers?
Note how he turns his spread tail this way
and that so the sunshine will bring out
the beautiful changeable colors. Do you
think he does this so you can see and ad-
mire him?

7. Describe the difference in plumage
between the hen turkey and the gobbler.
Does the hen turkey strut?

8. Note the beautiful blue-green irides-
cent head and wing patches on the wings
of the Rouen ducks. Is the drake more
beautiful than the duck?

9. What advantage is it for these fowls
to have the father bird more beautiful and
bright in color than the mother bird?

10. In the case of the Baltimore oriole,
is the mother bird as bright in color as the
father bird?

11. Study a peacock's feather. What

Peacocks

color is the eye-spot? What color around
that? What 'color around that? What
color and shape are the outside barbs of
the feather? Do you blame a peacock for
being proud when he can spread a tail of
a hundred eyes? Does the peahen have
such beautiful tail feathers as the peacock?

The bird of Juno glories in his plumes;

Pride makes the fowl to preene his feath-
ers so.

His spotted train fetched from old Argus'
head,

With golden rays like to the brightest sun,

Inserteth self-love in the silly bird;

Till midst its hot and glorious fumes

He spies his feet and then lets fall his
plumes.

" THE PEACOCK/'
ROBERT GREENE (1560)

HOW BIRDS FLY

To convince the children that a bird's
wings correspond to our arms, they should
see a fowl with its feathers off, prepared
for market or oven, and they will infer
the fact at once.

The bird flies by lifting itself through
pressing down upon the air with its wings.
There are several experiments which are
needed to make the child understand this.
It is difficult for children to conceive that
the air is really anything, because they can-
not see it; so the first experiment should
be to show that the air is something we
can push against or that pushes against us.

Strike the air with a fan and we feel there
is something which the fan pushes; we
feel the wind when it is blowing and it is
very difficult for us to walk against a hard
wind. If we hold an open umbrella in the
hand while we jump from a step, we feel
buoyed up because the air presses up
against the umbrella. The air presses up
against the wings of the birds just as it
does against the open umbrella. The bird
flies by pressing down upon the air with
its wings just as a boy jumps high by
pressing down with his hands on his vault-
ing pole.

ANIMALS

Study wing and note: (a) That the
wings open and close at the will of the
bird, (b) That the feathers open and shut
on each other like a fan. (c) When the
wing is open the wing quills overlap, so

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

Common tern. While we are having winter
this bird spends the summer in South Amer-
ica. It will return to spend our summer with
us

that the air cannot pass through them.
(d) When the wing is open it is curved
so that it is more efficient, for the same
reason that an umbrella presses harder
against the atmosphere when it is open
than when it is broken by the wind and
turned wrong side out.

A wing feather has the barbs on the
front edge lying almost parallel to the
quill, while those on the hind edge come
off at a wide angle. The reason for this
is easy to see, for this feather has to cut
the air as the bird flies; and if the barbs on
the front side were like those of the other
side, they would be torn apart by the
wind. The barbs on the hind side of the
feather form a strong, close web so as to
press down on the air and not let it
through. The wing quill is curved; the
convex side is up and the concave side
below during flight. The concave side,
like the umbrella, catches more air than
the upper side; the down stroke of the
wings is forward and down; while on the
up stroke, as the wing is lifted, it bends
at the joint like a fan turned sidewise, and
offers less surface to resist the air. Thus,
the up stroke does not push the bird down.

Observations should be made on the
use of the bird's tail in flight. The hen

spreads her tail like a fan when she flies
to the top of the fence; the robin does
likewise when in flight. The fact that the
tail is used as a rudder to guide the bird
in flight, as well as to give more surface
for pressing down upon the air, is hard for
the younger pupils to understand, and
perhaps can be best taught by watch-
ing the erratic unbalanced flight of young
birds whose tail feathers are not yet
grown.

The tail feather differs from the wing
feather in that the quill is not curved, and
the barbs on each side are of about equal
length and lie at about the same angle on
each side of the quill. See Fig. p. 30.

SUGGESTED READING The Bird Book,
by Fannie H. Eckstorm; Bird Flight, by
Gordon C. Aymar; Bird Life, by Frank M.
Chapman; Birds and Their Attributes, by
Glover M. Allen; The Book of Bird Life,
by A. A. Allen; The Children's Boole of
Birds ( First Book of Birds and Second
Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne Miller;
Nature by Seaside and Wayside, by
Mary G. Phillips and Julia M. Wright,
Book 3, Plants and Animals.

LESSON 3
How BIRDS FLY

LEADING THOUGHT A bird flies by
pressing down upon the air with its wings,
which are made especially for this pur-
pose. The bird's tail acts as a rudder dur-
ing flight.

METHOD The hen, it is hoped, will
by this time be tame enough so that the
teacher may spread open her wings for
the children to see. In addition, have a
detached wing of a fowl such as is used in
farmhouses instead of a whisk-broom.

OBSERVATIONS i . Do you think a
bird's wings correspond to our arms? If
so why?

2. Why do birds flap their wings when
they start to fly?

3. Can you press against the air with
a fan?

4. Why do you jump so high with a
vaulting pole? Do you think the bird uses
the air as you use the pole?

BIRDS

5. How are the feathers arranged on the
wing so that the bird can use it to press
on the air?

6. If you carry an umbrella on a windy
morning, which catches more wind, the
under or the top side? Why is this? Does
the curved surface of the wing act in the
same way?

7. Take a wing feather. Are the barbs
as long on one side of the quill as on the
other? Do they lie at the same angle from
the quill on both sides? If not why?

8. Which side of the quill lies on the
outer side and which on the inner side of
the wing?

9. Is the quill of the feather curved?

10. Which side is uppermost in the
wing, the convex or the concave side?
Take a quill in one hand and press the
tip against the other hand. Which way
does it bend more easily, toward the con-

vex or the concave side? What has this to
do with the flight of the bird?

^11. If trie bird flies by pressing the
wings against the air on the down stroke,
why does it not push itself downward with
its wings on the up stroke?

12. What is the shape and arrangement
of the feathers which prevent pushing the
bird back to earth when it lifts its wings?

13. Why do you have a rudder to a
boat?

14. Do you think a bird could sail
through the air without something to steer
with? What is the bird's rudder?

15. Have you ever seen a young bird
whose tail is not yet grown, try to fly?
If so, how did it act?

16. Does the hen when she flies keep
the tail closed or open like a fan?

17. Compare a tail feather with a wing
feather and describe the difference.

MIGRATION OF BIRDS

The travelogues of birds are as fascinat-
ing as our favorite stories of fairies, ad-
venture, and fiction. If we could accom-
pany certain birds, such as the Arctic
terns, on their spring and autumn trips,
the logs of the trips would be far more ex-
citing than some recorded by famous avia-
tors. The Arctic tern seems to hold the
record for long-distance flight. Its nest is
made within the bounds of the Arctic cir-
cle and its winter home is in the region of
the Antarctic circle. The round-trip mile-
age for this bird during a year is about
22,000 miles. Wells W. Cooke, a pioneer
student of bird migration, has called atten-
tion to the interesting fact that the Arctic
tern " has more hours of daylight than any
other animal on the globe. At the north-
ern nesting-site the midnight sun has
already appeared before the birds' arrival,
and it never sets during their entire
stay at the breeding grounds. During two
months of their sojourn in the Antarctic
the birds do not see a sunset, and for the
rest of the time the sun dips only a little
way below the horizon and broad day-

light is continuous. The birds, therefore,
have twenty-four hours of daylight for at
least eight months in the year, and during
the other four months have considerably
more daylight than darkness." It is true
that few of our birds take such long trips
as does the Arctic tern; but most birds do
travel for some distance each spring and
fall.

Each season brings to our attention cer-
tain changes in the bird population. Dur-
ing late summer, we see great flocks of
swallows; they are on telephone or tele-
graph wires, wire fences, clothes lines, or
aerial wires. They twitter and flutter and
seem all excited. For a few days, as they
prepare for their southern journey, they
are seen in such groups, and then are
seen no more until the following spring.
Some birds do not gather in flocks before
leaving for the winter; they just disappear
and we scarcely know when they go. We
may hear their call notes far over our
heads as they wing their way to theii
winter homes. Some birds migrate only
during the day, others go only during the

3 6

ANIMALS

night, and others may travel by either day
or night.

Those birds that do not migrate are
called permanent residents. In the east-
ern United States chickadees, jays ? downy

After Cooke

The migration routes of the golden plover.
The dotted area is the summer home and
nesting place; the black area is the winter
home. Migration routes are indicated by ar-
rows. On the southern route the plover makes
a flight of 2,400 miles from Labrador to South
America

woodpeckers, nuthatches, grouse, and
pheasants are typical examples of the per-
manent resident group. These birds must
be able to secure food under even the
most adverse conditions. Much of their
food is insect life found in or about trees;
some fruits and buds of trees, shrubs, and
vines are also included in their diet.

Birds that travel are called migratory
birds. If the spring migrants remain with
us for the summer, we call them our sum-
mer residents. Fall migrants that remain
with us for the winter are called winter
residents. The migrants that do not re-
main with us but pass on to spend the
summer or winter in some other area are
called our transients or visitors. Of course,
we must remember that the birds which
visit us only for a short time are summer
residents and winter residents in other

parts of the country. Our summer resi-
dents are the winter residents of some
other area.

In spring we await with interest the
arrival of the first migrants. These birds
are, in general, those which have spent
the winter only a comparatively short dis-
tance away. In the eastern United States,
we expect robins, red-winged blackbirds,
song sparrows, and bluebirds among the
earliest migrants. In many species the
males arrive first; they may come as much
as two weeks ahead of the females. The
immature birds are usually the last to ar-
rive. The time of arrival of the first mi-
grants is determined somewhat by weather
conditions; their dates cannot be pre-
dicted with as much accuracy as can those
of birds which, having spent the winter at
a greater distance from us, arrive later
when the weather is more favorable. In
some places, for example at Ithaca, New
York, bird records have been kept each
season for more than thirty years. With
the information from these records, it is
possible to indicate almost to a day when
certain birds, such as barn swallows, ori-
oles, or hummingbirds, may be expected
to arrive. Usually the very first birds of a
kind to arrive are those individuals which
will within a few days continue their
northward journey. The later arrivals are
usually those that remain to become sum-
mer residents. In some species all indi-
viduals are migrants; for southern New
York the white-throated sparrow is repre-
sentative of such a group. It winters far-
ther south and nests farther north than
southern New York.

Why do birds migrate? This question
has often been asked; but in answer to
it we must say that while we know much
about where birds go and how fast they
travel, we still know actually very little
about the reasons for their regular seasonal
journeys.

As the airplane pilot has man-made in-
struments to aid him in reaching a certain
airport, so the birds have a well-developed
sense of direction which guides them to
their destination. Each kind of bird
seems, in general, to take the route fol-

BIRDS

lowed by its ancestors; but this route edited by Gilbert Grosvenor and Alex-
may be varied if for any reason food ander Wetmore; The Children's Boot of
should become scarce along the way. Such Birds ( First Book of Birds and Second
routes are so exactly followed year after Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne Miller;
year that they are known as laiies of mi- Flight Speed of Birds, by May Thacher
gration. Persons desiring to study a cer- Cooke (U. S. Department of Agriculture,
tain species of bird can have excellent op-
portunities to do so by being at some
good vantage point along this lane. Some-
times undue advantage has been taken of
certain birds, especially hawks. Persons
desiring to kill these birds have collected
at strategic points along the lanes and
wantonly killed many of them. As a result
of such activities sanctuaries have been
established at certain places along the
lanes to give added protection to birds.

The routes north and south followed
by a given species of bird may lead
over entirely different parts of the country;
these are called double migration routes.
They may vary so much that one route
may lead chiefly over land while the other
may lead over the ocean. The golden
plover is an example of such a case. See
the migration map.

Much valuable information as well as
pleasure can be gained from keeping a
calendar of migration and other activities
of birds. It is especially interesting dur-
ing the spring months when first arrivals
are recorded if daily lists are made of all
species observed. In summer, nesting ac-
tivities and special studies of an individual

species provide something of interest for Circular 428); The Migration of North
each day. More pleasure can be derived American Birds, by Frederick C. Lincoln
from the hobby if several people take it (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Circu-
up and compare their findings. Interests lar 363); Nature by Seaside and Way-
in photography, sketching, or nature-story side, by Mary G. Phillips and Julia M.
writing are natural companions of such Wright, Book 3, Plants and Animals; Our
bird study. Winter Birds, by Frank M. Chapman;

SUGGESTED READING Bird Friends, by Pathways in Science, by Gerald S. Craig
Gilbert H. Trafton; Bird Life, by Frank and Co-authors, Book 2, Out-of-doors,
M. Chapman; Birds and Their Attributes, Book 5, Learning about Our World; The
by Glover M. Allen; Birds of America, ed- Stir of Nature, by William H. Can; Trav-
ited by T. Gilbert Pearson; Birds of New eling with the Birds, by Rudyerd Boulton;
York, by E. H. Eaton; The Boole of Bird The Travels of Birds, by Frank M. Chap-
Life, by A. A. Allen; The Book of Birds, man.

General Biological Supply House, Chicago

The travels of the bobolink. The migration
routes 0) the bobolink are shorter than those
of the plover and follow land more closely

ANIMALS

EYES AND EARS OF BIRDS

The hen's eyes are placed at the side
of the head so that she cannot see the
same object with both eyes at the same
time, and thus she has the habit of looking
at us first with one eye and then the other
to be sure she sees correctly. The position
of the hen's eyes gives her a command of
her entire environment. All birds have
much keener eyes than we have; and they
can adjust their eyes for either near or
far vision much more effectively than we
can; some hawks, flying high in the air,
can see mice on the ground.

A wide range of colors is found in the
eyes of birds: white, red, blue, yellow,
brown, gray, pink, purple, and green are
found in the iris of different species. The

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

A duck hawk. Notice the strong hooked
beak, the keen eye, and the prominent
nostril

hen's eye consists of a black pupil at the
center, which must always be black in
any eye, since it is a hole through which
enters the image of the object. The iris of
the hen's eye is yellow; there is apparently
no upper lid, but the lower lid comes up
during the process of sleeping. When the
bird is drowsy the little film lid comes

out from the corner of the eye and spreads
over it like a veil; just at the corner of our
own eye, next the nose, is the remains of
this film lid, although we cannot move it
as the hen does.

The hearing of birds is very acute, al-
though in most cases the ear is simply
a hole in the side of the head, and is more
or less covered with feathers. The hen's
ear is like this in many varieties of chick-
ens; but in others and in the roosters there
are ornamental ear lobes.

SUGGESTED READING The Children's
Boole of Birds ( First Book of Birds and
Second Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne
Miller.

LESSON 4
EYES AND EARS OF BIRDS

LEADING THOUGHT The eyes and ears
of birds are peculiar and very efficient.

METHOD - The hen or chicken and the
rooster should be observed for this lesson;
notes may be made in the poultry yard or
in the schoolroom when the birds are
brought there for study.

OBSERVATIONS i. Why does the hen
turn her head first this side and then that
as she looks at you? Can she see an object
with both eyes at once? Can she see well?

2. How many colors are there in a hen's
eye? Describe the pupil and the iris.

3. Does the hen wink as we do? Has
she any eyelids?

4. Can you see the film lid? Does it
come from above or below or the inner or
outer corner? When do you see this film
lid?

5. Where are the hen's ears? How do
they look? How can you tell where the
rooster's ears are?

6. Do you think the hen can see and
hear well?

BIRDS

THE FORM AND USE OF BEAKS

Since the bird uses its arms and hands
for flying, it has been obliged to develop
other organs to take their place, and of
their work the beak does its full share. It
is well to emphasize this point by letting
the children at recess play the game of
trying to eat an apple or to put up their
books and pencils with their arms tied
behind them; such, an experiment will
show how naturally the teeth and feet
come to the aid when the hands are use-
less.

The hen feeds upon seeds and insects
which she finds on or in the ground; her
beak is horny and sharp and acts not only
as a pair of nippers, but also as a pick as
she strikes it into the soil to get the seed

A. A. Allen

A red-eyed vireo repairing her nest

or insect. She has already made the place
bare by scratching away the grass or sur-
face of the soil with her strong, stubby
toes. The hen does not have any teeth,
nor does she need any, for her sharp beak
enables her to seize her food; and she
does not need to chew it, since her gizzard
does this for her after the food is swal-
lowed.

The duck's bill is broad, flat, and much
softer than the hen's beak. The duck feeds
upon water insects and plants; it obtains
these by thrusting its head down into the
water, seizing the food, and holding it

fast while the water is strained out through
the sieve at the edges of the beak; for this
use, a wide, flat beak is necessary. It would
be quite as impossible for a duck to pick
up hard seeds with its broad, soft bill as it
would for the hen to get the duck's food

Leonard K. Beyer

These holes were made by a pileated wood-
pecker in search of insects

out of the water with her narrow, horny
bill.

Both the duck and hen use their bills
for cleaning and oiling their feathers and
for fighting also; the hen strikes a sharp
blow with her beak, making a wound like
a dagger, while the duck seizes the enemy
and simply pinches hard. Both fowls also
use their beaks for turning over the eggs
when incubating, and also as an aid to the
feet when they make nests for themselves.

The nostrils are very noticeable and are
situated in the beak near the base. How-
ever, we do not believe that birds have a
keen sense of smell, since their nostrils are
not surrounded by a damp, sensitive, soft
surface as are the nostrils of the deer and
dog. This arrangement aids these animals
to detect odor in a marvelous manner.

SUGGESTED READING The Bird Book,
by Fannie H. Eckstorm; Bird Life, by

ANIMALS

Frank M. Chapman; The Book of Bird
Life, by A, A. Allen; The Boole of Birds,
edited "by Gilbert Grosvenor and Alex-
ander Wetmore; The Children's Book of
Birds (First Book of Birds and Second
Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne Miller;
Nature by Seaside and Wayside, by
Mary G. Phillips and Julia M. Wright,
Book 3, Plants and Animals.

LESSON 5
THE BEAK OF A BIRD

LEADING THOUGHT Each kind of bird
has a beak especially adapted for getting
its food. The beak and feet of a bird are
its chief weapons and implements.

METHOD Study first the beak of the
hen or chick and then that of the duckling
or gosling.

OBSERVATIONS i . What kind of food
does the hen eat and where and how does
she find it in the field or garden? How is
her beak adapted to get this food? If her
beak were soft like that of a duck could
she peck so hard for seeds and worms?
Has the hen any teeth? Does she need
any?

2. Compare the bill of the hen with
that of the duck. What are the differ-
ences in shape? Which is the harder?

3. Note the saw teeth along the edge
of the duck's bill. Are these for chewing?
Do they act as a strainer? Why does the
duck need to strain its food?

4. Could a duck pick up a hen's food
from the earth or the hen strain out a
duck's food from the water? For what
other things than getting food do these
fowls use their bills?

5. Can you see the nostrils in the bill
of a hen? Do they show plainer in the
duck? Do you think the hen can smell as
keenly as the duck?

It is said that nature-study teaching
should be accurate, a statement that every
good teacher will admit without debate;
but accuracy is often interpreted to mean
completeness, and then the statement
cannot pass unchallenged. To study " the
dandelion" " the robin/ 7 with emphasis
on the particle " the/' working out the
complete structure, may be good labora-
tory work in botany or zoology for ad-
vanced pupils, but it is not an elementary
educational process. It contributes noth-
ing more to accuracy than does the natural
order of leaving untouched all those
phases of the subject that are out of the
child's reach; while it may take out the
life and spirit of the work, and the spiritual
quality may be the very part that is most
worth the while. Other work may provide
the formal " drill "; this should supply the
quality and vivacity. Teachers often say to
me that their children have done excellent
work with these complete methods, and
they show me the essays and drawings;
but this is no proof that the work is com-
mendable. Children can be made to do
many things that they ought not to do and
that lie beyond them. We all need to go
to school to children. " THE OUTLOOK
TO NATURE/' L. H. BAILEY

Weather and wind and waning moon,

Plain and hilltop under the sky,
Ev'ning, morning and blazing noon,

Brother of all the world am 1.
The pine-tree, linden and the maize,

The insect, squirrel and the kine,
All natively they live their days

As they live theirs, so I live mine,
I know not where, I know not what:

Believing none and doubting none
Whatever befalls it counteth not,

Nature and Time and I are one.

L. H. BAILEY

THE FEET OF BIRDS

Obviously, the hen is a digger of the
soil; her claws are long, strong, and slightly
hooked, and her feet and legs are covered
with horny scales. These scales protect her

feet from injury when they are used in
scratching the hard earth to lay bare the
seeds and insects hiding there. The hen
is a very good runner indeed. She lifts

BIRDS

4 1

her wings a little to help, much as an
athletic runner uses his arms, and so can
cover ground with amazing rapidity, her
strong toes giving her a firm foothold. The
track she makes is very characteristic; it
consists of three toe-marks projecting for-
ward and one backward. A bird's toes are
numbered thus: the hind toe is number
one, the inner toe number two, the mid-
dle toe three, and the outer toe four.

Duck's foot and hen's foot with
toes numbered

A duck has the same number of toes as
the hen, but there is a membrane, called
the web, which joins the second, third,
and fourth toes, making a fan-shaped foot;
the first or hind toe has a little web of
its own. A webbed foot is first of all a
paddle for propelling its owner through
the water; it is also a very useful foot on
the shores of ponds and streams, since its
breadth and flatness prevent it from sink-
ing into the soft mud.

The duck's legs are shorter than those
of the hen and are placed farther back
and wider apart. They are essentially
swimming organs and are not fitted for
scratching or for running. They are
placed at the sides of the bird's body so
that they may act as paddles, and are
farther back so that they may act like the
wheel of a propeller in pushing the bird
along. We often laugh at a duck on land,
since its short legs are so far apart and so
far back that its walk is necessarily an awk-
ward waddle; but we must always remem-
ber that the duck is naturally a water bird,
and on the water its movements are grace-
ful. Think how a hen would appear if
she attempted to swim! The duck's body
is so poorly balanced on its short legs that
it cannot run rapidly; and if chased even
a short distance it will fall dead from the
effort, as many a country child has dis-
covered to his sorrow when he tried to
drive the ducks home from the creek or

pond to coop. The long hind claw of the
hen enables her to clasp a roost firmly
during the night; a duck's foot could not
do this and the duck sleeps squatting on

General Biological Supply House, Chicago

Types oj bills and feet

the ground. However, the Muscovy ducks,
which are not good swimmers, have been
known to perch.

SUGGESTED READING The Bird Book,
by Fannie H. Eckstorm; Bird Life, by
Frank M. Chapman; Birds and Their At-
tributes, by Glover M. Allen; The Book of
Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; The Children's
Boole of Birds (First Book of Birds and
Second Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne
Miller; Nature by Seaside and Wayside,
by Mary G, Phillips and Julia M. Wright,
Book 3, Plants and Animals.

LESSON 6
THE FEET OF BIRDS
LEADING THOUGHT The feet of birds
are shaped so as to assist the bird in get-
ting its food as well as for locomotion.
METHOD The pupils should have op-

ANIMALS

portunity to observe the chicken or hen
and a duck as they move about; they
should also observe the duck swimming.
OBSERVATIONS i. Are the toes of the
hen long and strong? Have they long,
sharp claws at their tips?

2. How are the legs and feet of the
hen covered and protected?

3. How are the hen's feet and legs fitted
for scratching the earth, and why does she
wish to scratch the earth?

4. Can a hen run rapidly? What sort of
track does she make?

5. You number your fingers with the
thumb as number one and the little finger
as five. How do you think the hen's toes
are numbered?

6. Has the duck as many toes as the
hen? What is the chief difference between
the feet of the duck and of the hen?

7. Which of the duck's toes are con-
nected by a web? Does the web extend to
the tips of the toes? How does the web
help the duck?

8. Are the duck's legs as long as the
hen's? Are they placed farther forward or
farther back than those of the hen? Are
they farther apart?

9. Can a duck run as well as a hen? Can
the hen swim at all?

10. Where does the hen sleep and how
does she hold on to her perch? Could the
duck hold on to a perch? Does the duck
need to perch while sleeping?

SONGS OF BIRDS

Anyone who attempts to recognize
birds by sight alone misses much of the
pleasure that comes to those who have

.Wood Thrushes.

A-. O|ivc -b<w.ke4 Thru*/*.

J-.32. r

* , J&l

"*' ( Ph.ro $<s) <Cflne*verO

taken the time and pains to learn bird
songs and use them as a means of bird
recognition. It is true that not all people
have a talent for music; but anyone in-
terested in birds can learn to identify the
songs and most of the call notes of com-
mon birds.

The observer will notice that in most
cases only the male bird sings, but a few
exceptions are recorded, notably the fe-
male rose-breasted grosbeak and cardinal
grosbeak, which sing under some condi-
tions. Birds do most of their singing in the
early morning and during the spring and
early summer months. The male birds
have not only a favorite time of day and
a particular season of the year during
which they do most of their singing, but
they even have a certain perch or narrowly
defined territory from which they sing.

Each person will need to decide how he
can best remember bird songs. Most peo-
ple will doubtless use such methods as
were used by earlier bird students. Long
literary descriptions were given for each
song. Alexander Wilson, for instance, de-
scribes the call of the male blue jay as
" repeated creakings of an ungreased
wheelbarrow." Often the call of a particu-
lar bird is put into words; in many cases
these words have come to be accepted as
the common name of the bird, such as
bobwhite and whip-poor-will. The imagi-
nation of students may suggest certain
words to represent the song or call notes
of a bird. These are often more easily re-
membered than the song itself.

Some ornithologists have developed

BIRDS

complicated systems of recording bird
songs as musical scores. Wilson Flagg and
F. S. Mathews are well-known names in
this field. Such a method has its limita-
tions because many variations of bird
songs cannot be indicated by the charac-
ters used in writing music. The song of a
bird written as music is not usually recog-
nizable when played on a musical instru-
ment. Other ornithologists have devel-
oped more graphic methods of recording
bird songs. One leader in this field, A. A.
Saunders, has proposed and used a system
employing lines, dots ? dashes, and sylla-
bles. This system is very interesting and is
a useful one to a person who has a good
ear for music. One of the latest methods
of recording bird songs has been devel-
oped by the Department of Ornithology,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. By

this method bird songs are photographed
on moving picture film and later may be
recorded on phonograph records; these
records can be played over and over again
to give the student practice in identifying
bird songs. Sound pictures have also been
produced; the pictures of the various birds
are shown on the screen as their songs are
being heard by the audience.

SUGGESTED READING Bird Friends, by
Gilbert H. Trafton; Birds and Their Attri-
butes, by Glover M. Allen; The Boole of
Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; The Bool: of
Birds, edited by Gilbert Grosvenor and
Alexander Wetmore; Field Boot of Wild
Birds and Their Music, by F. Schuyler
Mathews; A Guide to Bird Songs, by
Aretas A. Saunders; Songs of Wild Birds
and More Songs of Wild Birds, by Albert
R. Brand.

ATTRACTING BIRDS

If suitable and sufficient food, water,
shelter, and nesting sites are provided, and
if protection is given from such enemies
as cats and thoughtless men, it is possi-
ble to attract many kinds of birds to
home grounds or gardens. The most logi-
cal time to begin to attract birds is during
the winter months; but the best time is
whenever one is really interested and is
willing to provide the things most needed
by the birds. Certain types of food, such
as suet or sunflower seeds, are sought by
birds at any season. During the summer
months water for drinking and bathing
may be more desired than food, but in
the winter almost any seeds, fruits, or
fatty foods are welcome.

In the spring nesting boxes properly
constructed and placed will do much to
attract some kinds of birds, especially
those that normally nest in holes in trees.
An abundance of choice nesting materials
will entice orioles, robins, or chipping
sparrows to nest near by. Straws, sticks,
feathers, cotton, strings, or even hairs
from old mattresses may be put out as in-
ducements to prospective bird tenants.

An invitation to our garden friends to par-
take of suet and peanuts in addition to their
regular fare

The spring is also a good time to plant
fruit-bearing trees, shrubs, and vines; these

ANIMALS

A bird bath in the author's garden

natural food counters become more attrac-
tive each year as they grow larger and pro-
duce more fruit and better nesting places
for birds.

Autumn is the ideal time to establish
feeding centers to which the birds may be
attracted during the winter months. Food,
such as suet or seeds, should be put at a
great many places throughout the area in
which one wishes to attract birds. The
birds will gradually work their way from
one of these feedings points to another;
soon it will be possible to concentrate the
feeding at one point, and the birds will
continue to come to that point as long
as food is provided there.

SUGGESTED READING The A B C of
Attracting Birds, by Alvin M. Peterson;
Bird Houses Boys Can Build, by Albert F.
Siepert; Birds of the Wild How to
Make Your Home Their Home, by Frank
C. Pellett; Bird Study for Schools Series,
published by the National Association of
Audubon Societies (Part III, Winter
Feeding, Part IV, Bird Houses); The
Boole of Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; Boy

Bird House Arcliitecfure, by Leon H. Bax-
ter; The Children's Book of Birds (First
Book of Birds and Second Book of Birds),
by Olive Thorne Miller; Homes for Birds,
by E. R. Kalmbach and W. L. McAtee
(U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farm-
ers' Bulletin 1456); How to Attract Birds
in Northeastern United States, How to
Attract Birds in Northwestern United
States, How to Attract Birds in the Middle
Atlantic States, How to Attract Birds in
the East Central States, by W. L. McAtee
(U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farm-
ers' Bulletins 621, 760, 844, 912); How to
Have Bird Neighbors, by S. Louise Patte-
son; Our Winter Birds, by Frank M.
Chapman; Permanent Bird Houses, by
Gladstone Califf; Song-bird Sanctuaries,
with Tables of Trees, Shrubs and Vines
Attractive to Birds, by Roger T. Peterson;
Wild Bird Guests, by Ernest H. Baynes;
Methods of Attracting Birds, by Gilbert
H. Trafton,

Olin Sewall PetthifiiH, Jr.

Ruby-throated hummingbird attracted to a
vial containing sweetened water

BIRDS

VALUE OF BIRDS

Did you ever try to calculate in dollars
the pleasure that you receive from seeing
or hearing the first spring migrants? The
robin, bluebird, and meadowlark bring
cheer to thousands of people every year.
Indeed, it would be difficult to find any-
one, except perhaps in large cities, who
does not notice the arrival of at least
some spring birds the robins on the
lawn, the honk of the wild geese overhead,
or the song sparrows as they sing from the
top of a shrub. Birds are interesting to
most people because of their mere pres-
ence, their songs, their colors, or their
habits. Persons engaged in nature-study
are led outdoors and thus have opened to
them many other nature fields.

One needs to observe a bird for only
a short time to discover for himself what
has been known by scientists for many
years, that birds are of great economic
importance. Watch a chickadee or nut-
hatch as it makes its feeding rounds on
a winter day. Note how carefully each
tiny branch is covered by the chickadee
and what a thorough examination of the
limbs and trunks is made by the nuthatch.
Countless insect eggs as well as insects
are consumed. On a sunny day in spring,
observe the warblers as they feed about the
newly opened leaves and blossoms of the
trees. See them as they hunt tirelessly for
their quota of the tiny insects so small
that they are generally overlooked by
larger birds. It must be remembered too
that some birds do, at times, take a toll
of cultivated crops; this is especially true
of the seed-eating and insectivorous birds.
But they deserve some pay for the work
they do for man, and so in reality he should
not begrudge them a little fruit or grain.

Some of the birds of prey are active all
the time; the hawks work in the daytime
and the owls come on duty for the night
shift. Countless destructive small mam-
mals and insects are eaten by them; thus
they tend to regulate the numbers of
numerous small pests of field and wood,

thereby preventing serious outbreaks of
such animals. There has been much dis-
cussion of the real economic status of
hawks and owls; many food studies have
been made and the general conclusion is
that most species are more useful than
harmful. It is true that some species do
take a toll of game birds, song birds, and
poultry; but they include also in their diet
other animal forms, many of which are
considered harmful. One individual bird

Leonard K. Beyer

A red-eyed vireo on her nest. Vireos live
largely on insects gleaned jrom the under
surfaces of leaves and jrom crevices in bark

may be especially destructive and thus
give a bad name to an entire species.

There are even garbage gatherers among
the birds; vultures, gulls, and crows serve
in this capacity. The vultures are com-
monly found in the warmer parts of the
country and serve a most useful purpose
by their habit of devouring the unburied
bodies of dead animals. The gulls are the
scavengers of waterways and shore lines.
The crow is omnivorous that is, it eats
both plant and animal food; but it seems
to like carrion as well as fresh meat.

The farmer and the gardener owe quite
a debt of thanks to the birds that eat weed
seeds. Of course there are still bountiful
crops of weeds each year; but there would

Verne Morton

A goldfinch nest in winter

be even more weeds if it were not for the
army of such seed-eating birds as spar-
rows, bobwhites ? and doves.

The game birds, such as grouse, pheas-
ant, and bobwhite are important today,
chiefly from the standpoint of the recrea-
tion they afford sportsmen and other
lovers of the outdoors. The food habits of
game birds do not present much of an
economic problem; the birds are not nu-
merous enough at the present time to be
an important source of meat for man as
they were in pioneer days.

Thus, a brief consideration of a few
types of birds will show even a casual
observer that birds have economic import-
ance and that each species seems to have
a definite work to perform.

SUGGESTED READING Bird Friends, by
Gilbert H. Trafton; Birds and Their At-
tributes, by Glover M. Allen; Birds in
Their Relation to Man, by Clarence M.
Weed and Ned Dearborn; The Book of
Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; The Book of
Birds, edited by Gilbert Grosvenor and
Alexander Wetmore; The Children's
Book of Birds ( First Book of Birds and
Second Book of Birds), by Olive Thorne
Miller; The Practical Value of Birds, by
Junius Henderson.

LESSON 7

THE STUDY OF BIRDS' NESTS
IN WINTER

There are very good reasons for not
studying birds' nests in summer, since the
birds misinterpret familiarity on the part

ANIMALS

of eager children and are likely, in con-
sequence, to abandon both nest and lo-
cality. But after the birds have gone to
sunnier climes and the empty nests are
the only mementos we have of them, then
we may study these habitations carefully
and learn how to appreciate properly
the small architects which made them.
I think that every one of us who care-
fully examines the way that a nest is made
must have a feeling of respect for its
clever little builder.

I know of certain schools where the
children make large collections of these
winter nests, properly labeling each, and
thus gain a new interest in the bird life
of their locality. A nest when collected
should be labeled in the following man-
ner:

The name of the bird which built the
nest.

Where the nest was found.

If in a tree, what kind?

How high from the ground?

After a collection of nests has been
made, let the pupils study them accord-
ing to the following outline:

i. Where was the nest found?

(a) If on the ground, describe the lo-
cality.

(b) If on a plant, tree, or shrub, tell
the species, if possible.

Leonard K. Beyer

A homemade wren house and its occupant

BIRDS

(d) How high from the ground, and
what was the locality?

(e) If on or in a building, how situ-
ated?

2. Did the nest have any arrangement
to protect it from rain?

3. Give the size of the nest, the di-
ameter of the inside and the outside; also
the depth of the inside.

4. What is the form of the nest? Are
its sides flaring or straight? Is the nest
shaped like a cup, basket, or pocket?

5. What materials compose the out-
side of the nest and how are they ar-
ranged?

6. Of what materials is the lining made,
and how are they arranged? If hair or

feathers are used, on what creature did
they grow?

7. How are the materials of the nest
held together, that is, are they woven,
plastered, or held in place by environ-
ment?

8. Had the nest anything peculiar
about it either in situation, construction,
or material that would tend to render it
invisible to the casual glance?

SUGGESTED READING The Book of
Bird Life, by A. A. Allen; Nature by
Seaside and Wayside, by Maw G. Phillips
and Julia M. Wright, Book 3", Plants and
Animals; Ornithology Laboratory Note-
book, by A. A. Allen; A Year in the Won-
derland of Birds, by Hallam Hawksworth.

Chicks, a few days old

II, S. Department of Agriculture

CHICKEN WAYS

Darne Nature certainly pays close at-
tention to details. An instance of this is
the little tooth on the tip of the upper
mandible of the young chick, which aids
it in breaking out of its egg-shell prison;
since a tooth in this particular place
is of no use later, it disappears. The chil-
dren are delighted with the beauty of a
fluffy little chick with its bright, question-
ing eyes and its life of activity as soon as

it is freed from the shell. What a contrast
to the blind, bare, scrawny young robin,
which seems to be all mouth! The differ-
ence between the two is fundamental
since it gives a means for distinguishing
ground birds from perching birds. The
young partridge, quail, turkey, and chick
are clothed and active and ready to go
with the mother in search of food as soon
as they are hatched; while the young of

ANIMALS

An anxious stepmother. The ducklings 'pay
her little heed

the perching birds are naked and blind,
being kept warm by the brooding mother,
and fed and nourished by food brought
by their parents, until they are large
enough to leave the nest. The down
which covers the young chick differs from
the feathers which come later; the down
has no quill but consists of several flossy
threads coming from the same root; later
on, this down is pushed out and off by
the true feathers which grow from the
same sockets. The pupils should see that
the down is so soft that the little, fluffy
wings of the chick are useless until the
real wing feathers appear.

We chew food until it is soft and fine,
then swallow it, but the chick swallows it
whole; after being softened by juices from
the stomach the food passes into a little
mill, in which is gravel that the chicken
has swallowed. This gravel helps to grind
up the food. This mill is called the gizzard
and the pupils should be taught to look
carefully at this organ the next time they
have chicken for dinner. A chicken has no
muscles in the throat, like ours, to en-
able it to swallow water as we do. Thus,
it has first to fill its beak with water, then
hold it up so the water will flow down
the throat. As long as the little chick has

its mother's wings to sleep under, it does
not need to put its head under its own
wing; but when it grows up and spends
the night upon a roost, it usually tucks
its head under its wing while sleeping.

The conversation of the barnyard fowl
covers many elemental emotions and is
easily comprehended. It is well for the
children to understand from the first that
the notes of birds mean something defi-
nite. The hen clucks when she is lead-
ing her chicks afield so that they will
know where she is in the tall grass; the
chicks follow " cheeping " or " peeping/ 7
as the children say, so that she will know
where they are; but if a chick feels itself
lost its " peep " becomes loud and dis-
consolate; on the other hand, there is no
sound in the world so full of cosy con-
tentment as the low notes of the chick
when it cuddles under the mother's wing.
When a hen finds a bit of food she utters
rapid notes which call the chicks in a
hurry, and when she sees a hawk she gives
a warning " q-r-r " which makes every
chick run for cover and keep quiet. When
hens are taking their sun and dust baths
together, they seem to gossip and we can
almost hear them saying, " Didn't you
think Madam Dorking made a great fuss
over her egg today? " Or, " That over-
grown young rooster has got a crow to
match his legs, hasn't he? " Contrast
these low tones with the song of the hen
as she issues forth in the first warm days

Poultry Dept., N. Y. State College of Agriculture

White leghorns are prolific layers

BIRDS

of spring and gives to the world one of the
most joyous songs of all nature. There is
quite a different quality in the triumphant
cackle of a hen telling to the world that
she has laid an egg and the cackle which
comes from heing startled. When a hen
is sitting or is not allowed to sit, she is
nervous and irritable, and voices her
mental state by scolding. When she is
really afraid, she squalls; and when seized
by an enemy, she utters long, horrible
squawks. The rooster crows to assure his
flock that all is well; he also crows to show
other roosters what he thinks of himself
and of them. The rooster also has other
notes; he will question you as you ap-
proach him and his flock, and he will
give a warning note when he sees a hawk;
when he finds some dainty tidbit, he calls
his flock of hens to him and they usually
arrive just in time to see him swallow the
morsel.

When roosters fight, they confront each
other with their heads lowered and then
try to seize each other by the back of the
neck with their beaks, or strike each other
with the wing spurs, or tear with the leg
spurs. Weasels, skunks, rats, hawks, and
crows are the most common enemies of
the fowls, and often a rooster will attack
one of these invaders and fight valiantly;
the hen also will fight if her brood is dis-
turbed.

SUGGESTED READING Farm Animals,
by James G. Lawson; Nature and Science
Readers, by Edith M. Patch and Harrison
E. Howe, Book 3, Surprises; The Pet
Book, by Anna B. Comstock.

LESSON 8
CHICKEN WAYS

LEADING THOUGHT Chickens have
interesting habits of life and extensive
conversational powers.

METHOD For this lesson it is neces-
sary that the pupils observe the inhabit-
ants of the poultry yard and answer these
questions a few at a time.

OBSERVATIONS i . Did the chick get
out of the egg by its own efforts? Of what
use is the little tooth which is on the tip

of the upper part of a young chick's beak?
Does this remain?

2. What is the difference between the
down of the chick and the feathers of
the hen? The little chick has wings; why
can it not fly?

3. Why is the chick just hatched so
pretty and downy, while the young robin
is so bare and ugly? Why is the young
chick able to see while the young 'robin
is blind?

4. How does the young chick get its
food?

5. Does the chick chew its food be-
fore swallowing? If not, why?

6. How does the chick drink? Why
does it drink this way?

7. Where does the chick sleep at night?
Where will it sleep when it is grown up?

8. Where does the hen usually put her
head when she is sleeping?

9. How does the hen call her chicks
when she is with them in the field?

10. How does she call them to food?

11. How does she tell them there is a
hawk in sight?

12. What notes does the chick make
when it is following its mother? When it
gets lost? When it cuddles under her
wing?

13. What does the hen say when she
has laid an egg? When she is frightened?

Parts of the bird labeled

This figure may be placed on the blackboard wher/j
pupils may consult it when studying colors and mark-
ings of birds.

ANIMALS

When she is disturbed while sitting on
eggs? When she is grasped by an enemy?
How do hens talk together? Describe a
hen's song.

14. When does the rooster crow?
What other sounds does he make?

15. With what weapons does the
rooster fight his rivals and his enemies?

16. What are the natural enemies of
the barnyard fowls and how do they es-
cape them?

Pigeon houses of the upper Nile

J. H. Comstock

PIGEONS

There is mention of domesticated
pigeons by writers three thousand years
ago; and Pliny relates that the Romans
were fervent pigeon fanciers at the be-
ginning of the Christian era. All of our
domestic varieties of pigeons have been
developed from the Rock pigeon, a wild
species common in Europe and Asia. The
carrier pigeon was probably the first to
be specially developed because of its use-
fulness; its love and devotion to its mate
and young and its homesickness when
separated from them were used by man
for his own interests. When a knight of
old started off on a Crusade or to other
wars, he took with him several pigeons
from the home cote; and after riding
many days he wrote a letter and tied it
to the neck or under the wing of one of

his birds, which he then set free, and it
flew home with its message; later he would
set free another in like manner. The draw-
back to this correspondence was that it
went only in one direction; no bird from
home brought message of cheer to the
wandering knight. Nowadays mail routes,
telegraph wires, and wireless currents en-
mesh our globe, and the pigeon as a car-
rier is out-of-date; but fanciers still perfect
the homer breed and train pigeons for
very difficult flight competitions, some
of them over distances of hundreds of
miles. Recently a homer made one thou-
sand miles in two days, five hours, and
fifty minutes.

The natural food of pigeons is grain;
we feed them cracked corn, wheat, peas,
Kafir corn, millet, and occasionally hemp

BIRDS

Homing pigeons

Verne Morton

seed; it is best to feed mixed rations as
the birds tire of a monotonous diet. Pi-
geons should be fed twice a day; the pi-
geons and their near relatives, the doves 7
are the only birds which can drink like
a horse, that is, with the head lowered.
The walk of a pigeon is accompanied by a
peculiar nodding as if the head were in
some way attached to the feet, and this
movement sends waves of iridescent
colors over the bird's plumage. The flight
of the pigeon is direct without soaring,
the wings move rapidly and steadily, the
birds circling and sailing as they start or
alight. The crow flaps hard and then
sails for a distance when it is inspecting
the ground, while the hawk soars on mo-
tionless wings. It requires closer attention
to understand the language of the pigeon
than that of the hen, nor has it so wide
a range of expression as the latter; how-
ever, some emotions which the children
will understand are voiced in the cooing.
The nest is built of grass and twigs; the
mother pigeon lays two eggs for a sitting;
but in some breeds a pair will raise from
seven to twelve broods per year. The eggs
hatch in from sixteen to eighteen days,
and both parents share the labors of in-
cubating. In the case of the homer the
father bird sits from about 10 A.M. to
4 P.M. and the mother the remainder of
the day and night. The devotion of pi-

geons to their mates and to their young
is great, and has been sung by the poets
and praised by the philosophers during
many ages; some breeds mate for life. The
young pigeons or squabs are fed in a pe-
culiar manner; in the crops of both par-
ents is secreted a cheesy substance, known
as pigeon milk. The parent seizes the beak
of the squab in its own and pumps food
from its own crop into the stomach of
the young. This nutritious food is given
to the squab for about five days and then
replaced by grain which has been softened
in the parents' stomachs, until the squabs
are old enough to feed themselves. Rats,
mice, weasels, and hawks are the chief
enemies of the pigeons; since pigeons
cannot fight, their only safety lies in
flight.

As the original Rock pigeon built in
caves, our domesticated varieties naturally
build in the houses we provide for them.
A pigeon house should not be built for
more than fifty pairs; it should be well
ventilated and kept clean; it should face
the south or east and be near a shallow,
running stream if possible. The nest boxes
should be about twelve inches square and
nine inches in height with a door at one
side, so that the nest may remain hidden.
In front of each door there should be a
little shelf to act as a balcony on which
the resting parent bird may sit and coo
to relieve the monotony of the sitter's task.
Some breeders make a double compart-

J. Deraary

Pouter pigeons

ANIMALS

ment instead of providing a balcony,
while in Egypt branches are inserted in
the wall just below the doors of the very
ornamental pigeon houses. The houses
should be kept clean and whitewashed
with lime to which carbolic acid is added
in the proportion of one teaspoonful of
acid to two gallons of the wash; the leaf
stems of tobacco may be given to the
pigeons as material for building their
nests, so as to help keep in check the

LESSON 9
PIGEONS

Hugh Spencer

Domestic pigeon

bird lice. There should be near the pigeon
house plenty of fresh water for drinking
and bathing; also a box of table salt, and
another of cracked oyster shell and one
of charcoal as fine as ground coffee. Salt
is very essential to the health of pigeons.
The house should be high enough from
the ground to keep the inmates safe from
rats and weasels.

SUGGESTED READING Animal Heroes,
by Ernest Thompson Seton (Story of
Arnaux); Audubon Bird Leaflets 2, 6,
101; Cher Ami, the Story of a Carrier
Pigeon, by Marion B. Cothren; Farm
Animals, by James G. .Lawson; Homing
Pigeons: Their Care and Training (U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Farmers 7 Bul-
letin 1373); Mother Nature Series, by
Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor Troxell,
Book 3, In Field and Forest; The Pet
BooJk, by Anna B. Comstock; also, read-
ings on pages 28-29.

LEADING THOUGHT The pigeons dif-
fer from other birds in appearance and
also in their actions. Their nesting habits
are very interesting and there are many
things that may be done to make the
pigeons comfortable. They were, in an-
cient days, used as letter carriers.

METHOD If there are pigeons kept
in the neighborhood, it is best to encour-
age the pupils to observe these birds out-
of-doors. Begin the work with an interest-
ing story and with a few questions which
will arouse the pupils' interest in the
birds.

OBSERVATIONS i . For an out-of-door
exercise during recess let the pupils ob-
serve the pigeon and tell the colors of the
beak, eyes, top of the head, back, breast,
wings, tail, feet, and claws. This exercise
is excellent training to fit the pupils to
note quickly the colors of wild birds.

2. On what do pigeons feed? Are they
fond of salt?

3. Describe how a pigeon drinks. How
does it differ in this respect from other
birds?

4. Describe the peculiar movement of
the pigeon when walking.

5. Describe the pigeon's flight. Is it
rapid, high in the air, do the wings flap
constantly, etc.? What is the chief differ-
ence between the flight of pigeons and
that of crows or hawks?

6. Listen to the cooing of a pigeon and
see if you can understand the different
notes.

7. Describe the pigeon's nest. How
many eggs are laid at a time?

8. Describe how the parents share the
labors in hatching the eggs. How long is
it after the eggs are laid before the young
hatch?

9. How do the parents feed their young
and on what material?

10. What are some enemies of pigeons
and how do they escape from them? How
can we protect the pigeons?

11. Describe how a pigeon house
should be built.

BIRDS

12. What must you do for pigeons to bers, that I cannot refrain from quoting

keep them healthy and comfortable?

13. How many breeds of pigeons do
you know? Describe them.

For my own part I readily concur with
you in supposing that housedoves are de-
rived from the small blue rock-pigeon,
Columba livia, for many reasons.
But what is worth a hundred arguments
is the instance you give in Sir Roger
Mostyns housedoves in Caernarvonshire;
which, though tempted by plenty of food
and gentle treatment, can never be pre-
vailed on to inhabit their cote for any
time; but as soon as they begin to breed,
betake themselves to the fastnesses of
Ormshead, and deposit their young in
safety amidst the inaccessible caverns and
precipices of that stupendous promon-
tory. " You may drive nature out with a
pitchfork, but she will always return ":
"Naturam expellas furca . . . tamen us-
que recurret."

Virgil, as a familiar occurrence, by way
of simile, describes a dove haunting the
cavern of a rock in such engaging num-

the passage.

Qualis spelunca subito commota Co-
lumba,

Cui domus, et dulces latebroso in pumice
nidi,

Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exter-
rita pennis

Dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa
quieto,

Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque com-
movet alas.

(Virg. Aen. v. 213217)

As when a dove her rocky hold forsakes,
Roused, in a fright her sounding wings

she shakes;
The cavern rings with clattering: out

she flies,
And leaves her callow care, and cleaves

the skies;
At first she flutters: but at length she

springs
To smoother flight, and shoots upon her

wings.

(Dryden's Translation)
WHITE OF SELBOURNE

THE CANARY AND THE GOLDFINCH

In childhood the language of birds and
animals is learned unconsciously. What
child, who cares for a canary, does not
understand its notes which mean loneli-
ness, hunger, eagerness, joy, scolding,
fright, love, and song!

The pair of canaries found in most
cages are not natural mates. The union is
one de convenance, forced upon them by
people who know little of bird affinities.
We could hardly expect that such a mat-
ing would be always happy. The singer,
as the male is called, is usually arbitrary
and tyrannical and does not hesitate to
lay chastising beak upon his spouse. The
expression of affection of the two is usu-
ally very practical, consisting of feeding
each other with many beguiling notes
and much fluttering of wings. The singer
may have several songs; whether he has

many or few depends chiefly upon his
education; he usually shows exultation
when singing by throwing the head back
like a prima donna, to let the music well

K. ' ' 11

Leonard K. Beyer

A goldfinch on her nest in a hawthorn

ANIMALS

forth. He is usually brighter yellow in
color with more brilliantly black markings
than his mate; she usually has much gray
in her plumage. But there are about fifty
varieties of canaries and each has distinct
color and markings.

Canaries should be given a more varied
diet than most people think. The seeds
we buy or that we gather from the plan-
tain or wild -grasses, they eat eagerly.
They like fresh, green leaves of lettuce and
chickweed and other tender herbage;
they enjoy bread and milk occasionally.
There should always be a piece of cuttle-
fish bone or sand and gravel where they
can get it, as they need grit for digestion.
Above all, they should have fresh water.
Hard-boiled egg is given them while nest-
ing. The canary seed which we buy for
them is the product of a grass in the
Canary Islands. Hemp and rape seed are
also sold for canary food.

The canary's beak is wide and sharp
and fitted for shelling seeds; it is not a
beak fitted for capturing insects. The
canary, when drinking, does not have to
lift the beak so high in the air in order
to swallow the water as do some birds.
The nostrils are in the beak and are easily
seen; the ear is hidden by the feathers.
The canary is a fascinating little creature
when it shows interest in an object; it
has such a knowing look, and its per-
fectly round, black eyes are so intelligent
and cunning. If the canary winks, the
act is so rapid as to be seen with difficulty,
but when it is drowsy, the little inner lid
appears at the inner corner of its eye and
the outer lids close so that we may be
sure that they are there; the lower lid
covers more of the eye than the upper.

The legs and toes are covered with
scale armor; the toes have long, curved
claws that are neither strong nor sharp
but are especially fitted for holding to
the perch; the long hind toe with its
stronger claw makes complete the grasp
on the twig. When the canary is hopping
about on the bottom of the cage we can
see that its toes are more fitted for hold-
ing to the perch than for walking or hop-
ping on the ground.

When the canary bathes, it ducks its
head and makes a great splashing with its
wings and likes to get thoroughly wet.
Afterward, it sits all bedraggled and
" humped up " for a time and then usu-
ally preens its feathers as they dry. When
going to sleep, it at first fluffs out its
feathers and squats on the perch, draws
back its head, and looks very drowsy.
Later it tucks its head under its wing for
the night and looks like a little ball of
feathers on the perch.

Canaries make a great fuss when build-
ing their nest. A pasteboard box is usually
given them with cotton and string for
lining; usually one pulls out what the
other puts in; and they both industriously
tear the paper from the bottom of the
cage to add to their building material.
Finally, a makeshift of a nest is com-
pleted and the eggs are laid. If the singer
is a good husband, he helps incubate the
eggs and feeds his mate and sings to her
frequently; but often he is quite the re-
verse and abuses her abominably. The
nest of the caged bird is very different
in appearance from the neat nests of grass,
plant down, and moss which the wild an-
cestors of these birds made in some safe
retreat in the shrubs or evergreens of the
Canary Islands. The canary eggs are pale
blue, marked with reddish-brown. The
incubation period is 13 to 14 days. The
young are as scrawny and ugly as most
little birds and are fed upon food par-
tially digested in the parents' stomachs.
Their first plumage usually resembles
that of the mother.

In their wild state in the Canary Islands
and the Azores, the canaries are olive
green above with golden yellow breasts.
When the heat of spring begins, they
move up the mountains to cooler levels
and come down again in the winter. They
may rear three or four broods on their
way up the mountains, stopping at suc-
cessive heights as the season advances,
until finally they reach the high peaks.

THE GOLDFINCH OR THISTLE BIRD

The goldfinches are small birds but
their songs are so sweet and reedy that

BIRDS

they seem to fill the world with music
more effectually than many larger birds.
They are fond of the seeds of wild grass,
and especially of thistle seed; and they
throng the pastures and fence comers
where the thistles hold sway. In summer,
the male has bright yellow plumage with
a little black cap " pulled down over his
nose " like that of a grenadier. He has also
a black tail and wings with white-tipped
coverts and primaries. The tail feathers
have white on their inner webs also, which
does not show when the tail is closed.
The head and back of the female are
brown and the under parts yellowish
white, with wings and tail resembling
those of the male except that they are not
so vividly black. In winter the male dons
a dress more like that of his mate; he loses
his black cap but keeps his black wings
and tail.

The song of the goldfinch is exquisite
and he sings during the entire period of
his golden dress; he sings while flying as
well as when at rest. The flight is in itself
beautiful, being wavelike up and down,
in graceful curves. Mr. Chapman says
that on the descending half of the curve
the male sings " Per-chick or-ree." The

Audubon Educational Leaflet No. 17

A pair of goldfinches

A. A. Allen

The nest and eggs of a goldfinch in an elm tree

goldfinch's call notes and alarm notes are
very much like those of the canary.

Since the goldfinches live so largely
upon seeds of grasses, they stay with us in
small numbers during the winter. During
this period both parents and young are
dressed in olive green, and their sweet call
notes are a surprise to us of a cold, snowy
morning, for they are associated in our
memory with summer. The male dons his
winter suit in October.

The goldfinch nest is a mass of fluffi-
ness. These birds make feather beds for
their young, or perhaps we should say
beds of down, since it is the thistledown
which is used for this mattress. The out-
side of the nest consists of fine shreds
of bark or fine grass closely woven; but
the inner portion is a mat of thistledown
a cushion an inch and a half thick for
a nest which has an opening of scarcely
three inches; sometimes the outside is
ornamented with lichens. The nest is usu-
ally placed in some bush or tree, often in
an evergreen, and ordinarily not more
than five or six feet from the ground; but
sometimes it is placed thirty feet high.
The eggs are from four to six in number
and bluish white in color. The female
builds the nest, her mate cheering her with
song meanwhile; he feeds her while she is
incubating and helps feed the young. A
strange thing about the nesting habits
of the goldfinches is that the nest is not
built until August. It has been surmised
that this nesting season is delayed until

56 ANIMALS

there is an abundance of thistledown for
building material.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon Bird
Leaflet 17; Bird Stories from Burroughs,
by John Burroughs; Canaries: Their Care
and Management by Alexander Wet-
more (U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Farmers 7 Bulletin 1327); The Pet Book,
by Anna B. Comstock (Canary); also,
readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 10
THE CANARY AND THE GOLDFINCH

LEADING THOUGHT The canary is a
close relative of the common wild gold-
finch. If we compare the habits of the two
we can understand how a canary might
live if it were free.

METHOD Bring a canary to the
schoolroom and ask for observations.
Ask the pupils to compare the canary
with the goldfinches which are common
in the summer. The canary offers oppor-
tunity for very close observation, which
will prove excellent training for the pupils
for beginning bird study.

OBSERVATIONS i . If there are two
canaries in the cage, are they always pleas-
ant to each other? Which one is the
" boss "? How do they show displeasure
or bad temper? How do they show affec-
tion for each other?

2. Which one is the singer? Does the
other one ever attempt to sing? What
other notes do the canaries make besides
singing? How do they greet you when
you bring their food? What do they say
when they are lonesome and hungry?

3. Does the singer have more than one
song? How does he act while singing?
Why does he throw back his head like
an opera singer when singing?

4. Are the canaries all the same color?
What is the difference in color between
the singer and the mother bird? Describe
the colors of each in your notebook as
follows: top and sides of head, back, tail,
wings, throat, breast, and under parts.

5. What does the canary eat? What
sort of seeds do we buy for it? What seeds

do we gather for it in our garden? Do the
goldfinches live on the same seeds? What
does the canary do to the seeds before
eating them? What tools does he use to
take off the shells?

6. Notice the shape of the canary's
beak. Is it long and strong like a robin's?
Is it wide and sharp so that it can shell
seeds? If you should put an insect in the
cage would the canary eat it?

7. Why do we give the canary cuttle-
bone? Note how it takes off pieces of the
bone. Could it do this if its beak were not
sharp?

8. Note the actions of the birds when
they drink. Why do they do this?

9. Can you see the nostrils? Where are
they situated? Why can you not see the
ear?

10. When the canary is interested in
looking at a thing how does it act? Look
closely at its eyes. Does it wink? How
does it close its eyes? When it is drowsy
can you see the little inner lid come from
the corner of the eye nearest the beak?
Is this the only licl?

11. How are the legs and feet covered?
Describe the toes. Compare the length of
the claw with the length of the toe. What
is the shape of the claw? Do you think
that claws and feet of this shape are better
fitted for holding to a branch than for
walking? Note the arrangement of the
toes when the bird is on its perch. Is the
hind toe longer and stronger? If so, why?
Do the canaries hop or walk about the
bottom of the cage?

12. What is the attitude of the canary
when it goes to sleep at night? How does
it act when it takes a bath? How does it
get the water over its head? Over its back?
What does it do after the bath? If we
forget to put in the bath dish how does
the bird get its bath?

NESTING HABITS TO BE OBSERVED
IN THE SPRING

13. When the canaries are ready to
build a nest, what material do we furnish
them for it? Does the father bird help
the mother to build the nest? Do they
strip off the paper on the bottom of the

BIRDS

cage for nest material? Describe the nest
when it is finished.

14. Describe the eggs carefully. Does
the father bird assist in sitting on the
eggs? Does he feed the mother bird when
she is sitting?

15. How long after the eggs are laid
before the young ones hatch? Do both
parents feed the young? Do they swallow
the food first and partially digest it before
giving it to the young?

16. How do the very young birds look?
What is their appearance when they
leave the nest? Does the color of their
plumage resemble that of the father or
the mother?

17. Where did the canaries originally
come from? Find the place on the map.

THE GOLDFINCH

LEADING THOUGHT Goldfinches are
seen at their best in late summer or
September, when they appear in flocks
wherever the thistle seeds are found in
abundance. Goldfinches so resemble the
canaries in form, color, song, and habits
that they are called wild canaries.

METHOD The questions for this les-
son may be given to the pupils before the
end of school in June. The results may be
reported to the teacher in class when the
school begins in the autumn.

OBSERVATIONS i . Where do you find
the goldfinches feeding? How can you
distinguish the father from the mother
birds and from the young ones in color?

2. Describe the colors of the male gold-
finch and also of the female as follows:
crown, back of head, back, tail, wings,
throat, breast, and lower parts. Describe in
particular the black cap of the male.

3. Do you know the song of the gold-
finch? Is it like the song of the canary?
What other notes has the goldfinch?

4. Describe the peculiar flight of the
goldfinches. Do they fly high in the
air? Do you usually see them singly or in
flocks?

5. Where do the goldfinches stay dur-
ing the winter? What change takes place
in the coat of the male during the winter?
What do they eat during the winter?

6. At what time of year do the gold-
finches build their nests? Describe the
nest. Where is it placed? How far above
the ground? How far from a stream or
other water? Of what is the outside made?
The lining? What is the general appear-
ance of the nest? What is the color of the
eggs?

Sometimes goldfinches one by one will

drop
From low-hung branches; little space

they stop,
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers

sleek,

Then off at once, as in a wanton frealc;
Or perhaps, to show their black and

golden wings;

Pausing upon their yellow flutterings,

KEATS

THE ROBIN

Most of us think we know the robin
well, but very few of us know definitely
the habits of this, our commonest bird.
The object of this lesson is to form in the
pupils a habit of careful observation, and
to enable them to read for themselves the
interesting story of this little life which
is lived every year before their eyes. More-
over, a robin notebook, if well kept, is a
treasure for any child; and the close obser-
vation necessary for this lesson trains the

pupils to note in a comprehending way
the habits of other birds. It is the very
best preparation for bird study of the right
sort.

A few robins occasionally find a swamp
where they can obtain food to nourish
them during the northern winter, but for
the most part they go in flocks to our
southern states, where they settle in
swamps and cedar forests and live chiefly
upon fruits and berries. The robins do not

ANIMALS

Leonard K. Beyer

A robin and its hungry young

nest or sing while in Southland. When the
robins first come to us in the spring they
feed on wild berries, being especially fond
of those of the Virginia creeper. As soon as
the frost is out of the ground they begin
feeding on earthworms, cutworms, white
grubs, and other insects. The male robins
come first, but do not sing much until
their mates arrive.

The robin is ten inches long and the
English sparrow is only six and one-third
inches long; the pupils should get the sizes
of these two birds fixed in their minds for
comparison in measuring other birds. The
father robin is much more decided in
color than his mate; his beak is yellow,
there is a yellow ring about the eye and a
white spot above it. The head is black and
the back slaty-brown; the breast is bril-
liant reddish brown or bay and the throat
is white, streaked with black. The mother
bird has paler back and breast and has no
black upon the head. The wings of both
are a little darker than the back; the tail
is black with the two outer feathers tipped
with white. These white spots do not show
except when the bird is flying and are
" call colors " that is, they enable the
birds to see each other and thus keep to-
gether when flying in flocks during the

night. The white patch made by the un-
der tail-coverts serves a similar purpose.
The feet and legs are strong and dark in
color.

The robin has many sweet songs and he
may be heard in the earliest dawn and also
in the evenings; if he wishes to cheer his
mate he may burst into song at any time.
He feels especially songful before the
summer showers, when he seems to sing,
" I have a theory, a theory, it's going
to rain/' And he might well say that
he also has a theory, based on experi-
ence, that a soaking shower will drive
many of the worms and larvae in the soil
up to the surface where he can get them.
Besides these songs the robins have a great
variety of notes which the female shares,
although she is not a singer. The agoniz-
ing, angry cries they utter when they see
a cat or squirrel must express their feelings
fully; they give a very different warning
note when they see crow or hawk. This
note is hard to describe; it is a long, not
very loud squeak.

A robin can run or hop as pleases him
best, and it is interesting to see one, while
hunting earthworms, run a little distance,
then stop to bend the head and listen
and look; when he finally seizes the earth-
worm he braces himself on his strong legs
and tugs manfully until he sometimes al-

Herbert E. Gray

Four blue eggs in a nest on a rail fence

BIRDS

most falls over backward as the worm lets
go its hold. The robins, especially at nest-
ing time, eat many insects as well as earth-
worms.

The beginning of a robin's nest is very
interesting; much strong grass, fine straw,
leaves, and rootlets are brought and placed
on a secure support. When enough of this
material is collected and arranged, the bird
goes to the nearest mud puddle or stream
margin and fills its beak with soft mud;
it then goes back and " peppers " it into
the nest material; after the latter is soaked,
the bird gets into it and molds it to the
body by turning around and around. In
one case which the author watched the
mother bird did this part of the building,
although the father worked industriously
in bringing the other materials. After the
nest is molded but not yet hardened, it is
lined with fine grass or rootlets. If the
season is very dry and there is no soft
mud at hand, the robins can build without
the aid of this plaster. Four eggs, which
are an exquisite greenish blue in color, are
usually laid.

Both parents share the monotonous
business of incubating, and in the instance
under the eyes of the author the mother
bird was on the nest at night; the period
of incubating is from eleven to fourteen
days. The most noticeable thing about

Leonard K. Beyer

A robin on its nest

A. A. Allen

Young robins. Their spotted breasts show
their relationship to the thrushes

a very young robin is its wide, yellow-mar-
gined mouth, which it opens like a satchel
every time the nest is jarred. This wide
mouth cannot but suggest to anyone who
sees it that it is meant to be stuffed, and
the two parents work very hard to fill it.
Both parents feed the young and often the
father feeds the mother bird while she
is brooding. Professor Treadwell experi-
mented with young robins and found that
each would take 68 earthworms daily;
these worms if laid end to end would
measure about 14 feet. Think of 14 feet
of earthworm being wound into the little
being in the nest; no wonder that it grows
so fast! I am convinced that each pair of
robins about our house has its own special
territory for hunting worms, and that any
trespasser is quickly driven off. The young
birds' eyes are opened when they are from
six to eight days old, and by that time the
feather tracts, that is, the places where
the feathers are to grow, are covered by
the spinelike pin-feathers; these feathers
push the down out and it often clings to
their tips. In eleven days the birds are
pretty well feathered; their wing feathers
are fairly developed, but alas, they have
no tail feathers! When a young robin flies
from the nest he is a very uncertain and
tippy youngster, not having any tail to
steer him while flying, or to balance him
when alighting.

It is an anxious time for the old robins
when the young ones leave the nest, and

ANIMALS

they flutter about and scold at anyone
who comes in sight, so afraid are they that
injury will come to their inexperienced
young ones; for some time the parents
care for the fledglings, solicitously feeding
them and giving them warnings of danger.
The young robin shows in its plumage its
relation to the thrush family, for it is
yellowish and very spotted and speckled,
especially on the breast. The parents may
raise several broods, but they rarely use the

Leonard K. Beyer

This robin became so entangled in ma-
terial it had gathered for its nest tha { t it was
unable to fly

same nest for two consecutive broods,
both because it may be infested with para-
sites and because it is more or less soiled,
although the mother robin works hard to
keep it clean; she carries away all waste
matter in her beak and drops it at some
distance from the nest. Robins do not sing
much after the breeding season is over
until after they have molted. They are
fond of cherries and other pulp fruits and
often do much damage to such crops. The
wise orchardist will plant a few Russian
mulberry trees at a reasonable distance
from his cherry trees, and thus, by giving
the robins a fruit which they like better,
and which ripens a little earlier, he may
save his cherries. It has been proved con-
clusively that the robins are far more bene-
ficial than damaging to the farmer; they

destroy many noxious insects, two-thirds
of their food throughout the year consist-
ing of insects; during April and May they
do a great work in destroying cutworms.

The robins stay in the North later than
most migrating birds, often not leaving
us entirely before November. Occasional
stragglers may remain all winter, in some
protected areas. Their chief enemies in
northern climates are cats, crows, and
squirrels. Cats should be taught to let
birds alone (see lesson on cat) or should
be killed. The crows have driven the
robins into villages where they can build
their nests under the protection of man.
If crows venture near a house to attack the
robins, firing a gun at them once or twice
will give them a hint which they are not
slow to take. The robins of an entire
neighborhood will attack a nest-robbing
crow, but usually too late to save the nest-
lings. The robins can defend themselves
fairly well against the red squirrel unless
he steals the contents of the nest while
the owners are away. There can be no
doubt that the same pair of robins return
to the same nesting place year after year.
On the Cornell University campus a
robin lacking the white tip on one side
of his tail was noted to have returned to
the same particular feeding ground for
several years; and we are very certain that
the same female bird built in the vines of
our piazza for seven consecutive years; it
took two years to win her confidence, but
after that she seemed to feel as if she were
a part of the family and regarded us all
as friends. We were sure that during her
fifth year she brought a new young hus-
band to the old nesting site; probably
her faithful old husband had met with
some mischance during the winter.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 46; Bird-House to Let, by
Mary F. Terrel; Bird Stories from Bur-
roughs, by John Burroughs; First Lessons
in Nature Study, by Edith M. Patch; Na-
ture and Science Readers, by Edith M.
Patch and Harrison E. Howe, Book i.
Hunting, Book 2, Outdoor Visits, Book 5,
Science at Home; Nature Stories for CLII-

BIRDS

dren, Autumn, by Eva L. Gordon and
Jennie Hall; Science Stories, by Wilbur L.
Beauchamp, W. S. Gray and Co-authors,
Book i; also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON
THE ROBIN

LEADING THOUGHT To understand all
we can about the life and ways of the
robin.

METHOD For first and second grades
this work may be done by means of an
extra blackboard, or what is far better,
sheets of ordinary, buff, manila wrapping
paper fastened together at the upper end,
so that they may be hung and turned over
like a calendar. On the outside page make
a picture of a robin in colored chalk or
crayons, coloring according to the chil-
dren's answers to questions of series " b."
Devote each page to one series of ques-
tions, as given below. Do not show these
questions to the pupils until the time is
ripe for the observations. Those pupils
giving accurate answers to these questions
should have their names on a roll of honor
on the last page of the chart.

For third or higher grades the pupils
may have individual notebooks in which
each one may write his own answers to
the questions of the successive series,
which should be written on the black-
board at the proper time for the observa-
tions. This notebook should have a page
about 6x8 inches and may be made of any
blank paper. The cover or first page should
show the picture of the robin colored by
the pupil, and may contain other illus-
trative drawings, and any poems or other
literature pertinent to the subject.

OBSERVATIONS BY PUPILS Series a
(to be given in March in the northern
states).

1. At what date did you see the first
robin this year?

2. Where did the robin spend the win-
ter? Did it build a nest or sing when in its
winter quarters?

3. What does it find to eat when it
first comes in the spring? How does this
differ from its ordinary food?

4. Does the robin begin to sing as soon
as it comes north?

Series b (to be given the first week of
April).

1. How large is the robin compared
with the English sparrow?

2. What is the color of the beak? The
eye? Around and above the eye?

3. The color of the top of the head?
The back? The throat? The breast?

4. Do all the robins have equally bright
colors on head, back, and breast?

5. What is the color of the wing
feathers?

6. What is the color of the tail feath-
ers? Where is the white on them? Can
the white spots be seen except during
flight of the bird? Of what use to the
robin are these spots?

7. Is there white on the underside of
the robin as it flies over you? Where?

8. What is the color of the feet and
legs?

Series c (to be given the second week
of April).

1 . At what time of day does the robin
sing? Is it likely to sing before a rain?
How many different songs does a robin
sing?

2. What note does a robin give when it
sees a cat?

3. What sounds do the robins make
when they see a crow or a hawk?

4. Does a robin run or walk or hop?

5. Do you think it finds the hidden
earthworm by listening? If so, describe the
act.

6. Describe how a robin acts as it pulls
a big earthworm out of the ground.

7. Do robins eat other food than earth-
worms?

Series d (to be given in the middle of
April or a little later) .

1. At what date did your pair of robins
begin to build their nest?

2. Where was the nest placed and with
what material was it begun?

3. Can you tell the difference in colors
between the father and mother birds? Do
both parents help in making the nest?

ANIMALS

4. How and with what material is the
plastering done? How is the nest molded
into shape? Do both birds do this part of
the work?

5. Where is the mud obtained and how
carried to the nest?

6. How is the nest lined?

Series e (to be given a week after
series d).

1. What is the number and color of
the eggs in the nest?

2. Do both parents do the sitting?
Which sits on the nest during the night?

3. Give the date when the first nestling
hatches.

4. How does the young robin look?
The color and size of its beak? Why is its
beak so large? Can it see? Is it covered
with down? Compare it to a young chick
and describe the difference between the
two.

5. What does the young robin do if it
feels any jar against the nest? Why does
it do this?

6. Do the young robins make any noise?

7. What do the parents feed their
young? Do both parents feed them? Are
the young fed in turns?

8. Do you believe each pair of robins
has a certain territory for hunting worms
which is not trespassed upon by other
robins?

Series f (to be given three days after
series e).

1. How long after hatching before the
young robin's eyes are open? Can you see
where the feathers are going to grow?
How do the young feathers look?

2. How long after hatching before the
young birds are covered with feathers?

3. Do their wing or tail feathers come
first?

4. How is the nest kept clean?

5. Give the date when the young robins
leave the nest. How do the old robins act
at this important crisis?

6. Describe the young robin's flight.
Why is it so unsteady?

7. How do the young robins differ in
colors of breast from the parents?

8. Do the parents stay with the young
for a time? What care do they give them?

9. If the parents raise a second brood,
do they use the same nest?

Series g (to be given for summer read-
ing and observations ) .

1. Do the robins sing all summer?
Why?

2. Do the robins take your berries and
cherries? How can you prevent them from
doing this?

3. Flow does the robin help us?

4. How long does it stay with us in the
fall?

5. What are the chief enemies of the
robin and how does it fight or escape
them? How can we help protect it?

6. Do you think the same robins come
back to us each year?

THE BLUEBIRD

Stern as were our Pilgrim Fathers, they
could not fail to welcome certain birds
with plumage the color of June skies,
whose sweet voices brought hope and
cheer to their homesick hearts at the close
of that first, long, hard winter of 1621.
The red breasts of these birds brought
to memory the robins of old England, and
so they were called " blue robins "; and
this name expresses well the relationship
implied, because the bluebirds and robins
of America are both members of the

thrush family, a family noted for exquisite
song.

The bluebirds are usually ahead of the
robins in the northward journey and often
arrive in New York arnid the blizzards of
early March, their soft, rich " curly " notes
bringing, even to the doubting mind, glad
convictions of coming spring. There is a
family resemblance between voices of
bluebird and robin, a certain rich quality
of tone; but the robin's song is far more
assertive and complex than is the soft,

BIRDS

"purling" song of the bluebird, which
has been vocalized as " tru-al-ly, tru-al-ly."
These love songs cease with the hard work
of feeding the nestlings, but may be heard
again as a prelude to the second brood in
June. The red breast of the bluebird is its
only color resemblance to the robin, al-
though the young bluebirds and robins are
both spotted, showing the thrush colors.
The robin is so much larger than the blue-
bird that commonly the relationship is
not noticed. This is easily explained be-
cause there is nothing to suggest a robin
in the exquisite cerulean blue of the blue-
bird's head, back, tail, and wings. This
color is most brilliant when the bird is
on the wing, in the sunshine. However,
there is a certain mirror-like quality in
these blue feathers; and among leaf shad-
ows or even among bare branches they
in a measure reflect the surroundings and
thus render the bird less noticeable.
The female is paler, being grayish blue
above and with only a tinge of red-brown

This bluebird is nesting in a cavity drilled by
a woodpecker the previous year

Leonard K. Beyer

A hollow fence post is a common home of
the bluebird. The young are fed chiefly on
insects

on the breast; both birds are white
beneath.

The bluebirds haunt open woods, fields
of second growth, and especially old or-
chards. They flit about in companies of
three or four until they mate for nesting.
While feeding, the bluebird usually sits on
a low branch keeping a keen eye on the
ground below, now and then dropping
suddenly on an unsuspecting insect and
then returning to its perch; it does not re-
main on the ground hunting food as does
the robin. The nest is usually built in a
hole in a tree or post and is made of soft
grass. A hollow apple tree is a favorite
nesting site.

In building birdhouses we should bear
in mind that a cavity about ten inches
deep and six inches in height and width
will give a pair of bluebirds room for
building a nest. The opening should not
be more than two or two and one-half
inches in diameter and there should be
no threshold; this latter is a very particu-
lar point. If there is a threshold or place
to alight upon, the sparrows are likely to
dispute with the bluebirds and drive them
away, but the sparrow does not care for a

64 ANIMALS

place which has no threshold. The box for
the bluebird may be made out of old
boards or may be a section of an old tree
trunk; it should be fastened from six to
fifteen feet above the ground, and should
be in nowise noticeable in color from its
surroundings. To protect the nest from
cats, barbed wire should be wound around
the tree or post below the box. If the box
for the nest is placed upon a post, the
barbed wire will also protect it from
the squirrels. The eggs are bluish white;
the young birds in their first feathers are
spotted on the back and have whitish
breasts mottled with brown. The food of
the nestlings is almost entirely insects. In
fact, this bird during its entire life is a
great friend to man. The food of the adult
is more than three-fourths insects and the
remainder is wild berries and fruits, the
winter food being largely mistletoe ber-
ries. It makes a specialty of beetles, cater-
pillars, and grasshoppers, and seems never
to touch any of our cultivated fruits. We
should do everything in our power to en-
courage and protect these birds from their
enemies, which are chiefly cats, squirrels,
and English sparrows.

The migration takes place in flocks dur-
ing autumn, but it is done in a most lei-
surely manner with frequent stops where
food is plenty. The bluebirds we see in
September are probably not the ones we
have had with us during the summer, but
are those which have come from farther
north.

They winter largely in the Gulf states;
the writer has often heard them singing
in midwinter in southern Mississippi. The
bluebirds seem to be the only ones that
sing while at their winter resorts. They live
the year round in the Bermudas, contrast-
ing their heavenly blue plumage with the
vivid red of the cardinals. The bluebird
should not be confused with the indigo
bunting; the latter is darker blue and has a
blue breast.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 24; Bird-House to Let, by
Mary F. Terrel; Bird Stories from Bur-
roughs, by John Burroughs; First Lessons

in Nature Study, by Edith M. Patch; Na-
ture and Science Readers, by Edith M.
Patch and Harrison E. Howe, Book i,
Hunting, Book 2, Outdoor Visits; Science
Stories, by Wilbur L. Beauchamp, W. S.
Gray and Co-authors, Book i; also, read-
ings on pages 28-29.

Winged lute that we call a bluebird,

You blend in a silver strain
The sound of the laughing waters,

The patter of spring's sweet rain,
The voice of the winds, the sunshine,

And fragrance of blossoming things.
Ah! You are an April poem,

That God has dowered with wings.
" THE BLUEBIRD/' REXFORD

LESSON 12
THE BLUEBIRD

LEADING THOUGHT The bluebird is
related to the robins and thrushes and is
as beneficial as it is beautiful. We should
study its habits and learn how to make
nesting boxes for it, and protect it in all
ways.

METHOD The observations of this
lesson must be made in the field and by
the pupils individually. Give to each an
outline of questions to answer through
seeing. There should follow reading les-
sons on the bluebird's value to us and its
winter migrations, and the lesson should
end in discussions of the best way to build
boxes for its use in nesting season, its pro-
tection from cats and other enemies.

OBSERVATIONS i. Which comes north
earlier in spring, the robin or the blue-
bird?

2. How do the two resemble each othei
and differ from each other?

3. Describe the bluebirds' song. Do
they sing all summer?

4. Describe the colors of the bluebird
as follows: the head, back, breast, under
parts, wings, tail. Flow does the male blue-
bird differ from his mate in colors?

5. Where were the bluebirds you saw?
What were they doing? If feeding, how
did they act?

6. Can you see the color of the blue-

bird as plainly when it is in a tree as when
it is flying? If not, why?

7. Where do the bluebirds build their
nests? Of what material are the nests
made? Do both parents work at the nest
building?

8. What is the color of the eggs? How
do the young birds look, when old enough
to leave the nest, as compared with their
parents?

9. What do the bluebirds eat? How do
they benefit us?

10. What can we do to induce the blue-
birds to live near our houses? How can we
protect them?

1 1 . Where do the bluebirds spend the
winter?

BIRDS 65

12. Make a colored picture of a blue-
bird. How can we tell the bluebird from
the indigo bunting?

13. What are the bluebirds* chief ene-
mies?

Hark/ 'tis the bluebird's venturous strain
High on the old fringed elm at the

gate -
Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying

bough,
Alert, elate,
Dodging the fitful spits of snow,

New England's poet-laureate
Telling us Spring has come again/

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH

THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

The busy nuthatch climbs his tree
Around the great bole spirally,
Peeping into wrinkles gray,
Under ruffled lichens gay,
Lazily piping one sharp note
From his silver mailed throat.

MAURICE THOMPSON

Blithe and mellow is the ringing " ank,
ank " note of the nuthatch, and why need
we allude to its nasal timbre! While it
is not a strictly musical note, it has a most
enticing quality and translates into sound
the picture of bare-branched trees and the
feeling of enchantment which permeates
the forest in winter; it is one of the most
"woodsy" notes in the bird repertoire.
And while the singer of this note is not
so bewitching as his constant chum the
chickadee, yet he has many interesting
ways quite his own. Nor is this "ank,
ank " his only note. I have often heard
a pair talking to each other in sweet confi-
dential syllables, " wit, wit, wit/' very dif-
ferent from the loud note meant for the
world at large. The nuthatches and chicka-
dees hunt together all winter; it is no mere
business partnership but a matter of con-
genial tastes. The chickadees hunt over
the twigs and smaller branches, while the
nuthatches usually prefer the tree trunks

and the bases of the branches; both birds
like the looks of the world upside down,
and while the chickadee hangs head down
from a twig, the nuthatch is quite likely
to alight head down on a tree bole, hold-
ing itself safely in this position by thrust-
ing its toes out at right angles to the body,
thus getting a firm hold upon the bark.
Sometimes its foot will be twisted com-
pletely around, the front toes pointed
up the tree. The foot is well adapted for
clinging to the bark as the front toes are
strong and the hind toe is very long
and is armed with a strong claw. Thus
equipped, this bird runs about on the tree
so rapidly that it has earned the name of
"tree mouse/' It often ascends a tree
trunk spirally but is not so hidebound in
this habit as is the brown creeper. It runs
up or down freely, head first, and never
flops down backwards like a woodpecker.
In color the nuthatch is bluish gray
above with white throat and breast and

reddish underparts. The sides of the head
are white; the black cap extends back upon
the neck but is not " pulled down " to the
eyes as with the chickadees. The wing
feathers are dark brown edged with pale
gray. The upper middle tail feathers are
bluish like the back; the others are dark
brown and tipped with white in such a

ANIMALS

acorn into a seam in the bark and then
throw back its head, woodpecker fashion,
and drive home its chisel beak. But it does
not always use common sense in this
habit. I have often seen one cut off a piece
of suet, fly off and thrust it into some
crevice, and hammer it as hard as if it
were encased in a walnut shell. This al-

A family oj white-breasted nuthatches

S. A. Grimes

manner that the tail when spread shows
a broad white border on both sides. The
most striking contrast between the chicka-
dee and nuthatch in markings is that the
latter lacks the black bib. However, its
entire shape is very different from that
of the chickadee and its beak is long and
slender, being as long as its head or longer,
while the beak of the chickadee is a
short, sharp little pick. The bill of the
nuthatch is fitted to reach in crevices of
the bark and pull out hiding insects, or
to hammer open the shell of nut or acorn
and get both the meat of the nut and the
grub feeding upon it. It will wedge an

ways seems bad manners, like carrying off
fruit from table d'hote; but the nuthatch
is polite enough in using a napkin, for
after eating the suet, it invariably wipes its
bill on a branch most assiduously, first
one side then the other, until it is per-
fectly clean.

The nuthatches are a great benefit to
our trees in winter, for then is when they
hunt for hiding pests on the trunks.
Their food consists of beetles, caterpillars,
pupas of various insects, also seeds of rag-
weed, sunflowers, acorns, etc. While the
nuthatch finds much of its food on trees,
yet Mr. Torrey has seen it awkwardly turn-

BIRDS

ing over fallen leaves hunting for insects,
and Mr. Baskett says it sometimes catches
insects on the wing and gets quite out of
breath from this unusual exercise.

It is only during the winter that we com-
monly see the nuthatches, for during the
nesting season they usually retire to the
deep woods, where they may occupy a
cavity in a tree used by a woodpecker last
year, or may make a hole for themselves
with their sharp beaks. The nest is lined
with leaves, feathers, and hair; from five
to nine creamy, speckled eggs are the
treasure of this cave.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 59; The Nature Hour, by Lucille
Nicol, S. M. Levenson, and Teressa Kahn,
Sixth Year, Spring; also, readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 13
THE NUTHATCH

LEADING THOUGHT The nuthatch is
often a companion of the chickadees and
woodpeckers. It has no black bib, like the
chickadee, and it alights on a tree trunk
head downward, which distinguishes it
from woodpeckers.

METHOD This bird, like the chicka-
dee and downy, gladly shares the suet ban-

A characteristic pose

L. H. Bailey

Leonard K. Beyer

The nuthatch runs head first down tree
trunks in search of insects. Here he is eating
suet which has been fastened to the tree

quet we prepare for them and may be ob-
served at leisure while " at table." The
contrast between the habits of the nut-
hatch and those of its companions makes
it a most valuable aid in stimulating close
and keen observation on the part of the
pupils.

OBSERVATIONS i . Where have you
seen the nuthatches? Were they with
other birds? What other birds?

2. Does a nuthatch usually alight on
the ends of the branches of a tree or on
the trunk and larger limbs? Does it usu-
ally alight head down or up? When it runs
down the tree, does it go head first or does
it back down? When it ascends the tree,
does it follow a spiral path? Does it use
its tail for a brace when climbing, as does
the downy?

3. How does the arrangement of the
nuthatch's toes assist it in climbing? Are
the three front toes of each foot directed
downward when the bird alights head
downward? How does it manage its feet
when in this position?

4. What is the general color of the nut-
hatch above and below? The color of the
top and sides of head? Color of back?
Wings? Tail? Throat? Breast?

5. Does the black cap come down to

ANIMALS

the eyes on the nuthatch as on the chicka-
dee? Has the nuthatch a black bib?

6. What is the shape of the beak of the
nuthatch? For what is it adapted? How
does it differ from the beak of the chicka-
dee?

7. What is the food of the nuthatch?
Where is it found? Does it open nuts for
the grubs or the nut meat? Observe the
way it strikes its beak into the suet; why
does it strike so hard?

8. How would you spell this bird's
note? Have you heard it give more than
one note?

9. How does the nuthatch benefit our
trees? At what season does it benefit them
most? Why?

10. Where do the nuthatches build
their nests? Why do we see the nut-
hatches oftener in winter than in sum-
mer?

Acadian chickadees

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

THE CHICKADEE

He Is the hero of the woods; there are courage and good nature enough in that
compact little body, which you may hide in your fist, to supply a whole groveful
of May songsters. He has the Spartan virtue of an eagle, the cheerfulness of a thrush,
the nimbleness of Code Sparrow, the endurance of the sea-birds condensed into his
tiny frame, and there have been added a pertness and ingenuity all his own. His curi-
osity is immense, and his audacity equal to it; I have even had one alight upon the
barrel of the gun over my shoulders as I sat quietly under his tree.

ERNEST INGERSOLL

However careless we may be of our bird
friends when we are in the midst of the
luxurious life of summer, even the most
careless among us give pleased attention
to the birds that bravely endure with
us the rigors of winter. And when this
winged companion of winter proves to be
the most fascinating little ball of feathers
ever created, constantly overflowing with
cheerful song, our pleased attention
changes to active delight. Thus it is, that
in all the lands of snowy winters the
chickadee is a loved comrade of the coun-
try wayfarer; that happy song " chick-a-
dee-dee-dee " finds its way to the dullest

consciousness and the most callous heart.
The chickadees appear in small flocks
in the winter and often in company with
the nuthatches. The chickadees work on
the twigs and ends of branches, while the
nuthatches usually mine the bark of the
trunk and larger branches, the former
hunting insect eggs and the latter, insects
tucked away in winter quarters. When the
chickadee is prospecting for eggs, it first
looks the twig over from above and then
hangs head down and inspects it from be-
low; it is a thorough worker and doesn't in-
tend to overlook anything whatever; and
however busily it is hunting, it always finds

BIRDS

time for singing; whether on the wing or
perched upon a twig or hanging from it
like an acrobat, head down, it sends forth
its happy " chickadeedee " to assure us
that this world is all right and good
enough for anybody. Besides this song, it
begins in February to sing a most seductive
" fee-bee/ 7 giving a rising inflection to the
first syllable and a long, falling inflection
to the last, which makes it a very different
song from the short, jerky notes of the
flycatcher called phoebe, which cuts the
last syllable short and gives it a rising in-
flection. More than this, the chickadee
has some chatty conversational notes, and
now and then performs a bewitching little
yodel, which is a fit expression of its own
delicious personality.

The general effect of the colors of the
chickadee is grayish brown above and
grayish white below. The top of the head
is black, the sides white, and it has a se-
ductive little black bib under its chin.
The back is grayish, the wings and tail are
dark gray, the feathers having white mar-
gins. The breast is grayish white changing
to buff or brownish at the sides and below.
It is often called the " Black-capped Tit-
mouse/ 7 and it may always be distin-

S. A. Grimes

Black-capped chickadees. The friendly chick-
adee is easily tamed

A " banded '

Leonard K. Beyer

chickadee

guished by black cap and black bib. It is
smaller than the English sparrow; its beak
is a sharp little pick just fitted for taking
insect eggs off twigs and from under bark.
Insects are obliged to pass the winter in
some stage of their existence, and many of
them wisely remain in the egg until there
is something worth doing in the way of
eating. These eggs are glued fast to the
food trees by the mother insect and thus
provide abundant food for the chicka-
dees. It has been estimated that one
chickadee will destroy several hundred in-
sect eggs in one day, and it has been
proved that orchards frequented by these
birds are much more free from insect pests
than other orchards in the same locality.
They can be enticed into orchards by put-
ting up beef fat or bones and thus we
can secure their valuable service. In sum-
mer these birds attack caterpillars and
other insects.

When it comes to nest building, if the
chickadees cannot find a house to rent
they proceed to dig out a proper hole from
some decaying tree, which they line with
moss, feathers, fur, or some other soft ma-
terial. The nest is often not higher than
six to ten feet from the ground. One
which I studied was in a decaying fence
post. The eggs are white, sparsely speckled
and spotted with lilac or rufous. The
young birds are often eight in number.
How these fubsy birdlings manage to pack
themselves in such a small hole is a won-
der; it probably gives them good discipline
in bearing hardships cheerfully.

7 o

ANIMALS

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Aiidubon
Bird Leaflet 61; Bird Stories, by Edith M.
Patch; Bird Stories from Burroughs, by
John Burroughs; Nature and Science
Readers, by Edith M. Patch and Harrison
E. Howe, Book 2, Outdoor Visits; Win-
ter, by Dallas Lore Sharp; also, readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 14
THE CHICKADEE

LEADING THOUGHT The chickadee is
as useful as it is delightful; it remains in
the North during winter, working hard
to clear our trees of insect eggs and sing-
ing cheerily all day. It is so friendly that
we can induce it to come even to the
window sill by putting out suet to show
our friendly interest.

METHOD Put beef fat on the trees
near the schoolhouse in December and
replenish it about every two or three
weeks. The chickadees will come to the
feast and may be observed all winter. Give
the questions a few at a time and let the
children read in the bird books a record of
the benefits derived from this bird.

OBSERVATIONS i . Where have you
seen the chickadees? What were they do-
ing? Were there several together?

2. What is the common song of the
chickadee? What other notes has it? Have
you heard it yodel? Have you heard it
sing " fee-bee, fee-bee "? How does this
song differ from that of the phcebe? Does
it sing on the wing or when at rest?

3. What is the color of the chickadee:
top and sides of head, back, wings, tail,
throat, breast, under parts?

4. Compare the size of the chickadee
with that of the English sparrow.

5. What is the shape of the chickadee's
bill and for what is it adapted? What is
the food in winter? Where does the bird
find it? How does it act when feeding and
hunting for food?

6. Does the chickadee usually alight on
the ends of the branches or on the larger
portions near the trunk of the tree?

7. How can you distinguish the chicka-
dees from their companions, the nut-
hatches?

8. Does the chickadee ever seem dis-
couraged by the snow and cold weather?
Do you know another name for the
chickadee?

9. Where does it build its nest? Of
what material? Have you ever watched
one of these nests? If so, tell about it.

10. How does the chickadee benefit our
orchards and shade trees? How can we
induce it to feel at home with us and work
for us?

THE DOWNY WOODPECKER

Friend Downy is the name this at-
tractive little neighbor has earned, be-
cause it is so friendly to those of us who
love trees. Watch it as it hunts each crack
and crevice of the bark of your favorite
apple or shade tree, seeking assiduously for
cocoons and insects hiding there, and you
will soon, of your own accord, call it
friend; you will soon love its black and
white uniform, which consists of a black
coat speckled and barred with white, and
whitish gray vest and trousers. The front

of the head is black and there is a black
streak extending backward from the eye
with a white streak above and also below
it. The male has a vivid red patch on the
back of the head, but his wife shows no
such giddiness; plain black and white are
good enough for her. In both sexes the
throat and breast are white, the middle
tail feathers black, while the side tail feath-
ers are white, barred with black at their
tips.
The downy has a way of alighting low

BIRDS

down on a tree trunk or at the base of a
larger branch and climbing upward in a
jerky fashion; it never runs about over the
tree nor does it turn around and go down
head Erst, like the nuthatch; if it wishes
to go down a short distance it accom-
plishes this by a few awkward, backward
hops; but when it really wishes to descend,
it flies off and down. The downy, like
other woodpeckers, has a special arrange-
ment of its physical machinery which en-
ables it to climb trees in its own manner.
It can grasp the bark on the side of a tree
more firmly because its fourth toe is
turned backward and works as a com-
panion with the thumb. Thus it is able
to clutch the bark as with a pair of nip-
pers, two claws in front and two claws be-
hind; and as another aid, the tail is ar-
ranged to prop the bird, like a bracket.
The tail is rounded in shape and the mid-
dle feathers have rather strong quills; but
the secret of the adhesion of the tail to
the bark lies in the great profusion of
barbs which, at the edge of the feathers,
offer bristling tips, and when applied to
the side of the tree act like a wire brush
with all the wires pushing downward.
This explains why the woodpecker can-
not go backward without lifting the tail.
But even more wonderful than this is
the mechanism by which the downy and
hairy woodpeckers get their food, which
consists largely of wood-borers or larvae
working under the bark. When the wood-
pecker wishes to get a grub in the wood,
it seizes the bark firmly with its feet, uses
its tail as a brace, throws its head and up-
per part of the body as far back as pos-
sible, and then drives a powerful blow
with its strong beak. The beak is adapted
for just this purpose, as it is wedge-shaped
at the end, and is used like a mason's drill
sometimes, and sometimes like a pick.
When the bird uses its beak as a pick, it
strikes hard, deliberate blows and the
chips fly; but when it is drilling, it strikes
rapidly and not so hard and quickly drills
a small, deep hole leading directly to the
burrow of the grub. When finally the grub
is reached, it would seem well-nigh impos-
sible to pull it out through a hole which is

Friend Downy

L. "W. Brownell

too small and deep to admit of the beak
being used as pincers. This is another story
and a very interesting one; the downy and
hairy can both extend their tongues far
beyond the point of the beak, and the tip
of the tongue is hard and horny and cov-
ered with short backward-slanting hooks
acting like a spear or harpoon; and thus
when the tongue is thrust into the grub it
pulls it out easily. The bones of the tongue
have a spring arrangement; when not in

Friend Downy's foot

use, the tongue lies soft in the mouth, like
a wrinkled earthworm, but when in use ?
the bones spring out, stretching it to its
full length, and it is then slim and small.
The process is like fastening a pencil to the
tip of a glove finger; when drawn back the
finger is wrinkled together, but when
thrust out, it straightens. This spring ar-
rangement of the bones of the woodpeck-
er's tongue is a marvelous mechanism
and should be studied through pictures.
Since the food of the downy and the

ANIMALS

hairy is where they can get it all winter,
there is no need for them to go south;
thus they stay with us and work for us the
entire year. We should try to make them
feel at home with us in our orchards and
shade trees by putting up pieces of beef
fat, to convince them of their welcome.
No amount of free food will pauperize
these birds, for as soon as they have eaten
of the fat, they commence to hunt for
grubs on the tree and thus earn their feast.
They never injure live wood.

James Whitcomb Riley describes the
drumming of the woodpecker as " weed-

A. A. Allen

Part of the tree has been cut away to show
Downy's nest

ing out the lonesomeness " and that is ex-
actly what the drumming of the wood-
pecker means. The male selects some
dried limb of hard wood and there beats
out his well-known signal which adver-
tises far and near, " Wanted, a wife." And
after he wins her, he still drums on for a
time to cheer her while she is busy with
her family cares. The woodpecker has no
voice for singing, like the robin or thrush;
and luckily, he does not insist on singing,
like the peacock, whether he can or not.
He chooses rather to devote his voice to
terse and business-like conversation; and
when he is musically inclined, he turns
drummer. He is rather particular about his
instrument, and having found one that is

sufficiently resonant he returns to it day
after day. While it is ordinarily the male
that drums, I once observed a female
drumming. I told her that she was a bold
minx and ought to be ashamed of her-
self; but within twenty minutes she had
drummed up two red-capped suitors who
chased each other about with great ani-
mosity, so her performance was evidently
not considered improper in woodpecker
society. I have watched a rival pair of male
downies fight for hours at a time, but their
duel was of the French brand much
fuss and no bloodshed. They advanced
upon each other with much haughty glar-
ing and many scornful bobs of the head,
but when they were sufficiently near to
stab each other they beat a mutual and
circumspect retreat. Although we hear the
male clownies drumming every spring, I
doubt if they are calling for new wives; I
believe they are, instead, calling the atten-
tion of their lawful spouses to the fact that
it is time for nest building to begin. I have
come to this conclusion because the
downies and hairies which I have watched
for years have always come in pairs to par-
take of suet during the entire winter; and
while only one at a time sits at meat and
the lord and master is somewhat bossy, yet
they seem to get along as well as most mar-
ried pairs.

The downy 7 s nest is a hole, usually in a
partly decayed tree; an old apple tree is a
favorite site and a fresh excavation is made
each year. There are from four to six white
eggs, which are laid on a nice bed of chips
almost as fine as sawdust. The cloor to the
nest is a circle about an inch and a quarter
across.

The hairy woodpecker is fully one-third
larger than the downy, measuring nine
inches from tip of beak to tip of tail, while
the downy measures only about six inches.
The tail feathers at the side are white for
the entire length, while they are barred at
the tips in the downy. There is a black
" parting " through the middle of the red
patch on the back of the hairy 's head. The
two species are so much alike that it is
difficult for the beginner to tell them
apart. Their habits are very similar, except

BIRDS

that the hairy lives in the woods and is not trunk?
so commonly seen in orchards or on shade
trees. The food of the hairy is much like
that of the downy; it is, therefore, a
beneficial bird and should be protected.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 55; Bird Stories from Burroughs,
by John Burroughs; Mother Nature Series,
by Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor Trox-
ell, Book 3, In Field and Forest; Nature
and Science Readers, by Edith M. Patch
and Harrison E. Howe, Book i, Hunting,
Book 2, Outdoor Visits; also, readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 15
THE DOWNY WOODPECKER

LEADING THOUGHT The downy
woodpecker remains with us all winter,
feeding upon insects that are wintering in
crevices and beneath the bark of our trees.
It is fitted especially by shape of beak,
tongue, feet, and tail to get such food and
is a " friend in need " to our forest, shade,
and orchard trees.

METHOD If a piece of beef fat be
fastened upon the trunk or branch of a
tree which can be seen from the school-
room windows, there will be no lack of in-
terest in this friendly little bird; for the
downy will sooner or later find this feast
spread for it and will come every day to
partake. Give out the questions, a few at a
time, and discuss the answers with the
pupils.

OBSERVATIONS i . What is the gen-
eral color of the downy above and below?
The color of the top of the head? Sides of
the head? The throat and breast? The
color and markings of the wings? Color
and markings of the middle and side tail
feathers?

2. Do all downy woodpeckers have the
red patch at the back of the head?

3. What is the note of the downy?
Does it make any other sound? Have you
ever seen one drumming? At what time of
the year? On what did it drum? What did
it use for a drumstick? What do you sup-
pose was the purpose of this music?

4. How does the downy climb a tree

How does it descend? How
do its actions differ from those of the nut-
hatch?

5. How does the arrangement of the
woodpecker's toes help it in climbing a
tree trunk? How does this arrangement of
toes differ from that of other birds?

6. How does the downy use its tail to
assist it in climbing? What is the shape of
the tail and how is it adapted to assist?

7. What does the downy eat and where
does it find its food? Describe how it gets
at its food. What is the shape of its bill
and how is it fitted for getting the food?
Tell how the downy's tongue is used to
spear the grub.

8. Why do you think the downy does
not go south in winter?

9. Of what use is this bird to us? How
should we protect it and entice it into our
orchards?

10. Write an account of how the
downy builds its nest and rears its young.

A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker,
probably the individual one who is now
my winter neighbor, began to drum early
in March in a partly decayed apple-tree
that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of
woodland near me. When the morning
was still and mild I would often hear him
through my window before I was up, or b}
half-past six o'clock, and he would keep it
up pretty briskly till nine or ten o'clock, in
this respect resembling the grouse, which
do most of their drumming in the fore-
noon. His drum was the stub of a dry limb
about the size of one's wrist. The heart
was decayed and gone, but the outer shell
was loud and resonant. The bird would
keep his position there for an hour at a
time. Between his drummings he would
preen his plumage and listen as if for the
response of the female, or for the drum of
some rival. How swift his head would go
when he was delivering his blows upon the
limb/ His bealc wore the surface percep-
tibly. When he wished to change the key,
which was quite often, he would shift his
position an inch or two to a knot which
gave out a higher, shriller note. When I
climbed up to examine his drum he was

74 ANIMALS

much disturbed. I did not know he was in
the vicinity, but it seems he saw me from
a near tree, and came in haste to the neigh-
boring branches, and with spread plumage
and a sharp note demanded plainly
enough what my business was with his
drum. I was invading his privacy, dese-
crating his shrine, and the bird was much
put out. After some weeks the female ap-
peared; he had literally drummed up a
mate; his urgent and oft-repeated adver-
tisement was answered. Still the drum-
ming did not cease, but was quite as fer-
vent as before. If a mate could be won by
drumming she could be kept and enter-
tained by more drumming; courtship

should not end with marriage. If the bird
felt musical before, of course he felt much
more so now. Besides that, the gentle
deities needed propitiating in behalf of
the nest and young as well as in behalf of
the mate. After a time a second female
came, when there was war between the
two. I did not see them come to blows,
but I saw one female pursuing the other
about the place, and giving her no rest for
several days. She was evidently trying to
run her out of the neighborhood. Now
and then she, too, would drum briefly as
if sending a triumphant message to her
mate. - " WINTER NEIGHBORS/' JOHN
BURROUGHS

THE SAPSUCKER

L. A. Fuertes

The yellow-bellied sapsucker

The sapsucker is a woodpecker that
has strayed from the paths of virtue; he
has fallen into temptation by the wayside,
and instead of drilling a hole for the sake
of the grub at the end of it, he drills for

drink. He is a tippler, and sap is his bev-
erage; and he is also fond of the soft, inner
bark. He often drills his holes in regular
rows and thus girdles a limb or a tree,
and for this is pronounced a rascal by men
who have themselves ruthlessly cut from
our land millions of trees that should now
be standing. It is amusing to see a sap-
sucker take his tipple, unless his saloon
happens to be one of our prized young
trees. He uses his bill as a pick and makes
the chips fly as he taps the tree; then he
goes away and taps another tree. After a
time he comes back and holding his beak
close to the hole for a long time seems to
be sucking up the sap; he then throws
back his head and " swigs " it down with
every sign of delirious enjoyment. The
avidity with which these birds come to the
bleeding wells which they have made, lias
in it all the fierceness of a toper crazy for
drink; they are particularly foncl of the
sap of the mountain ash, apple, thorn ap-
ple, canoe birch, cut-leaf birch, red maple,
red oak, white ash, and young pines. How-
ever, the sapsucker does not live solely on
sap; he also feeds upon insects whenever
he can find them. When feeding their
young, the sapsuckers are true flycatchers
snatching insects while on the wing. The
male has the crown and throat crimson,
edged with black with a black line extend-

BIRDS

ing back of the eye, bordered with white tree? If there are two rows or more, are the
above and below. There is a large, black holes set evenly one below another?
circular patch on the breast which is bor- ~ "

dered at the sides and below with lemon
yellow. The female is similar to the male
and has a red forehead, but she has a
white bib instead of a red one beneath the
chin. The distinguishing marks of the sap-
sucker should be learned by the pupils.
The red is on the front of the head instead
of on the crown, as is the case with the

2. Do the holes sink into the wood, or
are they simply through the bark? Why
does it injure or kill a tree to be girdled
with these holes? Have you ever seen the
sapsuckers making these'holes? If so, how
did they act?

3. How many kinds of trees can you
find punctured by these holes? Are they
likely to be young trees?

downy and hairy; when the bird is flying 4. How can you distinguish the sap-
the broad, white stripes extending from sucker from the other woodpeckers? How
the shoulders backward, form a long, oval have the hairy and downy which are such
figure, which is very characteristic.

The sapsuckers spend the winter in the
southern states where they drill wells in
the white oak and other trees. From Vir-
ginia to northern New York and New
England, where they breed, they are seen
only during migration, which occurs in
April; then the birds appear two and three
together and are very bold in attacking
shade trees, especially the white birch.
They nest only in the northern United
States and northward. The nest is usually In the following winter the same bird
a hole in a tree about forty feet from the (a sapsuclcer) tapped a maple-tree in front
ground, and is likely to be in a dead birch, of my window in fifty-six places; and,
SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird when the day was sunny and the sap oozed
Leaflet 102; also, readings on pages 28-29. out he spent most of his time there. He

knew the good sap-days, and was on hand
promptly for his tipple; cold and cloudy
days he did not appear. He knew which
side of the tree to tap, too, and avoided
the sunless northern exposure. When one
series of well-holes failed to supply him,
he would sink another, drilling through
the barfc with great ease and quickness.
Then, when the day was warm, and the
sap ran freely, he would have a regular
sugar-maple debauch, sitting there by his
wells hour after hour, and as fast as they
became filled sipping out the sap. This he

good friends of the trees been made to suf-
fer for the sapsucker's sins?

5. What is the color of the sapsucker:
forehead, sides of head, back, wings,
throat, upper and lower breast? What is
the difference in color between the male
and female?

6. In what part of the country do the
sapsuckers build their nests? Where do
they make their nests and how?

LESSON 16
THE SAPSUCKER

LEADING THOUGHT The sapsucker
has a red cap, a red bib, and a yellow
breast; it is our only woodpecker that does
injury to trees. We should learn to distin-
guish it from the downy and hairy, as the
latter are among the best bird friends of
the trees.

METHOD Let the observations begin
with the study of the trees (common al-
most everywhere) which have been at-
tacked by the sapsucker, and thus lead
to an interest in the culprit.

OBSERVATIONS i . Have you seen the
work of the sapsucker? Are the holes
drilled in rows completely around the

did in a gentle, caressing manner that was
very suggestive. He made a row of wells
near the foot of the tree, and other rows
higher up, and he would hop up and down
the trunk as they became filled. " WIN-
TER NEIGHBORS/' JOHN BURROUGHS

7 6

ANIMALS

THE REDHEADED WOODPECKER

The redhead is well named, for his hel-
met and visor show a vivid glowing crim-
son that stirs the sensibilities of the color
lover. It is readily distinguished from the
other woodpeckers because its entire head
and bib are red. For the rest, it is a beauti-
ful dark metallic blue with the lower back,
a band across the wing, and the under parts
white; its outer tail feathers are tipped
with white. The female is colored like the

L. A. Fuertes

The redheaded woodpecker

male, but the young have the head and
breast gray, streaked with black and white,
and the wings barred with black. It may
make its nest by excavating a hole in a tree
or a stump or even in a telegraph pole; the
eggs are glossy white. This woodpecker is
quite different in habits from the hairy
and downy, as it likes to flit along from
stump to fence post and catch insects on
the wing, like a flycatcher. The only time
that it pecks wood is when it is making a
hole for its nest.
As a drummer, the redhead is most

adept and his roll is a long one. He is an
adaptable fellow, and if there is no reso-
nant dead limb at hand, he has been
known to drum on tin roofs and lightning
rods; and once we also observed him exe-
cuting a most brilliant solo on the wire
of a barbed fence. He is especially fond of
beechnuts and acorns, and being a thrifty
fellow as well as musical, in time of plenty
he stores up food against time of need. He
places his nuts in crevices and forks of the
branches or in holes in trees or any other
hiding place. He can shell a beechnut
quite as cleverly as can the deer mouse;
and he is own cousin to the carpenter
woodpecker of the Pacific Coast, which
is also redheaded and which drills holes
in the oak trees wherein he drives acorns
like pegs for later use.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 43; Mother Nature Series, by Fan-
nie W. Dunn and Eleanor Troxell, Book
3, In Field and Forest; Nature and Science
Readers, by Edith M. Patch and Harrison
E. Howe, Book i, Hunting; also, readings
on pages 28-29.

LESSON 17
THE REDHEADED WOODPECKER

LEADING THOUGHT The redheaded
woodpecker has very different habits from
the downy and is not so useful to us. It
lives upon nuts and fruit and such insects
as it can catch upon the wing.

METHOD If there is a redhead in the
vicinity of your school the children will be
sure to see it. Write the following ques-
tions upon the blackboard and offer a
prize to the first one who will make a note
on where the redhead stores his winter
food.

OBSERVATIONS - 1. Can you tell the
redhead from the other woodpeckers?
What colors especially mark his plum-
age?

2. Where does the redhead nest? De-
scribe eggs and nest.

BIRDS

3. What have you observed the red-
head eating? Have you noticed it storing
nuts and acorns for the winter? Have you
noticed it flying off with cherries or other
fruit?

4. What is the note of the redhead?
Have you ever seen one drumming?
What did he use for a drum? Did he come
back often to this place to make his music?

Another trait our woodpeckers have
that endears them to me, and that has
never been pointedly noticed by our orni-
thologists, is their habit of drumming in
the spring. They are songless birds, and yet
all are musicians; they make the dry limbs
eloquent of the coming change. Did you
think that loud, sonorous hammering
which proceeded from the orchard or
from the near woods on that still March or
April morning was only some bird getting
its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not rap-
ping at the door of a grub; he is rapping at
the door of spring, and the dry limb thrills
beneath the ardor of his blows. Or 7 later in
the season, in the dense forest or by some
remote mountain lake, does that meas-
ured rhythmic beat that breaks upon the
silence, first three strokes following each
other rapidly, succeeded by two louder
ones with longer intervals between them,
and that has an effect upon the alert ear
as if the solitude itself had at last found a
voice does that suggest anything less
than a deliberate musical performance? In
fact, our woodpeckers are /ust as charac-
teristically drummers as is the ruffed

grouse, and they have their particular
limbs and stubs to which they resort for
that purpose. Their need of expression is
apparently just as great as that of the song-
birds, and it is not surprising that they
should have found out that there is music
in a dry, seasoned limb which can be
evoked beneath their beaks.

The woodpeckers do not each have a
particular dry limb to which they resort at
all times to drum, like the one I have de-
scribed. The woods are fall of suitable
branches, and they drum more or less here
and there as they are in quest of food; yet I
am convinced each one has its favorite
spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, es-
pecially in the morning. The sugar-maker
in the maple woods may notice that this
sound proceeds from the same tree or trees
about his camp with great regularity. A
woodpecker in my vicinity has drummed
for two seasons on a telegraph-pole ? and
he makes the wires and glass insulators
ring. Another drums on a thin board on
the end of a long grape-arbor, and on still'
mornings can be heard a long distance.

A friend of mine in a Southern city tells
me of a redheaded woodpecker that
drums upon a lightning-rod on his neigh-
bor's house. Nearly every clear, still morn-
ing at certain seasons, he says, this musical
rapping may be heard. " He alternates his
tapping with his stridulous call, and the
effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is
very pleasing." " BIRDS, BEES AND SHARP
EYES/' JOHN BURROUGHS

THE FLICKER OR YELLOW-HAMMER

The first time I ever saw a flicker I said,
" What a wonderful meadowlark and
what is it doing on that ant hill? " But an-
other glance revealed to me a red spot on
the back of the bird's neck, and as soon
as I was sure that it was not a bloody gash,
I knew that it marked no meadowlark.
The top of the flicker's head and its back
are slaty-gray, which is much enlivened by
a bright red band across the nape of the

neck. The tail is black above and yellow
tipped with black below; the wings are
black, but have a beautiful luminous yel-
low beneath, which is very noticeable dur-
ing flight. There is a locket adorning the
breast; it is a thin, black crescent, much
narrower than that of the meadowlark.
Below the locket, the breast is yellowish
white thickly marked with circular, black
spots. The throat and sides of the head

ANIMALS

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

A brood of seven young flickers

are pinkish brown, and the male has a
black mustache extending backward from
the beak with a very fashionable droop.
Naturally enough the female, although
she resembles her spouse, lacks his mus-
tache. The beak is long, strong, somewhat
curved and dark colored. This bird is dis-
tinctly larger than the robin. The white
patch on the rump shows little or not at
all when the bird is at rest. This white
mark is known as a " color call " for it
has been said that it serves as a rear signal
by means of which the flock of migrating
birds are able to keep together in the
night. The yellow-hammer's flight is wave-
like and jerky quite different from that
of the meadowlark; it does not stay so
constantly in the meadows, but often fre-
quents woods and orchards.

The flicker has many names, such as
golden-winged woodpecker, yellow-ham-
mer, highhole, yarup, wake-up, clape, and
many others. It earned the name of high-
hole because of its habit of excavating its
nest high up in trees, usually between ten
and twenty-five feet from the ground. It
especially loves an old apple tree as a site
for a nest, and most of our large old or-
chards can boast of a pair of these hand-
some birds during the nesting season of
May and June. The flicker is not above

renting any house he finds vacant, exca-
vated by some other birds last year. He
earned his name of yarup or wake-up from
his spring song, which is a rollicking, jolly
" wick-a, wick-a, wick-a-wick " a song
commonly heard the last of March or early
April. The chief insect food of the flicker
is ants, although it also eats beetles, flies,
and wild fruit; it does little or no damage
to planted crops. Its tongue has become
modified, like that of the anteater; it is
long and is covered with a sticky sub-
stance; and when it is thrust into an ant
hill, all of the little citizens, disturbed in
their communal labors, at once bravely
attack the intruder and become glued fast
to it; they are thus withdrawn and trans-
ferred to the capacious stomach of the
bird. It has been known to eat three thou-
sand ants at a single meal.

Those who have observed the flicker
during the courting season declare him
to be the most silly and vain of all bird
wooers. Mr. Baskett says: "When he
wishes to charm his sweetheart he mounts
a small twig near her, and lifts his wings,
spreads his tail, and begins to nod right
and left as he exhibits his mustache to his
charmer. He sets his jet locket first on one
side of the twig and then on the other.
He may even go so far as to turn his head
half around to show her the pretty spot

A. A. Allen

The male 'flicker has a black mustache

BIRDS

on his back hair. In doing all this he per-
forms the most ludicrous antics and has
the silliest expression of face and voice as
if in losing his heart, as some one phrases
it, he had lost his head also."

The nest hole is quite deep and the
white eggs are from four to ten in num-
ber. The feeding of the young flickers is a
process painful to watch. The parent takes
the food into its own stomach and par-
tially digests it, then thrusts its own bill
down the throat of the young one and
pumps the soft food into it "kerchug,
kerchug," until it seems as if the
young one must be shaken to its foun-
dations. The young flickers as soon as
they leave the nest climb around freely
on the home tree in a delightful, playful
manner.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 5; Bird Stories from Bur-
roughs, by John Burroughs; First Lessons
in Nature Study, by Edith M. Patch; Na-
ture and Science Readers, by Edith M.
Patch and Harrison E. Howe, Book 5,
Science at Home; also, readings on pages
28-29.

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

The female flicker

Stanley Mythaler

The homes of flickers

LESSON 18
THE FLICKER

LEADING THOUGHT The flicker is a
true woodpecker but has changed its hab-
its and spends much of its time in mead-
ows hunting for ants and other insects;
it makes its nest in trunks of trees, like
its relatives. It can be distinguished from
the meadowlark by the white patch above
the tail which shows during flight.

METHOD This is one of the most im-
portant of the birds of the meadow. The
work may be done in September, when
there are plenty of young flickers which
have not learned to be wary. The observa-
tions may be made in the field, a few ques-
tions being given at a time.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where do you
find the flicker in the summer and early
autumn? How can you tell it from the
meadowlark in color and in flight?

2. What is it doing in the meadows?
How does it manage to trap ants?

3. What is the size of the flicker as com-
pared to the robin? What is its general
color as compared to the meadowlark?

4. Describe the colors of the flicker as
follows: top and sides of the head, back
of the neck, lower back, tail, wings, throat,
and breast. Describe the color and shape of
the beak. Is there a difference in markings
between the males and females?

ANIMALS

5. Does the patch of white above the
tail show, except when the bird is flying?
Of what use is this to the bird?

6. What is the flicker's note? At what
time of spring do you hear it first?

7. Where does the flicker build its nest
and how? What is the color of the eggs?
How many are there?

8. How does it feed its young? How do
the young flickers act?

9. How many names do you know for
the flicker?

The high-hole appears to drum more
promiscuously than does the downy. He
utters his long, loud spring call, whick-

whick-whick, and then begins to rap with
his beak upon his perch before the last
note has reached your ear. I have seen him
drum sitting upon the ridge of the barn.
The log-code, or pileated woodpecker, the
largest and wildest of our Northern spe-
cies, I have never heard drum. His blows
should wake the echoes.

When the woodpecker is searching for
food, or laying siege to some hidden grub,
the sound of his hammering is dead or
muffled, and is heard but a few yards. It is
only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of
its bark, that he beats his reveille to spring
and woos his mate. " BIRDS, BEES AND
SHARP EYES," JOHN BURROUGHS

THE MEADOWLARK

The meadowlark

L. A. Fuertes

The first intimation we have in early
spring that the meadowlark is again with
us comes to us through his soft, sweet,
sad note which Van Dyke describes so
graphically when he says it " leaks slowly
upward from the ground." One wonders
how a bird can express happiness in these
melancholy, sweet, slurred notes, and yet
undoubtedly it is a song expressing joy,

the joy of returning home, the happiness
of love and of nest building.

The meadowlark, as is indicated by its
name, is a bird of the meadow. It is often
confused with another bird of the meadow
which has very different habits, the flicker.
The two are approximately of the same
size and color and each has a black cres-
cent or locket on the breast and each
shows the " white feather " during flight.
The latter is the chief distinguishing char-
acteristic; the outer tail feathers of the
meadowlark are white, while the tail feath-
ers of the flicker are not white at all, but it
has a single patch of white on the rump.
The flight of the two is quite different.
The lark lifts itself by several sharp move-
ments and then soars smoothly over the
course, while the flicker makes a continu-
ous up-and-down, wavelike flight. The
songs of the two would surely never be
confused, for the meadowlark is among
our sweetest singers, to which class the
flicker with his " flick-a-flick " hardly be-
longs.

The colors of the meadowlark are most
harmonious shades of brown and yellow,
well set off by the black locket on its
breast. Its wings are light brown, each
feather being streaked with black and
brown; the line above the eye is yellow,
bordered with black above and below; a

BIRDS

buff line extends from the beak backward
over the crown. The wings are light brown
and have a mere suggestion of white bars;
portions of the outer feathers on each side
of the tail are white, but this white does
not show except during flight. The sides
of the throat are greenish, the middle part
and breast are lemon-yellow, with the
large, black crescent just below the throat.
The beak is long, strong, and black, and
the meadowlark is decidedly a low-browed
bird, the forehead being only slightly
higher than the upper part of the beak. It
is a little larger than the robin, which it
rivals in plumpness.

The meadowlark has a particular liking
for meadows which border streams. It
sings when on the ground, on the bush
or fence and while on the wing; and it
sings during the entire period of its north-
ern stay, from April to November, ex-
cept while it is moulting in late summer,
Mr. Mathews, who is an eminent author-
ity on bird songs, says that the meadow-
larks of New York have a different song
from those of Vermont or Nantucket, al-
though the music has always the same
general characteristics. The western spe-
cies has a longer and more complex song
than ours of the East. It is one of the few
California birds that is a genuine joy to
the eastern visitor; during February and
March its heavenly music is as pervasive
as the California sunshine.

The meadowlark's arched nest

R. W. Hegner

A father prairie horned lark at his nest.
These birds nest in early March, and often
snow falls on the nest and brooding bird

The nest is built in a depression in the
ground near a tuft of grass; it is con-
structed of coarse grass and sticks and is
lined with finer grass; there is usually a
dome of grass blades woven above the
nest; and often a long, covered vestibule
leading to the nest is made in a similar
fashion. This is evidently for protection
from the keen eyes of hawks and crows.
The eggs are laid about the last of May
and are usually from five to seven in num-
ber; they are white, speckled with brown
and purple. The young meadowlarks are
usually large enough to be out of the way
before haying time in July.

The food of the meadowlark during the
entire year consists almost exclusively of
insects which destroy the grass of our
meadows. It eats great quantities of grass-
hoppers, cutworms, chinch bugs, army
worms, wireworms, and weevils, and also
destroys some weed seeds. Each pupil
should make a diagram in his notebook
showing the proportions of the meadow-
lark's different kinds of food. This may be
copied from Audubon Leaflet 3. Everyone
should use his influence to the uttermost
to protect this valuable bird. It has been
estimated that the meadowlarks save to
every township where hay is produced,
twenty-five dollars each year on this crop
alone.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflets 3 and 111; Holiday Meadow, by
Edith M. Patch; also, readings on pages
28-29.

ANIMALS

LESSON 19

THE MEADOWLARK

LEADING THOUGHT The meadowlark
is of great value in delivering the grass of
our meadows from insect destroyers. It has
a song which we all know; it can be iden-
tified by color as a large, light brown bird
with white feathers on each side of the
tail, and in flight by its quick up-and-
down movements finishing with long, low,
smooth sailing.

METHOD September and October are
good months for observations on the
flight, song, and appearance of the mead-
owlark, and also for learning how to dis-
tinguish it from the flicker. The notes
must be made by the pupils in the field,
and after they know the bird and its song
let them, if they have opportunity, study
the bird books and bulletins, and prepare
written accounts of the way the meadow-
lark builds its nest and of its economic
value.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where have you
seen the meadowlark? Did you ever see it
in the woods? Describe its flight. How can
you identify it by color when it is flying?
How do its white patches and its flight dif-
fer from those of the flicker?

2. Try to imitate the meadowlarFs
notes by song or whistle. Does it sing
while on the ground, or on a bush or fence,
or during flight?

3. Note the day when you hear its last
song in the fall and also its first song in the
spring. Does it sing during August and
September? Why? Where does it spend
the winter? On what does it feed while in
the South?

4. Is the meadowlark larger or smaller
than the robin? Describe from your own
observations, as far as possible, the colors
of the meadowlark as follows: top of head,
line above the eye, back, wings, tail,
throat, breast, locket, color and shape of
beak. Make a sketch of your own or a
copy from Louis Fuertes 7 excellent picture
of the meadowlark in the Audubon Leaf-
let, and color it accurately.

5. When is the nest built; where is it
placed; of what material is it built? How is
it protected from sight from above? Why
this protection? How many eggs are there
in the nest? What are their colors and
markings?

6. What is the food of the meadow-
lark? Copy the diagram from the Audu-
bon Leaflet, showing the proportions of
the different kinds of insects which it de-
stroys.

Sweet, sweet, sweet/ O happy that I am!
(Listen to the meadow-larks, across the

fields that sing/)
Sweet, sweet, sweet/ O subtle breath of

balm,

O winds that blow, O buds that grow,
O rapture of the spring/

Sweet, sweet, sweet/ O happy world that

is/ '
Dear heart, I hear across the fields my

mateling pipe and call
Sweet, sweet, sweet/ O world so full of

bliss,

For life is love, the world is love, and
love is overall/

INA COOLBRITH

BIRDS

English sparrows at a feeding station

S. A. Grimes

THE ENGLISH SPARROW

So dainty in plumage and hue,

A study in grey and in brown ?
How little, how little we knew

The pest he would prove to the town/
From dawn until daylight grows dim.

Perpetual chatter and scold.
No winter migration for him,

Not even afraid of the cold/
Scarce a song-bird he fails to molest,

Belligerent, meddlesome thing/
Wherever he goes as a guest

He is sure to remain as a King.

MARY ISABELLA FORSYTH

The English sparrow, like the poor and
the housefly, is always with us; and since
he is here to stay, let us make him useful
if we can devise any means of doing so.
There is no bird that gives the pupils a
more difficult exercise in describing colors
and markings than does he; and his wife
is almost equally difficult. I have known
fairly skilled ornithologists to be misled
by some variation in color of the hen spar-
row, and it is safe to assert that the ma-
jority of people " do not know her from
Adam/' The male has the top of the head
gray with a patch of reddish brown on
either side; the middle of the throat and

upper breast is black; the sides of the
throat white; the lower breast and under
parts grayish white; the back is brown
streaked with black; the tail is brown,
rather short, and not notched at the tip;
the wings are brown with two white bars
and a jaunty dash of reddish brown. The
female has the head grayish brown, the
breast, throat, and under parts grayish
white; the back is brown streaked with
black and dirty yellow, and she is, on the
whole, a " washed out " looking lady bird.
The differences in color and size between
the English sparrow and the chippy are
quite noticeable, as the chippy is an inch

84 ANIMALS

shorter and far more slender in appear-
ance, and is especially marked by the red-
dish brown crown.

When feeding, the English sparrows
are aggressive, and their lack of table man-
ners make them the " goops " among all
birds; in the winter they settle in noisy
flocks on the street to pick up the grain
undigested by the horses, or in barnyards
where the grain has been scattered by the
farm animals. They only eat weed seeds
when other food fails them in the winter,
for they are civilized birds even if they do
not act so, and they much prefer the culti-
vated grains. It is only during the nesting
season that they destroy insects to any
extent; over one-half the food of nestlings
is insects, such as weevils, grasshoppers,
cutworms, etc.; but this good work is
largely offset by the fact that these same
nestlings will soon give their grown-up
energies to attacking grain fields, taking
the seed after sowing, later the new grain
in the milk, and later still the ripened
grain in the sheaf. Wheat, oats, rye, bar-
ley, corn, sorghum, and rice are thus at-
tacked. Once I saw on the upper Nile a
native boat loaded with millet which was
attacked by thousands of sparrows; when
driven off by the sailors they would perch
on the rigging like flies, and as soon as the
men turned their backs they would drop
like bullets to the deck and gobble the
grain before they were again driven off.
English sparrows also destroy for us the
buds and blossoms of fruit trees and often
attack the ripening fruit.

The introduction of the English spar-
row into America is one of the greatest ar-
guments possible in favor of nature-study;
for ignorance of nature-study methods in
this single instance costs the United
States millions of dollars every year. The
English sparrow is the European house
sparrow, and people had a theory that it
was an insect eater, but never took the
pains to ascertain if this theory were a fact.
About 1850, some people with more zeal
than wisdom introduced these birds into
New York, and for twenty years after-
wards there were other importations of
the sparrows. In twenty years more, peo-

ple discovered that they had taken great
pains to establish in our country one of the
worst nuisances in all Europe. In addition
to all the direct damage which the English
sparrows do, they are so quarrelsome that
they have driven away many of our native
beneficial birds from our premises, and
now vociferously acclaim their presence in
places which were once the haunts of birds
with sweet songs. After they drive off the
other birds they quarrel among them-
selves, and there is no rest for tired ears in
their vicinity. There are various noises
made by these birds which we can under-
stand if we are willing to take the pains:
the harassing chirping is their song; they
squall when frightened and peep plain-
tively when lonesome, and make a dis-
agreeable racket when fighting.

But to "give the devil his due" we
must admit that the house sparrow is as
clever as it is obnoxious, and its success is
doubtless partly due to its superior clever-
ness and keenness. It is quick to take a
hint, if sufficiently pointed; firing a shot-
gun twice into a flock of these birds has
driven them from our premises; and tear-
ing down their nests assiduously for a
month seems to convey to them the idea
that they are not welcome. Another in-
stance of their cleverness I witnessed one
day: I was watching a robin, worn and
nervous with her second brood, fervently
hunting earthworms in the lawn to fill the
gaping mouths in the nest in the Virginia
creeper shading the piazza. She finally
pulled up a large, pink worm, and a hen
sparrow flew at her viciously; the robin
dropped the worm to protect herself, and
the sparrow snatched it and carried it off
triumphantly to the grape arbor where
she had a nest of her own full of gaping
mouths. She soon carne back, and at a
safe distance watched the robin pull out
another worm, and by the same tactics
again gained the squirming prize. Three
times was this repeated in an hour, and
then the robin, discouraged, flew up into
a Norway spruce and in a monologue of
sullen duckings tried to reason out what
had happened.

The English sparrow's nest is quite in

BIRDS

keeping with the bird's other qualities; it
is usually built in a hole or box or in some
protected corner beneath the eaves; it is
also often built in vines on buildings and
occasionally in trees. It is a good example
of " fuss and feathers "; coarse straw, or
any other kind of material, and feathers of
hens or of other birds, mixed together
without fashion or form, constitute the
nest. In these sprawling nests the whitish,
brown or gray-flecked eggs are laid and
the young reared; several broods are reared
by one pair in a season. The nesting begins
almost as soon as the snow is off the
ground and lasts until late fall.

During the winter, the sparrows gather
in flocks in villages and cities, but in the
spring they scatter out through the coun-
try where they can find more grain. The
only place where this bird is welcome is
possibly in the heart of a great city, where
no other bird could pick up a livelihood.
It is a true cosmopolite and is the first bird
to greet the traveler in Europe or northern
Africa. These sparrows will not build in
boxes suspended by a wire; and they do
not like a box where there is no resting
place in front of the door leading to the
nest.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 90; Bird Friends, by Gilbert
H. Trafton; English Sparrow Control
(U. S. Department of Agriculture, Leaflet
61); Lives of the Hunted, by Ernest
Thompson Seton (A Street Troubadour);
Mother Nature Series, by Fannie W.
Dunn and Eleanor Troxell, Book 3, In
Field and Forest; see also readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 20
THE ENGLISH SPARROW

LEADING THOUGHT The English spar-
row was introduced into America by peo-
ple who knew nothing of its habits. It has
finally overrun our whole country, and to
a great extent has driven out from towns
and villages our useful American song
birds; it should be discouraged and not
allowed to nest around our houses and

A. A. Allen

The sprawling nest of the English sparrow

grounds. As a sparrow it has interesting
habits which we should observe.

METHOD Let the pupils make their
observations in the street or wherever they
find the birds. The greatest value of this
lesson is to teach the pupils to observe the
coloring and markings of a bird accurately
and describe them clearly. This is the best
of training for later work with the wild
birds.

OBSERVATIONS i. How many kinds of
birds do you find in a flock of English spar-
rows?

2. The ones with the black cravat are
naturally the men of the family, while
their sisters, wives, and mothers are less
ornamented. Describe in your notebook
or from memory the colors of the cock
sparrow as follows: top of head, sides of
the head, the back, the tail, the wings,
wing bars, throat and upper breast, lower
breast and under parts.

3 . Describe the hen sparrow in the same
manner and note the difference in mark-
ings between the two. Are the young birds,
when they first fly, like the father or the
mother?

4. Compare the English sparrow with
the chippy and describe the differences
in size and color.

5. Is the tail when the bird is not flying
square across the end or notched?

ANIMALS

6. What is the shape of the beak? For
what sort of food is it adapted?

7. What is the food of the English
sparrows and where do they find it? De-
scribe the actions of a flock feeding in the
yard or street. Are the English sparrows
kindly or quarrelsome in disposition?

8. Why do the English sparrows stay
in the North during the coldest of win-
ters? Do they winter out in the country or
in villages?

9. Describe by observation how they
try to drive away robins or other native
birds.

10. Describe the nest of this sparrow.
Of what material is it made? How is it sup-
ported? How sheltered? Is it a well-built
nest?

11. Describe the eggs. How many

broods are raised a year? What kind of
food do the parents generally give the
nestlings?

12. If you have ever seen these sparrows
do anything interesting, describe the cir-
cumstance.

13. In what ways are these birds a nui-
sance to us?

14. How much of English sparrow talk
do you understand?

15. How can we build bird-boxes so
that the English sparrows will not try to
take possession of them?

Do not tire the child with questions;
lead him to question you, instead. Be sure,
in any case, that he is more interested in
the subject than in the questions about
the subject.

THE CHIPPING SPARROW

Leonard K. Beyer

A chipping sparrow on its nest ,

This midget lives in our midst, and yet
among all bird kind there is not another
which so ignores us as does the chippy.
It builds its nest about our houses, it
hunts for food all over our premises, it
sings like a tuneful grasshopper in our
ears, it brings up its young to disregard

us, and every hour of the day it " tsip-
tsips " us to scorn. And, although it has
well earned the name of " doorstep spar-
row/' since it frugally gathers the crumbs
about our kitchen doors, yet it rarely be-
comes tame or can be induced to eat
from the hand, unless it is trained so to
do as a nestling.

Its cinnamon-brown cap and tiny black
forehead, the gray streak over the eye and
the black through it, the gray cheeks and
the pale gray, unspotted breast distinguish
it from the other sparrows, although its
brown back streaked with darker coloi,
and brown wings and blackish tail, have a
very sparrowish look; the two whitish wing
bars are not striking; it has a bill fitted for
shelling seeds, a characteristic of all the
sparrows. Despite its seed-eating bill, the
chippy's food is about one-third insects,
and everyone should know that this little
bird does good to our gardens and trees.
It takes in large numbers cabbage cater-
pillars, pea lice, the beet leaf-miners, leaf
hoppers, grasshoppers, and cutworms, and
does its share in annihilating the cater-
pillars of the terrible gypsy and browntail
moths. In fact, it works for our benefit
even in its vegetable food, as this consists

BIRDS

largely of the seeds of weeds and unde-
sirable grasses. It will often fly up from
its perch after flies or moths/ like a fly-
catcher; and the next time we note it, it
will be hopping around hunting for the
crumbs we have scattered for it on the
porch floor. The song of the chippy is
more interesting to it than to us; it is a
continuous performance of high ? shrill,
rapid notes, all alike so far as I can detect;
when it utters many of these in rapid suc-
cession it is singing, but when it gives
them singly they are call notes or mere
conversation.

One peculiarity of the nest has given
this sparrow the common name of hair-
bird, for the lining is almost always of
long, coarse hair, usually treasure trove
from the tails of horses or cattle, switched
off against boards, burs, or other obstacles.
Of the many nests I have examined, black
horsehair was the usual lining; but two
nests in our yard show the chippy to be
a resourceful bird; evidently the hair mar-
ket was exhausted and the soft, dead
needles of the white pine were used in-
stead and made a most satisfactory lining.
The nest is tiny and shallow; the outside
is of fine grass or rootlets carefully but
not closely woven together; it is placed

A. A. Allen

A cowbird laid the large egg in Ihis chip-
ping sparrow's nest. The cowbird depends
upon other birds to brood its eggs and care
for its young

A. A. Allen

" The breadline!' Young chipping sparrows
being fed by one of their parents

in vine or tree, usually not more than
ten or fifteen feet from the ground; a
vine on a house is a favorite nesting site.
Once a bold pair built directly above the
entrance to our front door and mingled
cheerfully with other visitors. Usually,
however, the nest is so hidden that it
is not discovered until after the leaves
have fallen. The eggs are light blue tinged
with green, with fine, purplish brown
specks or markings scrawled about the
larger end.

The chippy comes to us in early spring
and usually raises two broods of from
three to five " piggish " youngsters, which
even after they are fully grown follow
pertinaciously their tired and " frazzled
out " parents and beg to be fed; the chippy
parents evidently have no idea of disci-
pline but indulge their teasing progeny
until our patience, at least, is exhausted.
The young differ from the parents in hav-
ing streaked breasts and lacking the red-
dish crown. In the fall the chippy par-
ents lose their red-brown caps and have
streaked ones instead; and then they fare
forth in flocks for a seed-harvest in the
fields. Thereafter our chippy is a stranger
to us; we do not know it in its new garb,
and it dodges into the bushes as we pass,
as if it had not tested our harmlessness on
our own door-stone.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 80; Bird-House to Let, by Mary F.
Terrel; Bird Stories from Burroughs, by
John Burroughs; Mother Nature Series,
by Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor Trox-

ANIMALS

ell, Book 3, In Field and Forest; also, read-
ings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 21
THE CHIPPING SPARROW

LEADING THOUGHT The chipping
sparrow is a cheerful and useful little
neighbor. It builds a nest, lined with
horsehair, in the shrubbery and vines
about our homes and works hard in rid-
ding our gardens of insect pests and seeds
of weeds.

METHOD Begin this lesson with a
nest of the chippy, which is so unmistak-
able that it may be collected and identi-
fied in the winter. Make the study of this
nest so interesting that the pupils will
wait anxiously to watch for the birds
which made it. As soon as the chippies
appear, the questions should be asked, a
few at a time, giving the children several
weeks for the study.

THE NEST

OBSERVATIONS i . Where was this
nest found? How high from the ground?

2. Was it under shelter? How was it
supported?

3. Of what material is the outside of
the nest? How is it fastened together?
How do you suppose the bird wove this
material together?

4. Of what material is the lining? Why
is the bird that built this nest called the
" hair-bird "? From what animal do you
think the lining of the nest came? How do
you suppose the bird got it?

5. Do you think the nest was well hid-
den when the leaves were about it? Meas-
ure the nest across and also its depth; do
you think the bird that made it is as large
as the English sparrow?

THE BIRD

6. How can you tell the chippy from
the English sparrow?

7. Describe the colors of the chippy as
follows: beak, forehead, crown, marks
above and through the eyes, cheeks,
throat, breast, wings, and tail. Note if the
wings have whitish bars and how many.

8. Describe the shape of the beak as
compared with that of the robin. What
is this shaped bill adapted for?

9. What is the food of the chippy?
Why has it been called the doorstep
sparrow?

10. Note whether the chippy catches
flies or moths on the wing like the phcebe.

1 1 . Why should we protect the chippy
and try to induce it to live near our
gardens?

12. Does it run or hop when seeking
food on the ground?

13. How early in the season does the
chippy appear and where does it spend
the winter?

14. Can you describe the chippy's
song? How do you think it won the name
of chipping sparrow?

15. If you have the luck to find a pair
of chippies nesting, keep a diary of your
observations in your notebook covering
the following points: Do both parents
build the nest? Flow is the framework
laid? How is the finishing done? What is
the number and color of the eggs? Do
both parents feed the young? How do
young chippies act when they first leave
the nest? How large are the young birds
before the parents stop feeding them?
What are the differences in color and
markings between parents and young?

THE FIELD-SPARROW

A bubble of music floats, the slope of the
hillside over;

A little wandering sparrow's notes; and
the bloom of yarrow and clover,

And the smell of sweet-fern and the bay-
berry leaf, on his ripple of song are
stealing,

For he is a cheerful thief, the wealth of
the fields revealing.

One syllable, clear and soft as a raindrop's

silvery patter,
Or a tinkling fairy-bell; heard aloft, in the

midst of the merry chatter
Of robin and linnet and wren and /"ay, one

syllable, oft repeated;
He has but a word to say, and of that he

will not be cheated.

BIRDS

The singer I have not seen; but the song

I arise and follow
The brown hills over, the pastures green,

and into the sunlit hollow.
With a joy that his life unto mine has

lent, I can feel my glad eyes glisten,
Though he hides in his happy tent, while

I stand outside, and listen.

This way would I also sing, my dear little

hillside neighbor!
A tender carol of peace to bring to the

sunburnt fields of labor
Is better than making a loud ado; trill on,

amid clover and yarrow/
There's a heart-beat echoing you, and

blessing you, blithe little sparrow/

LUCY LARCOM

THE SONG SPARROW

He does not wear a Joseph's coat of many colors, smart and gay
His suit is Quaker brown and gray, with darker patches at his throat.
And yet of all the well-dressed throng, not one can sing so brave a song.
It makes the pride of looks appear a vain and foolish thing to hear
In " Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer. "

A lofty place he does not love, he sits by choice and well at ease

In hedges and in little trees, that stretch their slender arms above

The meadow brook; and then he sings till all the field with pleasure rings;

And so he tells in every ear, that lowly homes to heaven are near

In " Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer."

HENRY VAN DYKE

Children may commit to memory the
poem from which the above stanzas were
taken; seldom in literature have detailed
accurate observation and poetry been so
happily combined as in these verses. The
lesson might begin in March when we
are all listening eagerly for bird voices, and
the children should be asked to look out
for a little, brown bird which sings,
" Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer,"
or, as Thoreau interprets it, " Maids!
Maids! Maids! Hang on the teakettle,
teakettle-ettle-ettle." In early childhood
I learned to distinguish this sparrow by its
"Teakettle" song. Besides this song, it
has others quite as sweet; and when
alarmed it utters a sharp "Tchink,
t'chinL"

The song sparrow prefers the neighbor-
hood of brooks and ponds which are bor-
dered with bushes, and also the hedges
planted by nature along rail or other field
fences, and it has a special liking for the
shrubbery about gardens. Its movements
and flight are very characteristic; it usually

sits on the tip-top of a shrub or low tree
when it sings; when disturbed, however,
it never rises in the air but drops into a low

Leonard K. Beyer

The song sparrow usually builds its nest on
the ground

flight and plunges into a thicket with a
defiant twitch of the tail which says
plainly, " Find me if you can."

ANIMALS

A. A. Allen

The eggs are bluish white with many brown
markings

The color and markings of this bird
are typical of the sparrows. The head is
a warm brown with a gray streak along
the center of the crown and one above
each eye, with a dark line through the eye.
The back is brown with darker streaks.
The throat is white with a dark spot on
either side; the breast is white spotted
with brown with a large, dark blotch at
its very center; this breast blotch distin-
guishes this bird from all other sparrows.
The tail and wings are brown and without
buff or white bars or other markings. The
tail is long, rounded, and very expressive
of emotions, and makes the bird look
more slender than the English sparrow.

The nest is usually placed on the ground
or in low bushes not more than five feet
from the ground; it varies much in both
size and material; it is sometimes con-
structed of coarse weeds and grasses; and
sometimes only fine grass is used. Some-
times it is lined with hair, and again, with
fine grass; sometimes it is deep, but oc-
casionally is shallow. The eggs have a
whitish ground-color tinged with blue or
green, but are so blotched and marked
with brown that they are safe from ob-
servation of enemies. The nesting season
begins in May, and there are usually three
and sometimes four broods; but so far as
I have observed, a nest is never used for

two consecutive broods. The song spar-
rows stay with us in New York State very
late in the fall, and a few stay in sheltered
places all winter. The quality in this bird
which endears him to us all is the spirit
of song which stays with him; his sweet
trill may be heard almost any month of
the year, and he has a charming habit of
singing in his dreams.

The song sparrow is not only the dearest
of little neighbors, but it also works lustily
for our good and for its own food at the
same time. It destroys cutworms, plant
lice, caterpillars, canker-worms, ground
beetles, grasshoppers, and flies; in winter
it destroys thousands of weed seeds, which
otherwise would surely plant themselves
to our undoing. Every boy and girl should
take great pains to drive away stray cats
and to teach the family puss not to meddle
with birds; for cats are the worst of all
the song sparrow's enemies, destroying
thousands of its nestlings every year.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 31; Bird Stories from Burroughs,
by John Burroughs; Mother Nature Series,
by Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor Trox-
ell, Book 3, In Field and Forest; also,
readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 22
THE SONG SPARROW

LEADING THOUGHT The beautiful
song of this sparrow is usually heard earlier
in the spring than the notes of bluebird
or robin. The dark blotch in the center of
its speckled breast distinguishes this spar-
row from all others; it is very beneficial
and should be protected from cats.

" Sweet, sweet, sweet, very merry cheer "

BIRDS

METHOD All the observations of the
song sparrow must be made in the field,
and they are easily made because the bird
builds near houses, in gardens, and in the
shrubbery. Poetry and other literature
about the song sparrow should be given
to the pupils to read or to memorize.

OBSERVATIONS i. Have you noticed
a little brown bird singing a very sweet
song in the early spring? Did the song
sound as if set to the words " Little Maid!
Little, Maid! Little Maid! Put on the tea-
kettle, teakettle-ettle-ettle "?

2. Where was this bird when you heard
him singing? How high was he perched
above the ground? What other notes did
you hear him utter?

3. Describe the colors and markings of
the song sparrow on head, back, throat,
breast, wings, and tail. Is this bird as large
as the English sparrow? What makes it
look more slim?

4. How can you distinguish the song
sparrow from the other sparrows? When
disturbed does it fly up or down? How
does it gesture with its tail as it disappears
in the bushes?

5. Where and of what material does
the song sparrow build its nest?

6. What colors and markings are on
the eggs? Do you think these colors and
markings are useful in concealing the eggs
when the mother bird leaves the nest?

7. How late in the season do you see
the song sparrows and hear their songs?

8. How can we protect these charming
little birds and induce them to build near
our houses?

9. What is the food of the song spar-
rows and how do they benefit our fields
and gardens? Name some of the injurious
insects that they eat.

THE SING-AWAY BIRD
Have you ever heard of the Sing-away

bird,

That sings where the Runaway River
Runs down with its rills from the bald-
headed hills

That stand in the sunshine and shiver?
" Oh, sing! sing-away! sing-away/ "
How the pines and the birches are stirred
By the trill of the Sing-away bird/

And the bald-headed hills, with their

rocks and their rills,
To the tune of his rapture are ringing;

And their faces grow young, all the gray

mists among,

While the forests break forth into sing-
ing.

" Oh, sing/ sing-away/ sing-awayl "

And the river runs singing along;

And the flying winds catch up the song.

Twas a white-throated sparrow, that sped

a light arrow

Of song from his musical quiver,
And it pierced with its spell every valley

and dell

On the banks of the Runaway River,
" Oh, sing/ sing-away/ sing-away/ "
The song of the wild singer had
The sound of a soul that is glad.

LUCY LARCOM

THE MOCKINGBIRD

Among all the vocalists in the bird
world, the mockingbird is seldom rivaled
in the variety and richness of his repertoire.
The mockingbirds go as far north as south-
ern New England, but they are found at
their best in the Southern states and
in California. On the Gulf Coast the
mockers begin singing in February; in
warmer climates they sing almost the
year through. During the nesting season,

the father mocker is so busy with his cares
and duties during the day that he does not
have time to sing, and so he devotes the
nights to serenading; he may sing almost
all night long if there is moonlight, and
even on dark nights he gives now and
then a happy, sleepy song. Not all mock-
ingbirds are mockers; some sing their own
song, which is rich and beautiful; while
others learn, in addition, not only the

ANIMALS

L. A. Fuertes

The mockingbird

songs of other birds, but their call notes as
well. One authority noted a mocker which
imitated the songs of twenty species of
birds during a ten-minute performance.
When singing, the mocker shows his re-
lationship to the brown thrasher by lift-
ing the head and depressing and jerking
the tail. A good mocker will learn a tune,
or parts of it, if it is whistled often enough
in his hearing; he will also imitate other
sounds and will often improve on a song
he has learned from another bird by intro-
ducing frills of his own; when learning
a song, he sits silent and listens intently,
but will not try to sing it until it is learned.
Although the mockingbirds live in wild
places, they prefer the haunts of men, tak-
ing up their home sites in gardens and
cultivated grounds. Their flight is rarely
higher than the tree tops and is decidedly
jerky in character with much twitching of
the long tail. For nesting sites, they choose
thickets or the lower branches of trees, be-
ing especially fond of orange trees; the
nest is usually from four to twenty feet
from the ground. The foundation of the
nest is made of sticks, grasses, and weed
stalks interlaced and crisscrossed; on these
is built the nest of softer materials, such
as rootlets, horsehair, cotton, or in fact

anything suitable which is at hand. The
nest is often in plain sight, since the
mocker trusts to his strength as a fighter
to protect it. He will attack cats with great
ferocity and vanquish them; he will often
kill snakes; good-sized black snakes have
been known to end thus; he will also drive
away birds much larger than himself. In
making his attack, the mocker hovers
above his enemy and strikes it at the back
of the head or neck.

The female lays from four to six pale
greenish or bluish eggs blotched with
brown which hatch in about two weeks;
then comes a period of hard work for the
parents, as both are indefatigable in catch-
ing insects to feed the young. The mocker,
by the way, is an amusing sight as he
chases a beetle on the ground, lifting his
wings in a pugnacious fashion. The mock-
ers often raise three broods a season; the
young birds have spotted breasts, showing
their relationship to the thrasher.

As a wooer, the mocker is a bird of
much ceremony and dances into his lady's
graces. Mrs. F. W. Rowe, in describing
this, says that the birds stand facing each
other with heads and tails erect and wings
drooping; " then the dance would begin,
and this consisted of the two hopping
sideways in the same direction and in
rather a straight line a few inches at a

* : '''''" " ' / "I ' >'S^*"N|jS'

A. A. Allen

A mockingbird on her nest in a thicket

BIRDS

time, always keeping directly opposite
each other and about the same distance
apart. They would chassez this way four
or five feet, then go back over the same
line in the same manner/ 7 Mrs. Rowe
also observed that the male mockers have
hunting preserves of their own, not allow-
ing any other males of their species in
these precincts. The boundary was sus-
tained by tactics of both offense and
defense; but certain other species of
birds were allowed to trespass without
reproof.

Maurice Thompson describes in a de-
lightful manner the " mounting " and
" dropping " songs of the mocker which
occur during the wooing season. The
singer flits up from branch to branch of
a tree, singing as he goes, and finally on
the topmost bough gives his song of tri-
umph to the world; then, reversing the
process, he falls backward from spray to
spray, as if drunk with the ecstasy of his
own song, which is an exquisitely soft
" gurgling series of notes, liquid and sweet,
that seem to express utter rapture."

The mockingbirds have the same colors
in both sexes; the head is black, the back
is ashy-gray; the tail and wings are so
dark brown that they look black; the tail
is very long and has the outer tail feathers
entirely white and the two next inner ones
are white for more than half their length;
the wings have a strikingly broad, white
bar, which is very noticeable when the
bird is flying. The under parts and breast
are grayish white; the beak and legs are
blackish. The food of the mockingbirds
is about half insects and half fruit. They
live largely on the berries of the red cedar,
myrtle, and holly, and we must confess are
often too much devoted to the fruits in our
orchards and gardens; but let us put down
to their credit that they do their best to
exterminate the cotton boll caterpillars
and moths, and also many other insects
injurious to crops.

The mocker is full of tricks and is dis-
tinctly a bird of humor. He will frighten
other birds by screaming like a hawk and
then seem to chuckle over the joke.

Sidney Lanier describes him well:

^f^^ii^m,,^.^ ,.._ .
%M . ;

Leonard K. Beyer

The brown thrasher, a close relative of the
mockingbird; is also an accomplished musi-
cian

Whatever birds did or dreamed, tin's bird

could say.

Then down lie shot, bounced airily along
The sward, twitched in a grasshopper,

made song
Midffight, perched, prinked, and to his

art again.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 41; also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 23
THE MOCKINGBIRD

LEADING THOUGHT The mockingbird
is the only one of our common birds that
sings regularly at night. It imitates the
songs of other birds and has also a beauti-
ful song of its own. When feeding their
nestlings, the mockers do us great service
by destroying insect pests.

METHOD Studies of this bird are best
made individually by the pupils through
watching the mockers which haunt the
houses and shrubbery. If there are mock-
ingbirds near the schoolhouse, the work
can be done in the most ideal way by keep-
ing records in the school of all the obser-
vations made by the pupils, thus bringing
out an interesting mockingbird story.

OBSERVATIONS i. Duringwhatmonths
of the year and for how many months does
the mockingbird sing in this locality?

ANIMALS

2. Does he sing only on moonlight
nights? Does he sing all night?

3. Can you distinguish the true mock-
ingbird song from the songs which he has
learned from other birds? Describe the
actions of a mocker when he is sing-
ing.

4. How many songs of other birds have
you heard a mocker give and what are
the names of these birds?

5. Have you ever taught a mocker a
tune by whistling it in his presence? If
so, tell how long it was before he learned
it and how he acted while learning.

6. Describe the flight of the mocking-
birds. Do they fly high in the air like
crows?

7. Do these birds like best to live in
wild places or about houses and gardens?

8. Where do they choose sites for their
nests? Do they make an effort to hide the
nest? If not, why?

9. Of what material is the nest made?
How is it lined? How far from the ground
is it placed?

10. What are the colors of the eggs?
How many are usually laid? Flow long be-
fore they hatch?

11. Give instances of the parents' de-
votion to the young birds.

12. Have you seen two mockingbirds
dancing before each other just before the
nesting season?

13. In the spring have you heard a
mocker sing while mounting from the
lower to the upper branches of a tree and
then after pouring forth his best song fall
backward with a sweet, gurgling song as
if intoxicated with his music?

14. How many broods does a pair of
mockers raise during one season? How
does the color of the breast of the young
differ from that of the parent?

15. How does the father bird protect

the nestlings from other birds, cats, and
snakes?

16. Does the mocker select certain
places for his own hunting grounds and
drive off other mockers which trespass?

17. Describe the colors of the mocking-
bird as follows: beak, head, back, tail,
wings, throat, breast, under parts and feet.

18. What is the natural food of the
mockingbirds and how do they benefit the
farmer? How does the mocker act when
attacking a ground beetle?

19. Have you seen mockingbirds
frighten other birds by imitating the cry
of a hawk? Have you seen them play other
tricks?

20. Tell a story which includes your
own observations on the ways of mocking-
birds which you have known.

Soft and low the song began: I scarcely
caught it as it ran

Through the melancholy trill of the plain-
tive whip-poor-will,

Through the ringdove's gentle wail, chat-
tering jay and whistling quail,

Sparrow's twitter, catbird's cry, redbird's
whistle, robin's sigh;

Blackbird, bluebird, swallow, lark, each
his native note might mark.

Oft he tried the lesson o'er, each time
louder than before;

Burst at length the finished song, loud and
clear it poured along;

All the choir in silence heard, hushed be-
fore this wondrous bird.

All transported and amazed, scarcely
breathing, long I gazed.

Now it reached the loudest swell; lower,
lower, now it fell,

Lower, lower, lower still, scarce it sounded
o'er the rill.

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE

BIRDS

THE CATBIRD

The Catbird sings a crooked song ? in minors that are flat,
And, when he can't control his voice he mews just like a cat.
Then nods his head and whisks his tail and lets it go at that.

OLIVER DAVIE

As a performer, the catbird distinctly
belongs to the vaudeville, even going so
far as to appear in slate-colored tights. His
specialties range from the most exquisite
song to the most strident of scolding
notes; his nasal " n-y-a-a-h, n-y-a-a-h " is
not so very much like the cat's mew after
all, but when addressed to the intruder
it means " get out "; and not in the whole
gamut of bird notes is there another which
so quickly inspires the listener with this
desire. I once trespassed upon the terri-
tory of a well-grown catbird family and
the squalling that ensued was ear-splitting;
as I retreated, the triumphant youngsters
followed me for a few rods with every
sign of triumph in their actions and voices;
they obviously enjoyed my apparent
fright. The catbirds have rather a pleasant
" cluck, cluck " when talking to each
other, hidden in the bushes, and they also
have a variety of other notes. The true
song of the catbird, usually given in the
early morning, is very beautiful. Mr.
Mathews thinks it is a medley gathered
from other birds, but it seems to me very
individual. However, true to his vaude-
ville training, this bird is likely to intro-
duce into the middle or at the end of his
exquisite song some phrase that suggests
his cat call. He is, without doubt, a
true mocker and will often imitate the
robin's song, and also if opportunity offers
learns to converse fluently in chicken
language. One spring morning I heard
outside my window the mellow song of
the cardinal, which is a rare visitor in
New York, but there was no mistaking the
" tor-re-do, tor-re-do." I sprang from my
bed and rushed to the window, only to
see a catbird singing the cardinal song,
and thus telling me that he had come
from the sunny South and the happy com-

panionship of these brilliant birds. Often
when the catbird is singing, he sits on the
topmost spray of some shrub lifting his
head and depressing his tail, like a brown
thrasher; and again, he sings completely
hidden in the thicket.

In appearance the catbird is tailor-
made, belonging to the same social class
as the cedar-bird and the barn swallow.

Robert Matheson

A catbird on its nest

However, it affects quiet colors, and its
well-fitting costume is all slate-gray except
the top of the head and the tail which are
black; the feathers beneath the base of
the tail are brownish. The catbird is not
so large as the robin, and is of very differ-
ent shape; it is far more slender and has
a long, emotional tail. The way the cat-
bird twitches and tilts its tail, as it hops
along the ground or alights in a bush, is
very characteristic. It is a particularly alert
and nervous bird, always on the watch for
intruders, and the first to give warning to
all other birds of their approach. It is a
good fighter in defending its nest, and
there are several observed instances where
it has fought to defend the nest of other
species of birds; and it has gone even

The catbird lays three to five eggs of a rich
greenish blue in a well constructed nest in a
dense thicket

further in its philanthropy, by feeding
their orphaned nestlings.

The catbird chooses a nesting site in a
low tree or shrub or brier, where the nest
is built usually about four feet from the
ground. The nest looks untidy, but is
strongly made of sticks, coarse grass,
weeds, bark strips, and occasionally paper;
it is lined with soft roots and is almost al-
ways well hidden in dense foliage. The
eggs are from three to five in number and
are dark greenish blue. Both parents work
hard feeding the young and for this pur-
pose destroy many insects which we can
well spare. Sixty-two per cent of the food
of the young has been found in one in-
stance to be cutworms, showing what a
splendid work the parents do in our gar-
dens. In fact, during a large part of the
summer, while these birds are rearing their
two broods, they benefit us greatly by de-
stroying the insect pests; and although
later they may attack our fruits and ber-
ries, it almost seems as if they had earned
the right to their share. If we only had
the wisdom to plant along the fences some
elderberries or Russian mulberries, the cat-
birds as well as the robins would feed
upon them instead of the cultivated fruits.

ANIMALS

The catbirds afford a striking example
for impressing upon children that each
species of birds haunts certain kinds of
places. The catbirds are not often found
in deep woods or in open fields, but usu-
ally near low thickets along streams, and
in shrubbery along fences, in tangles of
vines, and especially do they like to build
about our gardens, if we protect them.
They are very fond of bathing, and if
fresh water is given them for this purpose,
we may have opportunity to witness the
most thorough bath a bird can take. A
catbird takes a long time to bathe and
preen its feathers and indulges in most
luxurious sun baths and thus deservedly
earns the epithet of " well-groomecl "; it
is one of the most intelligent of all our
birds and soon learns " what is what," and
repays in the most surprising way the trou-
ble of careful observation.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 70; Bird-House to Let, by Mary F.
Terrel; Bird Stories from Burroughs, by
John Burroughs; also, readings on pages
28-29.

LESSON 24
THE CATBIRD

LEADING THOUGHT The catbird has
a beautiful song as well as the harsh
" miou," and can imitate other birds, al-
though not so well as the mockingbird.
It builds in low thickets and shrubbery
and during the nesting season is of great
benefit to our gardens.

METHOD First, let the pupils study
and report upon the songs, scoldings, and
other notes of this our northern mocking-
bird; then let them describe its appearance
and habits.

OBSERVATIONS i. Do you think the
squall of the catbird sounds like the mew
of a cat? When does the bird use this note
and what for? What other notes have you
heard it utter?

2. Describe as well as you can the cat-
bird's true song. Are there any harsh notes
in it? Where does he sit while singing?
Describe the actions of the catbird while
he is singing.

3. Have you ever heard the catbird imi-

BIRDS

tate the songs of other birds or other
noises?

4. Describe the catbird as follows: its
size and shape compared to the robin; the
color and shape of head, beak, wings, tail,
breast, and under parts.

5. Describe its peculiar actions and its
characteristic movements.

6. Where do catbirds build their nests?
How high from the ground? What ma-
terial is used? Is the nest compact and
carefully finished? Is it hidden?

7. What is the color of the eggs? Do
both parents care for the young?

8. What is the food of the catbird?
Why is it an advantage to us to have cat-
birds build in our gardens?

9. Do you ever find catbirds in the deep
woods or out in the open meadows?
Where do you find them?

10. Put out a pan of water where the
catbirds can use it and then watch them
make their toilets and describe the proc-
ess. Describe how the catbirds take sun
baths.

He sits on a branch of yon blossoming
bush,

This madcap cousin of robin and thrush.

And sings without ceasing the whole
morning long;

Now wild, now tender, the wayward
song

That flows from his soft, gray, fluttering
throat;

But often he stops in his sweetest note,

And, shaking a flower from the blossom-
ing bough,

Drawls out, " Mi-eu, mi-ow! "
" THE CATBIRD/' EDITH M. THOMAS

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

A family of seven young belted kingfishers that were posed for the camera

THE BELTED KINGFISHER

This patrol of our streams and lake
shores, in his cadet uniform, is indeed a
military figure as well as a militant per-
sonality. As he sits upon his chosen branch
overhanging some stream or lake shore,
his crest abristle, his keen eye fixed on the

water below, his whole bearing alert, one
must acknowledge that this fellow puts
" ginger " into his environment, and that
the spirit which animates him is very far
from the " dolce far niente " which per-
meates the ordinary fisherman. However,

ANIMALS

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

A moment between diggings. This male
belted kingfisher hesitates on the doorstep of
the nesting burrow which lie is digging. To
him, rather than to his mate, falls the task of
home-building

he does not fish for fun but for business;
his keen eye catches the gleam of a mov-
ing fin and he darts from his perch, holds
himself for a moment on steady wings
above the surface of the water, to be sure
of his quarry, and then there is a dash
and a splash and he returns to his perch
with the wriggling fish in his strong beak.
Usually he at once proceeds to beat its life
out against a branch and then to swallow
it sensibly, head first, so that the fins
will not prick his throat nor the scales
rasp it. He swallows the entire fish, trust-
ing to his internal organs to select
the nourishing part; and later he gulps
up a ball of the indigestible scales and
bones.

The kingfisher is very different in form
from an ordinary bird; he is larger than
a robin, and his head and fore parts are
much larger in proportion; this is the more
noticeable because of the long feathers

Kingfisher's foot. This shows the weak
toes; the third and fourth are joined to-
gether, which undoubtedly assists the bird in
pushing out soil when excavating

of the head which he lifts into a crest, and
because of the shortness of the tail. The
beak is very long and strong, enabling the

kingfisher to seize the fish and hold it
fast, but the legs are short and weak. The
third and fourth toes are grown together
for a part of their length; this is of use
to the bird in pushing earth from the bur-
row, when excavating. The kingfisher has
no need for running and hopping, like
the robin, and therefore does not need
the robin's strong legs and feet. His colors
are beautiful and harmonious; the upper
parts are grayish blue, the throat and collar
white, as is also the breast, which has a
bluish gray band across the upper part,
this giving the name of the Belted King-
fisher to the bird. The feathers of the
wings are tipped with white and the tail
feathers narrowly barred with white. The
under side of the body is white in the
males, while in the females it is somewhat
chestnut in color. There is a striking white
spot just in front of the eye.

The kingfisher parents builcl their nest
in a burrow which they tunnel horizon-
tally in a bank; sometimes there is a vesti-
bule of several feet before the nest is
reached, and at other times it is built
very close to the opening. Both parents are
industrious in catching fish for their nest-
lings, but the burden of this duty falls
heaviest upon the male. Many fish bones
are found in the nest, and they seem so
clean and white that they have been re-
garded as nest lining. Wonderful tales are
told of the way the English kingfishers use

Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.

A large sharply pointed bill and a good aim
behind it is all the equipment this feathered
fisherman needs to catch his food

BIRDS

fish bones to support the earth above their
nests, and tributes have been paid to their
architectural skill. But it is generally con-
ceded that the lining of fish bones in the
nests of our kingfisher is incidental, since
the food of the young is largely fish, al-
though frogs, insects, and other creatures
are often eaten with relish. It is interesting
to note the process by which the young
kingfisher gets its skill in fishing. I have
often seen one dive horizontally for a yard
or two beneath the water and come up
indignant and sputtering because the fish
had escaped. It was fully two weeks more
before this one learned to drop like a
bullet on its quarry.

The note of the kingfisher is a loud rat-
tle, not especially pleasant close at hand,
but not unmusical at a little distance. It is
a curious coincidence that it sounds very
much like the clicking of the fisherman's
reel; it is a sound that conjures visions of
shade-dappled streams and the dancing,
blue waters of tree-fringed lakes and
ponds.

There seems to be a division of fishing
ground among the kingfishers, one bird
rarely trespassing upon its neighbor's pre-
serves. Unless it be the parent pair work-
ing near each other for the nestlings, or
the nestlings still under their care, we sel-
dom see two kingfishers in the same im-
mediate locality.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 19; also, readings on pages
28-29.

LESSON 25
THE KINGFISHER

LEADING THOUGHT The kingfisher is
fitted by form of body and beak to be a
fisherman.

METHOD If the school be near a
stream or pond the following observations
may be made by the pupils; otherwise let
the boys who go fishing make a study of
the bird and report to the school.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where have you
seen the kingfisher? Have you often seen it
on a certain branch which is its favorite
perch? Is this perch near the water? What

is the advantage of this position to the
bird?

2. What does the kingfisher feed upon?
How does it obtain its food? Describe the
actions of one of these birds while fishing.

3. With what weapons does the king-
fisher secure the fish? How long is its beak
compared with the rest of its body? How
does it kill the fish? Does it swallow the
fish head or tail first? Why? Does it tear
off the scales or fins before swallowing it?
How does it get rid of these and the bones
of the fish?

4. Which is the larger, the kingfisher
or the robin? Describe the difference in
shape of the bodies of these two birds;
also in the size and shape of feet and
beaks, and explain why they are so differ-
ent in form. What is there peculiar about
the kingfisher's feet? Do you know which
two toes are grown together?

5. What are the colors of the kingfisher
in general? The colors of head, sides of
head, collar, back, tail, wings, throat,
breast, and under parts? Is there a white
spot near the eye? If so, where? Do you
know the difference in colors between the
parent birds?

6. Where is the nest built? How is it
lined?

7. What is the note of the kingfisher?
Does it give it while perching or while on
the wing? Do you ever find more than one
kingfisher on the same fishing grounds?

THE KINGFISHER

(OF ENGLAND)

For the handsome Kingfisher, go not to

the tree,

No bird of the field or the forest is he;
In the dry river rock he did never abide,
And not on the brown heath all barren

and wide.

He lives where the fresh, sparkling waters
are flowing,

Where the tall heavy Typha and Loose-
strife are growing;

By the bright little streams that all joyfully
run

Awhile in the shadow, and then in the sun.

ioo ANIMALS

He lives in a hole that is quite to his
mind,

With the green mossy Hazel roots firmly
entwined;

Where the dark Alder-bough waves grace-
fully o'er,

And the Sword-flag and Arrow-head grow
at his door.

There busily, busily, all the day long,

He seelcs for small fishes the shallows
among;

For he builds his nest of the pearly fish-
bone,

Deep, deep, in the bank, far retired, and
alone.

Then the brown Water-Rat from his bur-
row loots out,

To see what his neighbor Kingfisher's
about;

And the green Dragon-fly, flitting slowly
away,

Just pauses one moment to bid him good-
day.

O happy Kingfisher/ What care should he

know,
By the clear, pleasant streams, as he skims

to and fro,
Now lost in the shadow, now bright in the

sheen
Of the hot summer sun, glancing scarlet

and green/

MARY HOWITT

THE SCREECH OWL

Disquiet yourselves not; Tis nothing but a little, downy owl. SHELLEY

Of all the sounds to be heard at night
in the woods, the screech owl's song is
surely the most fascinating; its fascination
does not depend on music but upon the

Country Life in America

Screech owls

chills which it sends up and down the
spine of the listener, thus attacking a quite
different set of nerves than do other bird
songs. The weird wail, tremulous and long
drawn out, although so blood-curdling, is
from the standpoint of the owlet the most
beautiful music in the world; by means of
it he calls to his mate, cheering her with
the assurance of his presence in the world;
evidently she is not a nervous creature.
The screech owls are likely to sing at night
during any part of the year; nor should we
infer that when they are singing they are
not hunting, for perchance their music
frightens their victims into fatal activity.
Although the note is so unmistakable, yet
there is great variation in the songs of in-
dividuals; the great variety of quavers in
the song offers ample opportunity for the
expression of individuality. Moreover,
these owls often give themselves over to
tremulous whispering and they emphasize
excitement by snapping their beaks in an
alarming manner.

Any bird that is flying about and singing
in the night time must be able to see
where it is going, and the owls have spe-
cial adaptations for this. The eyes are

BIRDS

101

very large and the yellow iris opens and
closes about the pupil in a way quite simi-
lar to the arrangement in the cat's eye,
except that the pupil in the owl's eye is
round when contracted instead of elon-
gated; in the night this pupil is expanded
until it covers most of the eye. The owl
does not need to see behind and at the
sides, since it does not belong to the birds
which are the victims of other birds and
animals of prey. The owl is a bird that
hunts instead of being hunted, and it
needs only to focus its eyes on the creature
it is chasing. Thus, its eyes are in the front
of the head like our own; but it can see
behind, in case of need, for the head turns
upon the neck as if it were fitted on a ball-
bearing joint. I have often amused my-
self by walking around a captive screech
owl, which would follow me with its eyes
by turning the head until it almost made
the circle; then the head would twist back
with such lightning rapidity that I could
hardly detect the movement. It seemed
almost as if the head were on a pivot and
could be moved around and around in-
definitely. Although the owl, like the cat,
has eyes fitted for night hunting, it can
also see fairly well during the daytime.

A beak with the upper mandible end-
ing in a sharp hook signifies that its owner
lives upon other animals and needs to
rend and tear flesh. The owl's beak thus
formed is somewhat buried in the feathers
of the face, which gives it a striking resem-
blance to a Roman nose. This, with the
great, staring, round eyes, bestows upon
the owl an appearance of great wisdom.
But it is not the beak which the owl uses
for a weapon of attack; its strong feet and
sharp, curved claws are its weapons for
striking the enemy and also for grappling
with its prey. The outer toe can be moved
back at will, so that in grasping its prey
or its perch, two toes may be directed for-
ward and two backward, thus giving a
stronger hold.

The ear is very different in form from
the ear of other birds; instead of being a
mere hole opening into the internal ear, it
consists of a fold of skin forming a chan-
nel which extends from above the eye

S. A. Grimes

A barn or monkey -faced owl

around to the side of the throat. Thus
equipped, while hunting in the dark the
owl is able to hear any least rustle of
mouse or bird and to know in which direc-
tion to descend upon it. There has been
no relation established between the ear
tufts of the screech owl and its ears, so far
as I know, but the way the bird lifts the
tufts when it is alert always suggests that
this movement in some way opens up the
ear.

In color there are two phases among the
screech owls, one reddish brown, the other
gray. The back is streaked with black,
the breast is marked with many shaft-lines
of black. The whole effect of the owl's
plumage makes it resemble a branch of a
tree or a part of the bark, and thus it is
protected from prying eyes during the day-
time when it is sleeping. Its plumage is
very fluffy and its wing feathers, instead
of being stiff to the very edge, have soft
fringes which cushion the stroke upon the
air. The owl's flight is, therefore, noiseless;
and the bird is thus able to swoop down
upon its prey without giving warning of its
approach.

The screech owls are partial to old ap-
ple orchards for nesting sites. They will
often use the abandoned nest of a wood-
pecker; the eggs are almost as round as
marbles and as white as chalk; it is well
that they are laid within a dark hole, for
otherwise their color would attract the

1O2

ANIMALS

S. A. Grimes

The great horned owl

eyes of enemies. There are usually four
eggs; the fubsy little owlets climb out of
their home cave by the end of May and
are the funniest little creatures imagina-
ble. They make interesting but decidedly
snappy pets; they can be fed on insects
and raw beef. It is most interesting to see
one wake up late in the afternoon after its
daytime sleep. All day it has sat motion-
less upon its perch with its toes completely
covered with its fluffy feather skirt. Sud-
denly its eyes open, the round pupils en-
larging or contracting with great rapidity
as if adjusting themselves to the amount
of light. When the owl winks it is like a
moon in eclipse, so large are the eyes, and
so entirely are they obscured by the lids,
which seem like circular curtains. When
it yawns, its wide bill absurdly resembles
a human mouth, and the yawn is very hu-
man in its expression. It then stretches its
wings; it is astonishing how far this wing
can be extended below the feet. It then
begins its toilet. It dresses its feathers with
its short beak, nibbling industriously in
the fluff; it scratches its under parts and
breast with its bill, then cleans the bill
with its foot, meanwhile moving the head
up and down as if in an attempt to see its
surroundings better.

The owls are loyal lovers and are said
to remain mated through life, the twain
being very devoted to their nests and nest-
lings. Sometimes the two wise-looking lit-
tle parents sit together on the eggs, a most
happy way to pass the wearisome incuba-
tion period.

The screech owls winter in the north

and are distinctly foresighted in pre-
paring for winter. They have often been
observed catching mice, during the late
fall, and placing them in some hollow tree
for cold storage, whence they may be taken
in time of need. Their food consists to
some extent of insects, especially night-
flying moths and beetles, and also cater-
pillars and grasshoppers. However, the
larger part of their food is mice; some-
times small birds are caught, and the Eng-
lish sparrow is a frequent victim. Chickens
are rarely taken, except when small, since
this owlet is not as long as a robin. It swal-
lows its quarry as whole as possible, trust-
ing to its inner organs to do the sifting and
selecting. Later it throws up pellets of the
indigestible bones, hair, etc. By the study
of these pellets, found under owl roosts,
the scientists have been able to determine
the natural food of the bird, and they all
unite in assuring us that the screech owl
does the farmer much more good than
harm, since it feeds so largely upon crea-
tures which destroy his crops.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 11; Bird Stories, by Edith M.
Patch; Bird Stories from Burroughs, by
John Burroughs; Birds in the Wilderness,
by George M. Sutton; Mother Nature
Series, by Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor
Troxell, Book 3, In Field and Forest; Our
Backdoor Neighbors, by Frank C. Pellett;
The Pet Boole, by Anna B. Comstock;
also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 26
THE SCREECH OWL

LEADING THOUGHT This owl is espe-
cially adapted to get its prey at night. It
feeds largely on field mice, grasshoppers,
caterpillars, and other injurious insects and
is therefore the friend of the farmer.

METHOD This lesson should begin
when the children first hear the cry of this
owl; and an owl in captivity is a fascinat-
ing object for the children to observe.
However, it is so important that the chil-
dren learn the habits of this owl that the
teacher is advised to hinge the lesson on

BIRDS 103

any observation whatever made by the pu- laid? What is their color? At what time of

- - - year do the little owls appear?

9. Where does the screech owl spend
the winter? What do the screech owls feed

upon? Do they chew their food? How do

pils, and illustrate it with pictures and
stories.

OBSERVATIONS i. Have you ever
heard the screech owl? At what time of

the day or night? Why was this? Why they get rid of the indigestible portion of
does the owl screech? How did you feel their food? How does this habit help sci-
when listening to the owl's song? entists to know the food of the owls?

2. Describe the owl's eyes. Are they 10. How does the screech owl work in-
adapted to see by night? What changes

take place in them to enable the owl to
see by day also? In what way are the
owl's eyes similar to the cat's? Why is it
necessary for an owl to see at night? Are
the owl's eyes placed so that they can
see at the sides like other birds? How
does it see an object at the sides or be-
hind it?

3. Note the owl's beak. For what pur-
pose is a hooked beak? How does the owl
use its beak? Why do we think that the
owl looks wise?

4. Describe the feet and claws of the
screech owl. What are such sharp hooked
claws meant for? Does an owl on a perch
always have three toes directed forward
and one backward?

5. Describe the colors of the screech
owl. Are all these owls of the same color?
How do these colors protect the bird from
its enemies?

6. How is the owl's plumage adapted to
silent flight? Why is silent flight advan-
tageous to this bird?

7. How does the owl's ear differ from
the ears of other birds? Of what special ad-
vantage is this? As the owl hunts during
the night, what does it do in the daytime?
How and by what means does it hide it-
self?

8. Where does the screech owl make its
nest? Do you know anything about the
devotion of the parent owls to each other
and to their young? How many eggs are

jury to the farmers? How does it benefit
them? Does not the benefit outweigh the
injury?

11. How many other kinds of owls do
you know? What do you know of their
habits?

TWO WISE OWLS

We are two dusJky owls, and we live in a

tree;

Loolc at her, look at me!
Look at her, she's my mate, and the

mother of three
Pretty owlets, and we
Have a warm cosy nest, just as snug as can
be.

We are both very wise; for our heads, as

you see,

(Look at her look at me/)
Are as large as the heads of four birds

ought to be;

And our horns, you'll agree.
Make us loofc wiser still, sitting here on the
tree.

And we care not how gloomy the night-
time may be;

We can see, we can see;
Through the forest to roam, it suits her, it

suits me;

And we're free, we are free
To bring back what we find, to our nest
in the tree.

ANONYMOUS

ANIMALS

S. A. Grimes

The fish hawk or osprey. This hawk builds its large nest from twenty to fifty feet above the
ground. It subsists almost entirely on fish

THE HAWKS

Above the tumult of the canon lifted, the gray hawk breathless hung,

Or on the hill a winged shadow drifted where furze and thornbush clung.

BRET HARTE

It is the teacher's duty and privilege to
try to revolutionize some popular miscon-
ceptions about birds, and two birds, in
great need in this respect, are the so-called
hen hawks. They are most unjustly
treated, largely because most farmers con-
sider that a " hawk is a hawk/' and should
always be shot to save the poultry, al-
though there is as much difference in the
habits of hawks as there is in those of men.
The so-called hen hawks are the red-shoul-
dered and the red-tailed species, the latter
being somewhat the larger and rarer of
the two. Both are very large birds. The
red-shouldered has cinnamon brown
epaulets; the tail is blackish, crossed by five
or six narrow white bars, and the wing
feathers are also barred. The red-tailed

species has dark brown wings; the feathers
are not barred, and it is distinguished by
its tail which is brilliant cinnamon color
with a black bar across it near the end; it
is silvery white beneath. When the hawk
is soaring, its tail shows reddish as it wheels
in the air. Both birds are brown above and
whitish below, streaked with brown.

The flight of these hawks is similar and
is very beautiful; it consists of soaring on
outstretched wings in wide circles high in
the air, and is the ideal of graceful aerial
motion. In rising, the bird faces the wind
and drops a little in the circle as its back
turns to the leeward, and thus it climbs
an invisible winding stair until it is a mere
speck in the sky. When the bird wishes to
drop, it lifts and holds its wings above its

BIRDS

back, and comes down like a lump of lead,
only to catch itself whenever it chooses to
begin again to climb the invisible spiral.
And all this is done without fatigue, for
these birds have been observed to soar
thus for hours together without coming
to earth. When thus soaring the two spe-
cies may be distinguished from each other
by their cries; the red-tailed gives a high
sputtering scream, which Chapman likens
to the sound of escaping steam; while the
red-shouldered calls in a high not unmusi-
cal note " kee-you, kee-you " or " tee-ur,
tee-ur."

The popular fallacy for the teacher to
correct about these birds is that they are
enemies of the farmers. Not until a hawk
has actually been seen to catch chick-
ens should it be shot, for very few of them
are guilty of this sin. Sixty-six per cent of
the food of the red-tailed species consists
of injurious animals, i.e., mice and go-
phers, etc., and only seven per cent con-
sists of poultry; the victims are probably
old or disabled fowls, and fall an easy prey;
this bird much prefers mice and reptiles to
poultry. The more common red-shoul-

S. A. Grimes

The marsh hawk. This is a bird of the open
fields. It flies low in search of rodents, rep-
tiles, frogs, and insects. It may be identified
by a white spot on the rump

A. A. Allen

Red-tailed hawk

dered hawk feeds generally on mice,
snakes, frogs, fish, and is very fond of grass-
hoppers. Ninety per cent of its food con-
sists of creatures which injure our crops or
pastures and scarcely one and one-half per
cent is made up of poultry and game.
These facts have been ascertained by the
experts in the Department of Agriculture
at Washington who have examined the
stomachs of hundreds of these hawks
taken from different localities. Further-
more, Dr. Fisher states that a pair of the
red-shouldered hawks bred for successive
years within a few hundred yards of a poul-
try farm containing 800 young chickens
and 400 ducks, and the owner never saw
them attempt to catch a fowl.

However, there are certain species of
hawks which are to be feared; these are
the Cooper's hawk and the sharp-shinned
hawk, the first being very destructive to
poultry and the latter killing many wild
birds. These are both somewhat smaller
than the species we are studying. They
are both dark gray above and have very
long tails, and when flying they flap their
wings for a time and then glide a distance.
They do not soar on motionless outspread
pinions by the hour.

When hawks are seen soaring, they are
likely to be hunting for mice in the mead-
ows below them. Their eyes are remarka-
bly keen; they can see a moving creature
from a great height, and can suddenly
drop upon it like a thunderbolt out of a
clear sky. Their wonderful eyes are far-
sighted when they are circling in the sky,

BIRDS OF PREY AND SCAVENGERS

1. SPARROW HAWKS. In summer these
birds will be found from northern Canada
south to the Gulf states except in peninsular
Florida and the arid regions of the South-
west; in winter from the northern United States
to Panama. About eleven inches in length, this
pretty little hawk has readily adapted itself to
civilization and in densely populated areas
makes its nest about buildings and even in bird-
houses. The sparrow hawk should be protected
everywhere, for it is useful to man; it feeds
chiefly on mice and insects. (Photo by Doro-
thy M. Compton)

2. SNOWY OWL. One of the largest and most
handsome of owls, the snowy owl, is at home in
the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere;
it breeds as far north as land is found and as far
south as northern Quebec, Manitoba, and British
Columbia. In winter it migrates southward in
search of food if mice and lemmings become
scarce in the North. In North America the winter
range may extend as far south as the Gulf states,
in Europe as far south as France and Switzer-
land, and in Asia to northern India and Japan.
This owl is seldom seen in trees, preferring the
open country, probably because the rodents
which are its principal food are found there.
(Photo by Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.)

3. A YOUNG SCREECH OWL. The range of
these birds extends from southern Canada to
the southern United States. They breed over
most of this area. The screech owl is not quite
so long as a robin. It often nests in a small
cavity in a tree or even in a birdhouse. It is
not unusual for the owl to use the same nesting
place year after year. It feeds largely on mice,
other small mammals, insects, and small birds.
This owl is unique in that it has two color
phases; both male and female may be either gray
or reddish brown. (Photo by Dorothy M. Comp*
ton)

4. HERRING GULL. These birds are scav-
engers found along the coasts and inland
waters of the Northern Hemisphere. They
nest in colonies, usually on islands but always
near the water. The nest of seaweed, grasses,
or moss is generally built on the ground. Flocks
of herring gulls are often seen near piers and
wharves where they perform a valuable service
by feeding on garbage and refuse. It is generally
this bird that follows coastwise boats waiting
for refuse to be thrown overboard. (Photo by
Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.)

5. AN ADULT SCREECH OWL. Perched in a
tree, the screech owl is difficult to detect, for
he is easily mistaken for branches and leaves.
(Photo by A. A. Allen)

6. A BLACK VULTURE AT THE ENTRANCE
TO ITS NEST. This is a scavenger of the South.
Though it rarely breeds north of Maryland,
it is occasionally seen in some of the central
states. The value of these birds in removing
health-menacing garbage and carrion is so
great that they are protected by law and public
sentiment. They are quite numerous in the
South and are often seen in towns and cities.
The black vulture does not build a nest; the
eggs are laid in cavities in trees or rocks, in
hollow stumps, or on the ground beneath bushes.
(Photo by S.A. Grimes')

7. AUDUBON'S CAR AC ABA. This bird's usual
range is from Lower California, Arizona, Texas,
and southern Florida southward to Ecuador;
it has been reported as an accidental visitor as
far north as Ontario. The nest is a bulky struc-
ture of sticks, branches, roots, grass, and leaveSj
usually placed in trees or on bushes or ledges.
Caracaras are often seen in the company of
vultures, feeding on carrion, and they also
capture and eat snakes, frogs, and lizards. The
caracara's flight is direct and rapid, not at all
like that of the vulture, which sails and soars in
spirals. (Photo by S. A. Grimes)

io8

ANIMALS

Leonard K. Beyer

Nest and eggs of the marsh hawk

but as they drop, the focus of the eyes
changes automatically with great rapid-
ity, so that by the time they reach the
earth they are nearsighted, a feat quite
impossible for our eyes unless aided by
glasses or telescope.

These so-called hen hawks will often sit
motionless, for hours at a time, on some
dead branch or dead tree; they are proba-
bly watching for something eatable to stir
within the range of their keen vision.
When seizing its prey, a hawk uses its
strong feet and sharp, curved talons. All
hawks have sharp and polished claws, even
as the warrior has a keen, bright sword; the
legs are covered by a growth of feathers
extending down from above, looking like
feather trousers. The beak is hooked and
very sharp and is used for tearing apart
the flesh of the quarry. When a hawk
fights some larger animal or man, it
throws itself over upon its back and strikes
its assailant with its strong claws as well
as with its beak; but the talons are its chief
weapons.

Both species build a large, shallow nest
of coarse sticks and grass, lined with moss,
feathers, etc.; it is a rude, rough structure,
and is placed in tall trees from fifty to
sfeventy-five feet from the ground. Only
two to four eggs are laid; these are whitish,
spotted with brown. These hawks are said
to remain mated for life and are devoted

to each other and to their young. Hawks
and eagles are very similar in form and
habits, and if the eagle is a noble bird, so
is the hawk.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflets 8, 9, 10, 37, 82, 122; Bird Stories
from Burroughs, by John Burroughs; Food
Habits of Common Hawlcs, by W. L.
McAtee (U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture, Circular 370); The Hawlcs of North
America, by John B. May; Our Backdoor
Neighbors, by Frank C. Pellett; also, read-
ings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 27
THE HAWKS

LEADING THOUGHT Uninformed peo-
ple consider all hawks dangerous neigh-
bors because they are supposed to feed
exclusively on poultry. This idea is false
and we should study carefully the habits
of hawks before we shoot them. The ordi-
nary large reddish " hen hawks," which
circle high above meadows, are doing great
good to the farmer by feeding upon the
mice and other creatures which steal his
grain and girdle his trees.

METHOD Begin by observations on
the flight of one of these hawks and sup-
plement this with such observations as the
pupils are able to make, or facts which
they can discover by talking with hunters
or others, and by reading.

OBSERVATIONS i. How can you tell a

Leonard K. Beyer

Young marsh hawks

BIRDS

109

hawk, when flying, from a crow or other
large bird? Describe how it soars. Does
it move off in any direction? If so, does it
move off in circles? How often does it
make strokes with its wings? Does it rise
when it is facing the wind and fall as it
turns its back to the wind?

2. Have you seen a hawk flap its wings
many times and then soar for a time? If
so, what hawk do you think it was? How
does it differ in habits from the "hen
hawks "?

3. Have you noticed a hawk when soar-
ing drop suddenly to earth? If so, why did
it do this?

4. How does a hawk hunt? How, when
it is so high in the air that it looks like a
circling speck in the sky, can it see a mouse
in a meadow? If it is so farsighted as
this, how can it be nearsighted enough to
catch the mouse when it is close to it?
Would you not have to use field glasses
or telescope to do this?

5. When a hawk alights what sort of
place does it choose? How does it act?

6. Do hawks seize their prey with their
claws or their beaks? What sort of feet
and claws has the hawk? Describe the
beak. What do you think a beak of this
shape is meant for?

7. Why do people shoot hawks? Why
is it a mistake for people to wish to shoot
all hawks?

8. What is the food of the red-shoul-
dered hawk as shown by the bulletin of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture or by
the Audubon leaflets?

9. Where does the hawk place its nest?
Of what does it build its nest?

10. Compare the food and the nesting
habits of the red-shouldered and red-
tailed hawks?

1 1 . How devoted are the hawks to their
mates and to their young? Does a hawk,
having lost its mate, live alone ever after?

12. Describe the colors of the hen
hawks and describe how you can tell the
two species apart by the colors and mark-
ings of the tail.

13. What is the cry of the hawk? How
can you tell the two species apart by this
cry? Does the hawk give its cry only when
on the wing?

14. Why should an eagle be considered
so noble a bird and the hawk be so
scorned? What difference is there be-
tween them in habits?

Yet, ere the noon, as brass the heaven

turns,

The cruel sun smites with unerring aim,
The sight and touch of all things blinds

and burns,

And bare, hot hills seem shimmering
into flame!

On outspread wings a hawk, far poised on

high,
Quick swooping screams, and then is

heard no more:

The strident shrilling of a locust nigh
Breaks forth, and dies in silence as be-
fore.
" SUMMER DROUGHT," J. P. IRVINE

THE SWALLOWS AND THE CHIMNEY SWIFT

These friendly little birds spend their
time darting through the air on swift
wings, seeking and destroying insects
which are foes to us and to our various
crops. However, it is safe to assume that
they are not thinking of us as they skim
above our meadows and ponds, hawking
our tiny foes; for like most of us, they are
simply intent upon getting a living.
Would that we might perform this nec-
essary duty as gracefully as they!

In general, the swallows have a long,
slender, graceful body, with a long tail
which is forked or notched, except in the
case of the eave swallow. The beak is short
but wide where it joins the head; this en-
ables the bird to open its mouth wide and
gives it more scope in the matter of catch-
ing insects; the swift flight of the swallows
enables them to catch insects on the wing.
Their legs are short, the feet are weak and
fitted for perching; it would be quite im-

ANIMALS

L. A. Fuertes

Swallows and swifts

possible for a swallow to walk or hop like
a robin or blackbird.

THE EAVE OR CLIFF SWALLOWS
These swallows build under the eaves of
barns or in similar locations. In early times
they built against the sides of cliffs; but
when man came and built barns, they
chose them for their dwelling sites. The
nest is made of mud pellets and is some-
what globular in shape, with an entrance
at one side. When the nest is on the side
of a cliff or in an unprotected portion of
a barn, a covered passage is built around
the door, which gives the nest the shape
of a gourd or retort; but when protected
beneath the eaves the birds seem to think

this vestibule is unnecessary. The mud
nest is warmly lined with feathers and soft
materials, and often there are many nests
built so closely together that they touch.
The eave swallow comes north about May
i, and soon after that may be seen along
streams or other damp places gathering
mud for the nests. It seems necessary for
the bird to find clay mud in order to ren-
der the nest strong enough to support the
eggs and nestlings. The eggs are white,
blotched with reddish brown. The parents
cling to the edge of the nest when feeding

A. A. Allen

Nests of cliff swallows

Leonard K. Beyer

Barn swallow and nest

the young. Both the barn and eave swal-
lows are blue above, but the eave swallow
has the forehead cream white and the
rump of pale brick-red, and its tail is
square across the end as seen in flight. The
bam swallow has a chestnut forehead and
its outer tail feathers are long, making a
distinct fork during flight, and it is not red
upon the rump.

THE BARN SWALLOWS These birds
choose a bam where there is a hole in the
gable or where the doors are kept open all
the time. They build upon beams or raf-
ters, making a cup-shaped nest of layers of
pellets of mud, with grass between; it is
well lined with feathers. The nest is usu-
ally the shape of half of a shallow cup
which has been cut in two lengthwise, the

BIRDS

cut side being plastered against the side of
the rafter. Sometimes the nests are more
or less supported upon a beam or rafter;
the eggs are white and dotted with reddish
brown. The barn swallows, aside from
their constant twittering, have also a
pretty song. Both parents work at build-
ing the nest and feeding the young; there
are likely to be several pairs nesting in the
same building. The parents continue to
feed the young long after they have left
the nest; often a whole family may be seen
sitting on a telegraph wire or wire fence,
the parents still feeding the well-grown
youngsters. This species comes north in

This barn swallow's nest is well feathered

the latter part of April and leaves early in
September. It winters as far south as
Brazil.

The barn swallow has a distinctly tailor-
made appearance; its red-brown vest and
iridescent blue coat, with deeply forked
" coat tails " give it an elegance of style
which no other bird, not even the chic
cedar waxwing, can emulate.

THE BANK SWALLOW When we see a
sandy bank apparently shot full of holes as
by small cannon balls, we may know that
we have found a tenement of bank swal-
lows. These birds always choose the per-
pendicular banks of creeks or of railroad
cuts or of sand pits for their nesting sites;
they require a soil sufficiently soft to be
tunneled by their weak feet, and yet not
so loose as to cave in upon the nest. The
tunnel may extend from one to four feet

Leonard K. Beyer

The band of color across the breast is the dis-
tinguishing mark of the bank swallow

horizontally in the bank with just enough
diameter to admit the body of the rather
small bird. The nest is situated at the
extreme end of the tunnel and is lined
with soft feathers and grasses.

The bank swallows arrive late in April
and leave early in September. They may
be distinguished from the other species by
their grayish color above; the throat and
breast are white with a broad, brownish
band across the breast; .-the tail is slightly
forked. The rough-winged swallow, which
is similar in habits to the bank swallow,
may be distinguished from it by its gray
breast which has no dark band.

THE TREE SWALLOW This graceful
little bird builds naturally in holes in trees,
but readily accepts a box if it is provided.
It begins to build soon after it comes
north in late April, and it is well for us
to encourage the tree swallows to live near

Leonard K. Beyer

Nesting site of a colony of bank swallows

112

ANIMALS

George Fiske, Jr.

A tree swallow

our houses by building houses for them
and driving away the English sparrows.
The tree swallows live upon many insects
which annoy us and injure our gardens
and damage our orchards; they are, there-
fore, much more desirable neighbors than
the English sparrows. The tree swallows
congregate in great numbers for the south-
ern migration very early in the season.

often in early August. They are likely to
congregate in marshes, as are also the
other swallows. In color the tree swallow
has a green metallic back and head, and
a pure white breast with no band across
it; these peculiarities distinguish it from
all other species.

THE PURPLE MARTIN The martin is
a larger bird than any other swallow, be-
ing eight inches in length, while the barn
swallow does not measure quite seven.
The male is shining, steel-blue above and
below; the female is brownish above, has
a gray throat, brownish breast and is white
beneath. The martins originally nested in
hollow trees but for centuries have been
cared for by man. The Indians were wont
to put out empty gourds for them to nest
in; and as soon as America was settled by
Europeans, martin boxes were built ex-

A. A. Allen

Nest of chimney swifts

Leonard K. Beyer

Two bank swallows at the entrances to their
burrows

tensively. But when the English sparrows
came, they took possession of the boxes,
and the martins have to a large extent dis-
appeared; this is a pity since they are bene-
ficial birds, feeding upon insects which
are injurious to our farms and gardens.
They are also delightful birds to have
around, and we may possibly induce them
to come back to us by building houses
for them and driving away the sparrows.

THE CHIMNEY SWIFT

When the old-fashioned fireplaces
went out of use and were walled up, leav-
ing the great old chimneys useless, these
sociable birds took possession of them.

BIRDS

113

Here they built their nests and reared their
young, and twittered and scrambled about,
awakened all sleepers in the neighbor-
hood at earliest dawn, and in many ways
made themselves a distinct part of family
life. With the disappearance of these old
chimneys and the growing use of the
smaller chimney, the swifts have been
more or less driven from their close asso-
ciation with people; and now their nests
are often found in hay barns or other
secluded buildings, although they still
gather in chimneys when opportunity
offers.

The chimney swifts originally built
nests in hollow trees and caves; but with
the coming of civilization they took pos-
session of the chimneys disused during the
summer, and here is where we know them
best. The nests are shaped like little wall
pockets; they are made of small sticks of
nearly uniform size which are glued to-
gether and glued fast to the chimney wall
by means of the saliva secreted in the
mouth of the bird. After the nesting sea-
son, the swifts often gather in great flocks
and live together in some large chimney;
toward nightfall they may be seen cir-
cling about in great numbers and drop-
ping into the mouth of the chimney, one
by one, as if they were being poured into
a funnel. In the morning they leave in
reverse manner, each swift flying about
in widening circles as it leaves the chim-
ney. The swifts are never seen to alight
anywhere except in hollow trees or chim-
neys or similar places; their tiny feet have
sharp claws for clinging to the slightest
roughness of the upright wall; the tail
acts as a prop, each tail feather ending in
a spine which is pressed against the chim-
ney side when the bird alights, thus
enabling it to cling more firmly. In this
fashion the swifts roost, practically hung
up against a wall.

The swift has a short beak and wide
mouth which it opens broadly to engulf
insects as it darts through the air. Chim-
ney swifts have been known to travel at the
rate of no miles an hour.

This bird should never be confused
with the swallows, for when flying, its

tail seems simply a sharp point, making the
whole body cigar-shaped. This character-
istic alone distinguishes it from the long-
tailed swallows. In color it is sooty brown,
with a gray throat and breast; the wings
are long and narrow and apparently
curved. The manner of flight and appear-
ance in the air make it resemble the bat
more than it does the swallow.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflets 13, 32, 33, and 49; Bird Stories,
by Edith M. Patch (Cliff Swallow); Bird
Stories from Burroughs, by John Bur-
roughs (Chimney Swift) ; First Lessons in
Nature Study, by Edith M. Patch (Cliff
Swallow, Bank Swallow); Holiday Pond,
by Edith M. Patch (Bank Swallow); Na-
ture and Science Readers, by Edith M.
Patch and Harrison E. Howe, Book i,
Hunting (Bank Swallow), Book 2, Out-
door Visits (Bank Swallow, Tree Swal-
low), Book 3, Surprises (Tree Swallow),
Book 5, Science at Home (Cliff Swallow) ;
also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 28
THE SWALLOWS AND SWIFTS

LEADING THOUGHT The swallows are
very graceful birds and are exceedingly
swift fliers. They feed upon insects which
they catch upon the wing. There are five
native swallows which are common the
eave, or cliff, the barn, the bank, the tree
swallow, and the purple martin. The
chimney swift, although often called so,
is not a swallow; it is more nearly related
to the hummingbird than to the swallows.

METHOD The questions should be
given as an outline for observation, and
may be written on the blackboard or
placed in the field notebook. The pupils
should answer them individually and
from field observation. We s.:udy the
swifts and swallows together to teach the
pupils to distinguish them apart.

OBSERVATIONS i. What is the gen-
eral shape of the swallow? What is the
color of the forehead, throat, upper breast,
neck, rump, and tail?

2. Is the tail noticeably forked, espe-
cially during flight?

ANIMALS

Leonard K. Beyer 1

Nest of bank swallows. The bank has been
cut away so that the nest and eggs could be
photographed

3. Describe the flight of the swallow.
What are the purposes of its long, swift
flight? How are the swallow's wings fitted
for carrying the bird swiftly?

4. Describe the form of the beak of
the swallow. How does it get its food?
What is its food?

5. In what particular locations do
you see the swallows darting about?
At what time of day do they seem most
active?

6. Describe the swallow's legs and feet
and explain why they look so different
from those of the robin and blackbird.

THE EAVE OR CLIFF SWALLOW

7. Where do the eave swallows build
their nests? Of what material is the out-
side? The lining? Describe the shape of
the nest and how it is supported.

8. How early in the spring do the eave
swallows begin to make their nests?
Where and by what means do they get
the material for nest building? Are there
a number of nests usually grouped to-
gether?

9. Describe the eave swallow's egg.
Where do the parents sit when feeding
the young? What is the note of the eave
swallow?

10. What are the differences between

the barn and the eave swallow in color
and shape of tail?

THE BARN SWALLOW

11. Where does the barn swallow place
its nest? What is the shape of the nest?
Of what material is it made?

12. What is the color of the eggs? De-
scribe the feeding of the young and the
sounds made by them and their parents.
Do both parents work together to build
the nest and feed the young?

13. Is there usually more than one nest
in the same locality? When the young
swallows are large enough to leave the
nest, describe how the parents continue
to care for them.

14. Have you ever heard the barn swal-
lows sing? Describe their conversational
notes.

15. When do the barn swallows mi-
grate and where do they go during the
winter? How can you distinguish the barn
swallow from the eave swallow?

THE BANK SWALLOW

16. Where do the bank swallows build?
What sort of soil do they choose?

17. How does a bank which is tenanted
by these birds look?

18. How far do the bank swallows
tunnel into the earth? What is the di-
ameter of one of these tunnels? Do they
extend straight or do they rise or deflect?

A. A. Allen

Nest and eggs of tree swallows

BIRDS

19. With what tools is the tunnel exca-
vated? Where is the nest situated in the
tunnel and how is it lined?

115

25. Where did the martins build their
nests before America was civilized?
Where do thev like to nest now? How do

20. How can you distinguish this spe- the purple martins benefit us and how
cies from the barn and eave and tree
swallows? At what time do the bank swal-
lows leave us for migration south?

THE TREE SWALLOW

21. Where does the tree swallow make
its nest? How does its nest differ from
that of the barn ? eave, or bank swallow?
When does it begin to build?

22. How can we encourage the tree
swallow to build near our houses? Why
is the tree swallow a much more desirable
bird to have in birdhouses than the Eng-
lish sparrow?

23. Describe the peculiar migrating
habits of the tree swallow. How can you
tell this species from the barn, the eave,
and the bank swallows?

THE PURPLE MARTIN

24. Compare the purple martin with
the swallows and describe how it differs in
size and color.

can w r e induce them to come to us?

THE CHIMNEY SWIFT

26. Where do the chimney swifts
build their nests? Of what materials is the
nest made? What is its shape and how is
it supported? Where does the chimney
swift get the glue which it uses for nest
building?

27. Describe how the chimney swifts
enter their nesting place at night. Where
and how do they perch? Describe the
shape of the swift's tail and its use to the
bird when roosting.

28. On what does the chimney swift
feed and how does it procure this food?
Describe how its beak is especially fitted
for this.

29. How can you distinguish the chim-
ney swift from the swallows? In what re-
spect does the chimney swift resemble the
swallows? In what respects does it differ
from them?

THE HUMMINGBIRD

Formerly it was believed that this dain-
tiest of birds found the nectar of flowers
ample support for its active life; but the
later methods of discovering what birds
eat by examining the contents of their
stomachs, show that the hummingbird is
an insect eater of most ravenous appetite.
Not only does it catch insects in mid
air, but undoubtedly takes them while
they are feasting on the nectar of the
tubular flowers which the hummingbird
loves to visit. Incidentally, the humming-
bird carries some pollen for these flowers
and may be counted as a friend in every
respect, since usually the insects in the
nectaries of those flowers with long tubu-
lar corollas are stealing nectar without
giving in return any compensation to the
flower by carrying its pollen. Such insects
may be the smaller beetles, ants, and flies.

The adaptations of the hummingbird's
beak and long, double-tubed tongue, are
especially for securing this mingled diet
of insects and nectar. It is interesting to
note that the young hummingbirds have
the beak much shorter than the mature
birds. The hummingbird's beak is exactly
fitted to probe those flowers where the
bird finds its food. The tongue has the
outer edges curved over, making a tube on
each side. These tubes are provided with
minute brushes at the tips and thus are
fitted both for sucking nectar and for
sweeping up the insects.

The natural home of the hummingbird
seems to have been in the American trop-
ics. The male of our one species east of
the Rocky Mountains has a ruby throat.
This bird comes to us after a very long
journey each year. One species on the Pa-

ANIMALS

The nest of the hummingbird is a
most exquisite structure; it is about three-
fourths of an inch in diameter on the in-
side and about half an inch deep. It is,
in shape, a symmetrical cup; the outside
is covered with lichens, so that it exactly
resembles the branch on which it rests;
the inside is lined with the down of plant
seeds and plant fibers. The lichens are
often fastened to the outside with the

A. A. Allen

Ruby -throated hummingbird turning her
eggs

cific Coast is known to travel three thou-
sand miles to the north for the summer
and back again in winter.

Hummingbirds are not supposed to
sing, but to use their voices for squeak-
ing when angry or frightened. However, I
once had the privilege of listening to a
true song by a hummingbird on the Pacific
Coast. The midget was perched upon a
twig and lifted up his voice with every
appearance of ecstasy in pouring forth his
lay. To my uncultured ear this song was
a fine, shrill, erratic succession of squeaks,
" as fine as a cambric needle/' said my
companion.

General Biological Supply House, Chicago

Two young hummingbirds. They remain in
nest for about three weeks

General Biological Supply House, Chicago

Not much larger than a walnut, the hum-
mingbird's nest looks like a knot on a branch

silk web of spiders or caterpillars. The nest
is usually saddled on a branch of a tree
from ten to fifty feet above the ground.
The eggs are two in number and white;
they look like tiny beans. The young are
black and look, at first glance, more like
insects than like birds.

SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 56; Mother Nature Series,
by Fannie W. Dunn and Eleanor Troxell,
Book 3, In Field and Forest; Nature and
Science Readers, by Edith M. Patch and
Harrison E. Howe, Book i, Hunting,
Book 5, Science at Home; also, readings
on pages 28-29.

LESSON 29
THE HUMMINGBIRD

LEADING THOUGHT The humming-
bird in flight moves its wings so rapidly
that we cannot see them. It can hold itself
poised above flowers while it thrusts its
long beak into them for nectar and in-
sects.

METHOD Give the questions to the

BIRDS

pupils and let them make the observations
when they have the opportunity.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where did you
find the hummingbird? What flowers was
it visiting? At what time of day? Can you
tell whether it is a hummingbird or a
hawkmoth which is visiting the flowers?
At what time of day do the hawkmoths
appear?

2. Did you ever see the hummingbird
come to rest? Describe its actions while
resting.

117

3. What are the colors of the back,
throat, breast, and under parts? How do
you distinguish the mother hummingbird
from her mate?

4. How does the hummingbird act
when extracting the nectar? How does it
balance itself in front of a flower? Have
you ever seen hummingbirds catch insects
in the air? If so, describe how they did it.

5. Describe the hummingbird's nest.
How large is it in diameter? What is the
covering outside? With what is it lined?

THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

The blackbirds are among our earliest
visitors in the spring; they come in flocks
and beset our leafless trees like punctua-
tion marks, meanwhile squeaking like mu-
sical wheelbarrows. What they are, where
they come from, where they are going and
what they are going to do, are the ques-
tions that naturally arise at the sight of
these sable flocks. It is not easy to distin-
guish grackles, cowbirds, and rusty black-
birds at a glance, but the redwing pro-
claims his identity from afar. The bright
red epaulets, margined behind with pale
yellow, make up a uniform which catches
the admiring eye. The bird's glossy black
plumage brings into greater contrast his
bright decorations. No one who has seen
his actions can doubt that he is fully
aware of his beauty: he comes sailing
down at the end of his strong, swift flight,
and balances himself on some bending
reed; then, dropping his long tail as if
it were the crank of his music box, and
holding both wings lifted to show his scar-
let decorations, he sings his " quong-quer-
ee-ee." Little wonder that such a hand-
some, military-looking fellow should be
able now and then to win more than
his share of feminine admiration. But
even though he become an entirely suc-
cessful bigamist or even trigamist, he has
proved himself to be a good protector
of each and all of his wives and nestlings;
however, he often has but one mate.

" The redwing flutes his O-ka-lee " is

Emerson's graphic description of the
sweet song of the redwing; he also has
many other notes. He clucks to his mates
and clucks more sharply when suspicious,
and has one alarm note that is truly alarm-

Male and female red-winged blackbirds

ing. The male redwings come from the
South in March; they appear in flocks 7
often three weeks before their mates ar-
rive. The female looks as though she be-
longed to quite a different species. Al-

ANIMALS

Nest and eggs of the red-winged blackbird

though her head and back are black, the
black is decidedly rusty; it is quite im-
possible to describe her, she is so incon-
spicuously speckled with brown, black,
whitish buff, and orange. Most of us never
recognize her unless we see her with her
spouse. She probably does most of the
nest building, and her suit of salt, pepper,
and mustard renders her invisible to the
keen eyes of birds of prey. Only when she
is flying does she show her blackbird char-
acteristics her tail being long and of ob-
vious use as a steering organ; and she walks
with long, stiff strides. The redwings are
ever to be found in and about swamps
and marshes. The nest is usually built in
May; it is made of grasses and stalks of
weeds and is lined with finer grass or
reeds. It is bulky and is placed in low
bushes or among the reeds. The eggs are
pale blue, streaked and spotted with
purple or black. The young resemble the
mother in color, the males being obliged
to wait a year for their epaulets. As to
the food of the redwings here in the
North, Mr. Forbush has said:

" Although the red-wings almost invari-
ably breed in the swamp or marsh, they
have a partiality for open fields and
plowed lands; however, most of the black-
birds that nest in the smaller swamps ad-
jacent to farm lands get a large share of
their food from the farmer's fields. They
forage about the fields and meadows when
they first come north in the spring. Later,
they follow the plow, picking up grubs,
worms and caterpillars; and should there
be an outbreak of canker-worms in the or-
chard, the blackbirds will fly at least half
a mile to get canker-worms for their young.
Wilson estimated that the red-wings of
the United States would in four months
destroy sixteen thousand two hundred

A. A. Allen

The mother arrives with food for her young

million larvas. They eat the caterpillars of
the gypsy moth, the forest tent-caterpillar,
and other hairy larvae. They are among
the most destructive birds to weevils, click
beetles, and wire-worms. Grasshoppers,
ants, bugs, and flies form a portion of the
red-wing's food. They eat comparatively
little grain in Massachusetts although they
get some from newly sown fields in spring,
as well as from the autumn harvest; but
they feed very largely on the seeds of
weeds and wild rice in the fall. In the

BIRDS

119

South they join with the bobolink in
devastating the rice fields, and in the
West they are often so numerous as to
destroy the grain in the fields; but here [in
the North and East] the good they do far
outweighs the injury, and for this reason
they are protected by law."

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 25; also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 30
THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

LEADING THOUGHT The red-winged
blackbird lives in the marshes where it
builds its nest. However, it comes over
to our plowed lands and pastures and
helps the farmer by destroying many in-
sects which injure the meadows, crops,
and trees.

METHOD The observations should be
made by the pupils individually in the
field. These birds may be looked for in
flocks early in the spring, but the study
should be made in May or June when they
will be found in numbers in almost any
swamp. The questions may be given to the
pupils a few at a time or written in their
field notebooks and the answers discussed
when discovered.

OBSERVATIONS i . How can you dis-
tinguish the red-winged blackbird from
all other blackbirds? Where is the red
on his wings? Is there any other color be-
sides black on the wings? Where? What
is the color of the rest of the plumage of
this bird?

2. What is there peculiar in the flight
of the redwing? Is its tail long or short?
How does it use its tail in flight? What is

its position when the bird alights on a
reed?

3. What is the song of the redwing?
Describe the way he holds his wings and
tail when singing, balanced on a reed or
some other swamp grass. Does he show off
his epaulets when singing? What note
does he give when he is surprised or sus-
picious? When frightened?

4. When does the redwing first appear
in the spring? Does he come alone or in
flocks? Does his mate come with him?
Where do the redwings winter? In what
localities do the red-winged blackbirds
live? Why do they live there? What is the
color of the mother redwing? Would you
know by her looks that she was a black-
bird? What advantage is it to the pair
that the female is so dull in color?

5. At what time do these birds nest?
Where is the nest built? Of what ma-
terial? How is it concealed? What is the
color of the eggs?

6. Do the young birds resemble in color
their father or their mother? Why is this
an advantage?

7. Is the redwing ever seen in fields
adjoining the marshes? What is he doing
there? Does he walk or hop when looking
for food? What is the food of the red-
wings? Do they ever damage grain? Do
they not protect grain more than they
damage it?

8. What great good do the redwings
do for forest trees? For orchards?

9. At what time in the summer do the
redwings disappear from the swamps?
Where do they gather in flocks? Where
is their special feeding ground on the way
south for the winter?

120

ANIMALS

The Baltimore oriole

THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE

I know his name, I know his note,

That so with rapture takes my soul;
Like flame the gold beneath his throat,

His glossy cope is black as coal.
O Oriole, it is the song

You sang me from the cottonwood,
Too young to feel that I was young,

Too glad to guess if life were good.
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS

Dangling from the slender, drooping
branches of the elm in winter, these
pocket nests look like some strange per-
sistent fruit; and, indeed, they are the
fruit of much labor on the part of the
oriole weavers, those skilled artisans of
the bird world. Sometimes the oriole
" For the summer voyage his hammock
swings " in a sapling, placing it near the
main stem and near the top; otherwise it
is almost invariably hung at the end of
branches and is rarely less than twenty
feet from the ground. The nest is pocket-
shaped, and usually about seven inches
long, and four and a half inches wide at
the largest part, which is the bottom. The

top is attached to forked twigs at the Y
so that the mouth or door will be kept
open to allow the bird to pass in and out;
when within, the weight of the bird
causes the opening to contract somewhat
and protects the inmate from prying eyes.
Often the pocket hangs free so that the
breezes may rock it, but in one case we
found a nest with the bottom stayed to
a twig by guy lines. The bottom is much
more closely woven than the upper part
for a very good reason, since the open
meshes admit air to the sitting bird. The
nest is lined with hair or other soft ma-
terial, and although this is added last, the
inside of the nest is woven first. The ori-

BIRDS

121

oles like to build the framework of twine,
and it is marvelous how they will loop this
around a twig almost as evenly knotted as
if crocheted; in and out of this net the
mother bird with her long, sharp beak
weaves bits of wood fiber, strong, fine
grass, and scraps of weeds. The favorite
lining is horsehair, which simply cushions
the bottom of the pocket. Dr". Detwiler
had a pet oriole which built her nest of
his hair, which she pulled from his head;
is it possible that orioles get their supply
of horsehair in a similar way? If we put
bright-colored twine or narrow ribbons in
convenient places, the orioles will weave
them into the nest, but the strings should
not be long lest the birds become entan-
gled. If the nest is strong the birds may
use it a second year.

That Lord Baltimore found in new
America a bird wearing his colors must
have cheered him greatly; and it is well
for us that this brilliant bird brings to our
minds kindly thoughts of that tolerant,
high-minded English nobleman. The ori-
ole's head, neck, throat, and part of the
back are black; the wings are black but the
feathers are margined with white; the tail
is black except that the ends of the outer
feathers are yellow; all the rest of the bird
is golden orange, a luminous color which
makes him seem a splash of brilliant sun-
shine. The female, although marked much
the same, has the back so dull and mot-
tled that it looks olive-brown; the rump,
breast, and under parts are yellow but by
no means showy. The advantage of these
quiet colors to the mother bird is obvious,
since it is she that makes the nest and
sits in it without attracting attention to
its location. In fact, when she is sitting,
her brilliant mate places himself far
enough away to distract the attention of
meddlers, yet near enough for her to see
the flash of his breast in the sunshine and
to hear his rich and cheering song. He
is a good spouse and brings her the ma-
terials for the nest which she weaves in,
hanging head downward from a twig and
using her long sharp beak for a shuttle.
And his glorious song is for her alone.
Some hold that no two orioles have the

C. R. Crosby

An oriole's nest, anchored to the windward

same song, and I know of two individuals
at least whose songs were sung by no other
birds: one gave a phrase from the Wald-
vogel's song in Siegfried; the other whis-
tled over and over, " Sweet birdie, hello,
hello/ 7 The orioles can chatter and scold
as well as sing.

The oriole is a brave defender of his
nest and a most devoted father, working
hard to feed his ever-hungry nestlings; we
can hear these hollow mites peeping for
more food, " Tee dee dee, tee dee dee/ 7
shrill and constant, if we stop for a mo-
ment under the nest in June. The young
birds dress in the safe colors of the mother,
the males not donning their bright plum-
age until the second year. A brilliant col-
ored fledgling would not live long in a
world where sharp eyes are in constant
quest for little birds to fill empty stom-
achs.

The food of the oriole places it among
our most beneficial birds, since it is al-
ways ready to cope with the hairy cater-
pillars avoided by most birds; it has learned
to abstract the caterpillar from his spines
and is thus able to swallow him minus his

122

ANIMALS

Young orioles just out of the nest

" whiskers/' The orioles are waging a great
war against the terrible brown-tail and
gypsy moths; they also eat click beetles
and many other noxious insects. Once
when we were breeding big caterpillars in
the Cornell University Insectary, an oriole
came in through the open windows of

Leonard K. Beyer

An orchard oriole

the greenhouse, and thinking he had
found a bonanza proceeded to work it,
carrying off our precious crawlers before
we discovered what was happening.

The orioles winter in Central America
and give us scarcely four months of their

company. They do not usually appear be-
fore May and leave in early September.
SUGGESTED READING American Bird
Biographies, by A. A. Allen; Audubon
Bird Leaflet 26; Bird-House to Let, by
Mary F. Terrel; Bird Stories from Bur-
roughs, by John Burroughs; Nature and
Science Readers, by Edith M. Patch and
Harrison E. Howe, Book 2, Outdoor
Visits; Pathways in Science, by Gerald S.
Craig and Co-authors, Book 3, Our Wide,
Wide World; also, readings on pages 28-
29.

LESSON 31
THE ORIOLE

LEADING THOUGHT The oriole is the
most skillful of all our bird architects.
It is also one of our prized song birds
and is very beneficial to the farmer and the
fruit grower because of the insect pests
which it destroys.

METHOD Begin during winter or
early spring with a study of the nest, which
may be obtained from the elms of the
roadsides. During the first week in May,
give the questions concerning the birds
and their habits. Let the pupils keep the
questions in their notebooks and answer
them when they have opportunity. The

BIRDS

123

observations should be summed up once
a week.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where did you
find the nest? On what species of tree?
Was it near the trunk of the tree or the
tip of the branch?

2. What is the shape of the nest? How
long is it? How wide? Is the opening as
large as the bottom of the nest? How is
it hung to the twigs so that the opening
remains open and does not pull together
with the weight of the bird at the bottom?
Is the bottom of the nest stayed to a
twig or does it hang loose?

3. With what material and how is the
nest fastened to the branches? Of what
material is the outside made? How is it
woven together? Is it more loosely woven
at the top than at the bottom? How many
kinds of material can you find in the out-
side of the nest?

4. With what is the nest lined? How
far up is it lined? With what tool was the
nest woven? If you put out bright-colored
bits of ribbon and string do you think
the orioles will use them? Why should
you not put out long strings?

5. At what date did you first see the
Baltimore oriole? Why is it called the
Baltimore oriole? How many other names
has it? Describe in the following way the
colors of the male oriole: top of head,
back, wings, tail, throat, breast, under
parts. What are the colors of his mate?
How would it endanger the nest and nest-
lings if the mother bird were as bright
colored as the father bird?

6. Which weaves the nest, the father
or the mother bird? Does the former as-
sist in any way in nest building?

7. Where does the father bird stay and

what does he do while the mother bird
is sitting on the eggs?

8. What is the oriole's song? Has he
more than one song? What other notes
has he? After the young birds hatch, does
the father bird help take care of them?

9. By the middle of June the young
birds are usually hatched; if you know
where an oriole nest is hung, listen and
describe the call of the nestlings for food.

10. Which parent do the young birds
resemble in their colors? Why is this a
benefit?

11. What is the oriole's food? How is
the oriole of benefit to us in ways in which
other birds are not?

12. Do the orioles use the same nest
two years in succession? How long does
the oriole stay in the North? Where does
it spend its winters?

Hush/ 'tis he/

My oriole, my glance of summer fire,
Is come at last, and, ever on the watch,
Twitches the packthread I had lightly

wound

About the bough to help his house-
keeping,
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his

luck,

Yet fearing me who laid it in his way,
Nor, more than wiser we in our affairs,
Divines the Providence that hides and

helps.
Heave, ho! Heave, ho/ he whistles as the

twine
Slackens its hold; once more, now/ and a

flash

Lightens across the sunlight to the elm
Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt.

" UNDER THE WILLOWS/' LOWELL

ANIMALS

THE CROW

Thoreau says: " What a perfectly New
England sound is this voice of the crow!
If you stand still anywhere in the out-
skirts of the town and listen, this is per-
haps the sound which you will be most
sure to hear, rising above all sounds of
human industry and leading your thoughts
to some far-away bay in the woods. The
bird sees the white man come and the
Indian withdraw, but it withdraws not.
Its untamed voice is still heard above the
tinkling of the forge. It sees a race pass
away, but it passes not away. It remains
to remind us of aboriginal nature/ 7

The crow is probably the most intelli-
gent of all our native birds. It is quick to
learn and clever in action, as many a
farmer will testify who has tried to keep
it out of corn fields with various devices,
the harmless character of which the crow
soon understood perfectly. Of all our
birds, this one has the longest list of vir-
tues and of sins, as judged from our stand-
point; but we should listen to both sides
of the case before we pass judgment. I
find with crows, as with people, that I like

some more than I do others. I do not like
at all the cunning old crow which steals
the suet I put on the trees in winter for
the chickadees and nuthatches; and I have
hired a boy with a shotgun to protect the
eggs and nestlings of the robins and other
birds in my neighborhood from the rav-
ages of one or two cruel old crows that
have developed the nest-hunting habit.
On the other hand, I became a sincere
admirer of a crow flock which worked in
a field close to my country home, and I
have been the chosen friend of several
tame crows who were even more inter-
esting than they were mischievous.

The crow is larger than any other of
our common black birds; the northern
raven is still larger, but is very rarely seen.
Although the crow's feathers are black,
yet in the sunlight a beautiful purple iri-
descence plays over the plumage, espe-
cially about the neck and back; it has a
compact but not ungraceful body, and
long, powerful wings; its tail is medium
sized and is not notched at the end; its
feet are long and strong; the track shows

BIRDS

three toes directed forward and one long
one directed backward. The crow does
not sail through the air as does the hawk,
but progresses with an almost constant
flapping of the wings. Its beak is very
strong and is used for tearing the flesh
of its prey and for defense, and in fact
for almost anything that a beak could be
used for; its eye is all black and is very
keen and intelligent. When hunting for
food in the field, it usually walks, but
sometimes hops. The raven and the fish
crows are the nearest relatives of the
American crow, and next to them the jays.
We should hardly think that the blue jay
and the crow were related to look at them,
but when we come to study their habits,
much is to be found in common.

The crow's nest is usually very large; it
is made of sticks, of grape vines and bark,
sod, horsehair, moss, and grasses. It is
placed in trees or in tall bushes rarely less
than twenty feet from the ground. The
eggs are pale bluish green or nearly white
with brownish markings. The young crows
hatch in April or May. Both parents are
devoted in the care of the young, and
remain with them during most of the
summer. I have often seen a mother crow
feeding her young ones which were fol-
lowing her with obstreperous caws, al-
though they were as large as she.

While the note of the crow is harsh

Herbert E. Gray

A crow's nest and eggs

Young crows are a noisy lot

when close at hand, it has a musical qual-
ity in the distance. Mr. Mathews says:
" The crow when he sings is nothing short
of a clown; he ruffles his feathers, stretches
his neck, like a cat with a fish bone in
her throat, and with a most tremen-
dous effort delivers a series of hen-like
squawks." But aside from his caw, the
crow has some very seductive soft notes.
I have held long conversations with two
pet crows, talking with them in a high,
soft tone, and finding that they answered
readily in a like tone in a most responsive
way. I have also heard these same tones
among the wild crows when they were
talking together; one note is a guttural
tremolo, most grotesque.

Crows gather in flocks for the winter;
these flocks number from fifty to several
hundred individuals, all having a common
roosting place, usually in pine or hemlock
forests or among other evergreens. They
go out from these roosts during the day
to get food, often making a journey of
many miles. During the nesting season
they scatter in pairs, and they do not
gather again in flocks until the young are
fully grown.

When crows are feeding in the fields
there is usually, if not always, a sentinel
posted on some high point so that he can
give warning of danger. This sentinel is

126

ANIMALS

Verne Morton

The story of a take-off. With the third wing
beat the crow is away

an experienced bird and is keen to detect
a dangerous from a harmless intruder. I
once made many experiments with these
sentinels; I finally became known to those
of a particular flock and I was allowed
to approach within a few yards of where
the birds were feeding, a privilege not ac-
corded to any other person in the neigh-
borhood.

The crow is a general feeder and will
eat almost any food; generally, however,
it finds its food upon the ground. The
food given to nestlings is very largely in-
sects, and many pests are thus destroyed.
The crows do harm to the farmer by pull-
ing the sprouting com and by destroying
the eggs and young of poultry. They also
do much harm by destroying the eggs and
nestlings of other birds which are bene-
ficial to the farmer; they also do some
harm by distributing the seeds of poison
ivy and other noxious plants. All these
must be set down in the account against
the crow, but on the credit side must be
placed the fact that it does a tremendous
amount of good work for the farmer by
eating injurious insects, especially the
grubs and cutworms which work in the
ground, destroying the roots of grasses

and grains. It also kills many mice and
other rodents which are destructive to
crops.

One of the best methods of preventing
crows from taking sprouting com is to
treat the seed corn with some strong-
smelling substance, such as tar.

If any of the pupils in your school have
had any experience with tame crows they
will relate interesting examples of the
love of the crow for glittering objects.
I once knew a tame crow which stole all
of the thimbles in the house and buried
them in the garden; he would watch
for a thimble to be laid aside when the
sewing was dropped, and would seize it
almost immediately. This same crow per-
sisted in taking the clothespins off the
line and burying them, so that he was
finally imprisoned on wash-clays. He was
fond of playing marbles with a little boy
of the family. The boy would shoot a
marble into a hole and then Billy, the
crow, would take a marble in his beak
and drop it into the hole. The bird seemed
to understand the game and was highly
indignant if the boy played out of turn
and made shots twice in succession.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 77; Bird Stories, by Edith M.
Patch; Bird Stories from Burroughs, by
John Burroughs; The Crow in its Relation
to Agriculture, by E. R. Kalmbach (U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bul-
letin 1102); Our Baclcdoor Neighbors, by
Frank C. Pellett; The Pet Boole, by Anna
B. Comstock; The Stir of Nature, by
William H. Carr (Cleo and Mark);
Wild Animals I Have Known, by Er-
nest Thompson Seton; also, readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 32
THE CROW

LEADING THOUGHT The crow has the
keenest intelligence of all our common
birds. It does good work for us and also
does damage. We should study its ways
before we pronounce judgment, for in
some localities it may be a true friend and
in others an enemy.

METHOD This work should begin in
winter with an effort on the part of the

BIRDS

127

boys to discover the food of the crows
while snow is on the ground. This is a
good time to study their habits and their
roosts. The nests are also often seen in
winter, although usually built in ever-
greens. The nesting season is in early
April, and the questions about the nests
should be given then. Let the other ques-
tions be given when convenient. The
flight, the notes, the sentinels, the food,
the benefit and damage may all be taken
as separate topics.

The following topics may be given to
correlate with work in English: "What
a pet crow of my acquaintance did ";
" Evidences of crow intelligence "; " A
plea a crow might make in self-defense to
the farmer who wished to shoot him ";
" The best methods of preventing crows
from stealing planted corn."

OBSERVATIONS i. How large is the
crow compared with other black birds?

2. Describe its colors when seen in the
sunlight.

3. Describe the general shape of the
crow.

4. Are its wings long and slender or
short and stout?

5. Is the tail long or short? Is it notched
or straight across the end?

6. Describe the crow's feet. Are they
large and strong or slender? How many
toes does the track show in the snow or
mud? How many are directed forward and
how many backward?

7. Describe a crow's flight compared
with that of the hawk.

8. Describe its beak and what it is used
for.

9. What is the color of the crow's eye?

10. When hunting for food does the
crow hop or walk?

11. Which are the crow's nearest rela-
tives?

12. Where and of what material do
the crows build their nests?

13. Describe the eggs. At what time of
the year do the young crows hatch? Do
both parents take care of and feed the
young? How long do the parents care for
the young after they leave the nest?

14. What are the notes of the crow? If
you have heard one give any note besides
" caw," describe it.

15. Where and how do crows live in
winter? Where do they live in summer?

16. Do they post sentinels if they are
feeding in the fields? If so, describe the ac-
tion of the sentinel on the approach of
people.

17. Upon what do the crows feed?
What is fed to the nestlings?

18. How do the crows work injury to
the farmer? How do they benefit the
farmer? Do you think they do more bene-
fit than harm to the farmer and fruit-
grower?

19. Have you known of instances of
the crow's fondness for shining or glitter-
ing articles, like pieces of crockery or tin?

THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK

There never lived a Lord Cardinal who
possessed robes of state more brilliant in
color than the plumage of this bird. By
the way, I wonder how many of us ever
think when we see the peculiar red called
cardinal, that it gained its name from the
dress of this high functionary of the
church? The cardinal grosbeak is the best
name for the redbird because that de-
scribes it exactly, both as to its color and
its chief characteristic, since its beak is
thick and large; the beak is also red, which
is a rare color in beaks, and in order to

make its redness more emphatic it is set
in a frame of black feathers. The use of
such a large beak is unmistakable, for it
is strong enough to crush the hardest of
seed shells or to crack the hardest and dri-
est of grains.

What cheer/ What cheer!

That is the grosbeak's way,

With his sooty face and his coat of red

sings Maurice Thompson. Besides the
name given above, this bird has been

128

ANIMALS

After Audubon Leaflet 18

The cardinal grosbeak

called in different localities the redbird,
Virginia redbird, crested redbird, winter
redbird, Virginia nightingale, the red
corn-cracker; but it remained for James
Lane Allen to give it another name in his
masterpiece, The Kentucky Cardinal.

The cardinal is a trifle smaller than the
robin and is by no means slim and grace-
ful, like the catbird or the scarlet tanager,
but is quite stout and is a veritable chunk
of brilliant color and bird dignity. The
only bird that rivals him in redness is the
scarlet tanager, which has black wings; the
summer tanager is also a red bird, but is
not so vermilion and is more slender and
lacks the crest. The cardinal surely finds
his crest useful in expressing his emotions;
when all is serene, it lies back flat on the
head, but with any excitement, whether
of joy or surprise or anger, it lifts until it
is as peaked as an old-fashioned nightcap.
The cardinal's mate is of quiet color; her
back is greenish gray and her breast buffy,
while her crest, wings, and tail reflect in
faint ways the brilliancy of his costume.

The redbird's song is a stirring succes-
sion of syllables uttered in a rich, ringing
tone, and may be translated in a variety of
ways. I have heard him sing a thousand
times " tor-re'-do, tor-re'-do, tor-re'-do/'
but Dr. Dawson has heard him sing " che'-

pew, che'-pew, we'-woo, we'-woo ";
" bird-ie, bird-ie, bird-ie; tschew, tschew,
tschew "; and " chit-e-kew, chit-e-kew; he-
weet, he-weet." His mate breaks the cus-
tom of other birds of her sex and sings a
sweet song, somewhat softer than his.
Both birds utter a sharp note " tsip, tsip."
The nest is built in bushes, vines, or low
trees, often in holly, laurel, or other low
evergreens, and is rarely more than six or
eight feet above the ground. It is made of
twigs, weed stems, tendrils, the bark of the
grapevine, and coarse grass; it is lined with
fine grass and rootlets; it is rather loosely
constructed but firm and is well hidden,
for it causes these birds great anguish to
have their nest discovered. Three or four
eggs are laid, which are bluish white or
grayish, dully marked with brown. The
father cardinal is an exemplary husband
and father; he cares for and feeds his mate
tenderly and sings to her gloriously while
she is sitting; and he works hard catching
insects for the nestlings. He is also a brave
defender of his nest and will attack any
intruder, however large, with undaunted
courage. The fledglings have the dull color
of the mother and have dark-colored bills.
Until the young birds are able to take care
of themselves, their dull color somewhat
protects them from the keen eyes of their
enemies. If the male fledglings were the
color of their father, probably not one
would escape a tragic death. While the
mother bird is hatching the second

Leonard K. Beyer

The cardinal builds its nest in thick bushes or
vines

BIRDS

brood, the father keeps the first brood
with him and cares for them; often
the whole family remains together during
the winter, making a small flock. How-
ever, the flocking habit is not characteris-
tic of these birds, and we only see them in
considerable numbers when the exigencies
of seeking food in the winter naturally
bring them together.

The cardinals are fond of the shrubbery
and thickets of river bottoms near grain
fields, or where there is plenty of wild
grass, and they only visit our premises
when driven to us by winter hunger. Their
food consists of the seeds of rank weeds,
corn, wheat, rye, oats, beetles, grasshop-
pers, flies, and to some extent, wild and
garden berries; but they never occur in
sufficient numbers to be a menace to our
crops. The cardinals may often be seen in
the cornfields after the harvest, and will
husk an overlooked ear of corn and crack
the kernels with their beaks in a most
dexterous manner. During the winter we
may coax them to our grounds by scatter-
ing corn in some place not frequented by
cats; thus, we may induce them to nest
near us, since the cardinal is not naturally
a migrant but likes to stay in one locality
summer and winter. It has been known to
come as far north as Boston and southern
New York, but it is found in greatest
numbers in our Southern states.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 18; also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 33
THE CARDINAL GROSBEAK

LEADING THOUGHT The cardinal is
the most brilliantly colored of all our
birds, and one of our most cheerful sing-
ers. We should seek to preserve it as a
beautiful ornament to our groves and
grounds.

METHOD This work must be done
by personal observation in the field. The
field notes should be discussed in school.

OBSERVATIONS i . Do you know the
cardinal? Why is it so called?

2. How many names do you know for
this bird?

Leonard "K. Beyer

The cardinal sings a beautiful song

3. Is the cardinal as large as the robin?
Is it graceful in shape?

4. Is there any color except red upon it?
If so ? where?

5. What other vividly red birds have
we and how can we distinguish them from
the cardinal?

6. Describe the cardinal's crest and how
it looks when lifted. Why do you think it
lifts it?

7. Describe its beak as to color, shape,
and size. What work is such a heavy beak
made for?

8. Is the cardinal's mate the same color
as he? Describe the color of her head,
back, wings, tail, breast,

9. Can you imitate the cardinal's song?
What words do you think he seems to
sing? Does his mate sing also? Is it usual
for mother birds to sing? What other
notes besides songs do you hear him utter?

10. Where does the cardinal usually
build its nest? How high from the
ground? Of what materials? Is it compact
or bulky? How many eggs are there and
what are their colors?

11. How does the father bird act while
his mate is brooding? How does he help
take care of the young in the nest?

12. How do the fledglings differ in color
from their father? From their mother? Of
what use to the young birds is their sober
color?

130

ANIMALS

13. What happens to the fledglings of
the first brood while the mother is hatch-
ing the eggs of the second brood?

14. In what localities do you most often
see the cardinals? Do you ever see them in
flocks?

15. What is the food of the cardinals?
What do they feed their nestlings?

16. Flow can you induce the cardinals
to build near your home?

17. What do you know about the laws
protecting birds? Why should such laws
be observed?

Along the dust-white river road.
The saucy redbird chirps and trills;
His liquid notes resound and rise
Until they meet the cloudless skies,
And echo o'er the distant hills.

NAYLOR

GEESE

To be called a goose should be con-
sidered most complimentary, for of all the
birds the goose is probably the most intel-
ligent. An observant lady who keeps geese
on her farm assures me that no animal, not
even dog or horse, has the intelligence of
the goose. She says that these birds learn
a lesson after a few repetitions, and surely

Canada geese in a field of grain

her geese were patterns of obedience.
While I was watching them one morning,
they started for the brook via the corn-
field; she called to them sharply, " No, no,
you mustn't go that way! " They stopped
and conferred; she spoke again and they
waited, looking at her as if to make up
their minds to this exercise of self-sacrifice;
but when she spoke the third time they
left the cornfield and took the other
path to the brook. She could bring her

geese into their house at any time of day
by calling to them, " Home, home! " As
soon as they heard these words, they
would start and not stop until the last one
was housed.

In ancient Greece maidens made pets of
geese; and often there was such a devotion
between the bird and the girl that when
the latter died her statue with that of the
goose was carved on her burial tablet. The
loyalty of a pet goose came under the ob-
servation of Miss Ada Georgia. A lone
gander was the special pet of a small boy
in Elmira, New York, who took sole care
of him. The bird obeyed commands like
a dog but would never let his little master
out of his sight if he could avoid it; occa-
sionally he would appear in the school
yard, where the pupils would tease him
by pretending to attack his master at the
risk of being so severely whipped with
the bird's wings that it was a test of
bravery among the boys so to challenge
him. His fidelity to his master was ex-
treme; once when the boy was ill in bed,
the bird wandered about the yard honking
disconsolately and refused to eat; he was
driven to the side of the house where his
master could look from the window and
he immediately cheered up, took his food,
and refused to leave his post beneath the
window while the illness lasted.

The goose is a stately bird whether on
land or water; its long legs give it good pro-
portions when walking, and the neck, be-
ing so much longer than that of the duck,
gives an appearance of grace and dignity.
The duck on the other hand is beautiful

BIRDS 131

only when on the water or on the wing; ciple of a propeller; but when swimming

its short legs, placed far back and far out at around in the pond she uses them at al-

the sides, make it a most ungraceful most right angles to the body. Although

walker. The beak of the goose is harder in they are such excellent oars they are also

texture and is not flat like the duck's; no efficient on land; when running, her body

wonder the bird was a favorite with the an- may waddle somewhat, but her head and

cient Greeks, for the high ridge from the neck are held aloft in stately dignity,

beak to the forehead resembles the fa- The Toulouse are our common gray

mous Grecian nose. The plumage of geese geese; the Embdens are pure white with

orange bill and bright blue eyes. The Afri-
can geese have a black head with a large
black knob on the base of the black bill;

is very beautiful and abundant and for
this reason they are profitable domestic

birds. They are picked late in summer 7

when the feathers are nearly ready to be the neck is long, snakelike, light gray, with'

molted; at this time the geese flap their a dark stripe down the back; the wings and

wings often and set showers of loose feath- tail are dark gray; there is a dewlap at the

ers flying. A stocking or a bag is slipped throat. The brown Chinese geese have

s^fm*- J-~U ^ "U.J_,J'T 1 1 _1 . i i 11 11 i f 11 it -. -

over the bird's head and she is turned
breast side up with her head firmly be-
tween the knees or under the arm of the
picker. The tips of the feathers are seized
with the fingers and come out easily; only
the breast, the under parts, and the feath-

also a black beak and a black knob at the
base of the bill. The neck is light brown
with a dull yellowish stripe down the
neck. The back is dark brown; breast,
wings, and tail are grayish brown. The
white Chinese are shaped like the brown

ers beneath the wings are plucked. Geese Chinese, but the knob and bill are orange
do not seem to suffer while being plucked and the eyes light blue,
except through the temporary inconven-

ience and ignominy of having their heads
thrust into a bag; their dignity is hurt
more than their bodies.

The wings of geese are very large and
beautiful; although our domestic geese
have lost their powers of flight to a great
extent, yet they often stretch their wings
and take little flying hops, teetering along
as if they can scarcely keep on earth; this
must surely be reminiscent of the old in-
stinct for traveling in the skies. The tail
of the goose is a half circle and is spread
when flying; although it is short, it seems
to be sufficiently long to act as a rudder.
The legs of the goose are much longer
than those of the duck; they are not set so
far back toward the rear of the body, and
therefore the goose is the much better
runner of the two. The track made by the
goose's foot is a triangle with two scallops
on one side made by the webs between the
three front toes; the hind toe is placed
high up; the foot and the unfeathered por-
tion of the leg, protected by scales, are
used as oars when the bird is swimming.
When she swims forward rapidly, her feet
extend out behind her and act on the prin-

THE HABITS OF GEESE

Geese are monogamous and are loyal
to their mates. Old-fashioned people de-
clare that they choose their mates on Saint
Valentine's Day, but this is a pretty myth;
when once mated, the pair live together
year after year until one dies; an interest-
ing instance of this is one of the traditions
in my own family. A fine pair of geese
belonging to my pioneer grandfather had
been mated for several years and had
reared handsome families; but one spring
a conceited young gander fell in love with
the old goose, and as he was young and
lusty, he whipped her legitimate lord and
master and triumphantly carried her away,
although she was manifestly disgusted
with this change in her domestic fortunes.
The old gander sulked and refused to be
comforted by the blandishments of any
young goose whatever. Later the old pair
disappeared from the farmyard and the
upstart gander was left wifeless. It was in-
ferred that the old couple had run away
with each other into the encompassing
wilderness and much sympathy was felt
for them because of this sacrifice of their

132

ANIMALS

lives for loyalty. However, this was mis-
placed sentiment, for later in the summer
the happy pair was discovered in a distant
" slashing " with a fine family of goslings,
and all were brought home in triumph.
The old gander, while not able to cope
with his rival, was still able to trounce
any of the animal marauders which ap-
proached his home and family.

The goose lines her nest with down and
the soft feathers which she plucks from her
breast. The gander is very devoted to his
goose while she is sitting; he talks to her
in gentle tones and is fierce in her defense.
The eggs are about twice as large as those
of the hen and have the ends more

A. A. Allen

A pair of Canada geese. While one broods the
eggs the other stands guard

rounded. The period of incubation is four
weeks. The goslings are beautiful little
creatures, covered with soft down, and
have large, bright eyes. The parents give
them most careful attention from the first.
One family which I studied consisted of
the parents and eighteen goslings. The
mother was a splendid African bird; she
walked with dignified step, her graceful
neck assuming serpentine curves; and she
always carried her beak "lifted/' which
gave her an appearance of majestic haugh-
tiness. The father was just a plebeian
white gander, probably of Embden de-
scent, but he was a most efficient pro-
tector. The family always formed a proces-
sion in going to the creek, the majestic
mother at .the head, the goslings following
her and the gander bringing up the rear to

be sure there were no stragglers; if a gos-
ling strayed away or fell behind, the male
went after it, pushing it back into the
family circle. When entering the coop at
night he pushed the little ones in gently
with his bill; when the goslings took their
first swim, both parents gently pushed
them into the water, " rooted them in,"
as the farmer said. Any attempt to take
liberties with the brood was met with
bristling anger and defiance on the part of
the gander; the mistress of the farm told
me that he had whipped her black and
blue when she tried to interfere with the
goslings.

The gander and goose always show sus-
picion and resentment by opening the
mouth wide and making a hissing noise,
showing the whole round tongue in
mocking defiance. When the gander at-
tacks, he thrusts his head forward, even
with or below the level of his back, seizes
his victim firmly with his hard, toothed
bill so that it cannot get away, and then
with his strong wings beats the life out of
it. I remember vividly a whipping which a
gander gave me when I was a child, hold-
ing me fast by the blouse while he laid on
the blows.

Geese feed much more largely upon
land vegetation than do ducks; a good
growth of clover and grass makes excellent
pasture for them; in the water, they feed
upon water plants but do not eat insects
and animals to any extent.

Undoubtedly goose language is varied
and expresses many things. Geese talk to
each other and call from afar; they shriek
in warning and in general make such a
turmoil that people do not enjoy it. The
goslings, even when almost grown, keep
up a constant " pee wee, pee wee," which
is nerve-racking. There is a good oppor-
tunity for some interesting investigations
in studying out just what the different
notes of the geese mean.

The goose is very particular about her
toilet; she cleans her breast and back and
beneath her wings with her bill; and she
cleans her bill with her foot; she also
cleans the top of her head with her foot
and the under side of her wing with the

foot of that side. When oiling her feath-
ers, she starts the oil gland flowing with
her beak, then rubs her head over the
gland until it is well oiled; she then uses
her head as a " dauber " to apply the oil

BIRDS 133

to the feathers of her back and breast.
When thus polishing her feathers, she
twists the head over and over and back and
forth to add to its efficiency.

The Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation, Inc.

One corner of Jack Miner's Bird Sanctuary, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, where Canada

geese find food, shelter } and protection

WILD GEESE

There is a sound, that, to the weather-
wise farmer, means cold and snow, even
though it is heard through the hazy atmos-
phere of an Indian summer day; and that
is the honking of wild geese as they pass
on their southward journey. And there is'
not a more interesting sight anywhere in
the autumn landscape than the wedge-
shaped flock of these long-necked birds
with their leader at the front apex. " The
wild goose trails his harrow/' sings the
poet; but only the aged can remember
the old-fashioned harrow which makes this
simile graphic. The honking which reveals
to us the passing flock, before our eyes can
discern the birds against the sky, is the

call of the wise old gander who is the
leader, to those following him, and their
return salute. He knows the way on this
long thousand-mile journey, and knows it
by instinct and in part by the topography
of the country. If ever fog or storm hides
the earth from his view, he is likely to be-
come confused, to the dismay of his flock,
which follows him to the earth with many
lonely and distressful cries.

The northern migration takes place in
April and May, and the southern from
October to December. The journey is
made with stops for rest and refreshment
at certain selected places, usually some se-
cluded pond or lake. The food of wild

ANIMALS

geese consists of water plants, seeds and
corn, and some of the smaller animals liv-
ing in water. Although the geese come to
rest on the water, they go to the shore to
feed. In California, the wild geese are
dreaded visitors of the cornfields, and men
with guns are employed regularly to keep
them off.

The nests are made of sticks lined with
down, usually along the shores of streams,
sometimes on tree stumps and sometimes
in deserted nests of the osprey. There are

A. R. Dugmore

Wild geese flying in even ranks

only four or five eggs laid and both parents
are devoted to the young, the gander
bravely defending his nest and family
from the attacks of any enemies.

Although there are several species of
wild geese on the Atlantic Coast, the one
called by this name is usually the Canada
goose. This bird is a superb creature,
brown above and gray beneath, with head,
neck, tail, bill, and feet of black. These
black trimmings are highly ornamental
and, as if to emphasize them, there is a
white crescent-shaped " bib " extending
from just back of the eyes underneath the
head. This white patch is very striking,
and gives one the impression of a bandage
for sore throat. It is regarded as a call-
color, and is supposed to help keep the
flock together; the side tail-coverts are also
white and may serve as another guide to
follow.

Often some wounded or wearied bird
of the migrating flock spends the winter
in farmyards with domestic geese. One
morning a neighbor of mine found that
during the night a wild gander, injured
in some way, had joined his flock. The
stranger was treated with much courtesy
by its new companions as well as by the
farmer's family and soon seemed per-
fectly at home. The next spring he mated
with one of the domestic geese. In the late
summer, my neighbor, mindful of wild
geese habits, clipped the wings of the gan-
der so that he would be unable to join any
passing flock of his wild relatives. As the
migrating season approached, the gander
became very uneasy; not only was he un-
easy and unhappy always but he insisted
that his wife share his misery of unrest.
He spent days in earnest remonstrance
with her and, lifting himself by his
cropped wings to the top of the barnyard
fence, he insisted that she keep him com-
pany on this, for webbed feet, uneasy rest-
ing place. Finally, after many days of
tribulation, the two valiantly started south
on foot. News was received of their prog-
ress for some distance and then they were
lost to us. During the winter our neighbor
visited a friend living eighteen miles to the
southward and found in his barnyard the
errant pair. They had become tired of mi-
grating by tramping and had joined the
farmer's flock; but we were never able to
determine the length of time required for
this journey.

SUGGESTED READING Audubon Bird
Leaflet 106; Birds in the Wilderness, by
George M. Sutton; Farm Animals, by
James G. Lawson; Nature and Science
Readers, by Edith M. Patch and Harrison
E. Howe, Book 2, Outdoor Visits, Book 3,
Surprises; The Pet Boot, by Anna B.
Comstock; also, readings on pages 28-29.

LESSON 34
GEESE

LEADING THOUGHT Geese are the
most intelligent of the domesticated birds,
and they have many interesting habits.

METHOD This lesson should not be

BIRDS

given unless there are geese where the
pupils may observe them. The questions
should be given a few at a time and an-
swered individually by the pupils after the
observations are made.

OBSERVATIONS i. What is the chief
difference between the appearance of a
goose and a duck? How does the beak of
the goose differ from that of the duck in
shape and in texture? Describe the nostrils
and their situation.

2. What is the difference in shape be-
tween the neck of the goose and that of
the duck?

3. What can you say about the plum-
age of geese? How are geese " picked "?
At what time of year? From what parts
of the body are the feathers plucked?

4. Are the wings of the goose large com-
pared with the body? How do geese exer-
cise their wings? Describe the tail of the
goose and how it is used.

5. How do the legs and feet of the
goose differ from those of the duck? De-
scribe the goose's foot. How many toes are
webbed? Where is the other toe? What is
the shape of the track made by the goose's
foot? Which portions of the legs are used
for oars? When the goose is swimming
forward where are her feet? When turning
around how does she use them? Does the
goose waddle when walking or running as
a duck does? Why? Does a goose toe in
when walking? Why?

6. Describe the shape and color of the
following breeds of domestic geese: The
Toulouse, the Embden, the African, and
the Chinese.

HABITS OF GEESE

1. What is the chief food of geese?
What do they find in the water to eat?
How does their food differ from that of
ducks?

2. How do geese differ from hens in the
matter of mating and nesting? At what
time of year do geese mate? Does a pair
usually remain mated for life?

3. Describe the nest and compare the
eggs with those of hens. Describe the
young goslings in general appearance.
With what are they covered? What care
do the parents give to their goslings? De-
scribe how the parents take their family
afield. How do they induce their goslings
to go into the water for the first time? How
do they protect them from enemies?

4. How does the gander or goose fight?
What are the chief weapons? How is the
head held when the attack is made?

5. How does the goose clean her feath-
ers, wings, and feet? How does she oil her
feathers? Where does she get the oil and
with what does she apply it?

6. How much of goose language do you
understand? What is the note of alarm?
How are defiance and distrust expressed?
How does a goose look when hissing?
What is the constant note which the gos-
ling makes?

7. Give such instances as you may know
illustrating the intelligence of geese, their
loyalty and bravery.

8. " The Canada Goose, its appearance,
nesting habits, and migrations," would be
an interesting topic for discussion.

GAME BIRDS

1. RING-NECKED PHEASANTS. These birds,
native to China, have been introduced into many
other parts of the world. They were first brought
to the United States in 1881 and since then have
become common in many of the states. The
cock is handsome and brightly colored, the hen
an inconspicuous brown. These pheasants are
found in fields and in hedgerows or brush-
covered areas rather than in forested sections.
They feed chiefly on the ground, eating weed
seeds, insects, ungarnered grain, and wild or
waste fruit. In winter, whenever the ground is
covered with crusted snow or ice, it is hard for
them to get food and many of them starve unless
man feeds them. Another difficulty of theirs in
winter is that their long tail feathers get loaded
with snow and ice, which keeps them from going
about after food and even from seeking shelter.
(Photo by courtesy of Country Life in America)

2. WILD TURKEY. This game bird was once
common from New England southward and
west to the Rocky Mountains. It has been
exterminated in the North, but it is still found
locally in the South and West. Because the
wild turkey thrives upon a variety of foods
and because it can adapt itself to varied con-
ditions of climate, it is again being introduced
in many sections of the country. (Photo by
L. W. Brownell)

3. NEST OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. The ruffed
grouse, a much prized game bird, is native
to the eastern and central United States. It
is a very hardy bird, being able to withstand
extreme cold, and to live on the buds and twigs
of trees when insects, berries, and seeds are
not available. In winter ruffed grouse take
shelter at night in a "pocket" of snow or be-
neath brush; in summer they usually roost in
trees. In appearance this bird is not unlike the
dusky grouse (No. 5), (Photo by Marjorie
Ruth Ross)

4. EASTERN BOB WHITE or QUAIL. Found
in the eastern United States, except penin-
sular Florida, and as far west as Colorado,
except New Mexico and southern Texas, bob-
white or quail are permanent residents. They
like open fields with brushy fence-corners or
low bushes near at hand for protection from
storm and enemies. The pretty song is often
translated bob-white or buck-wheat. The nest
is made upon the ground under a bunch of
grass or some bush, and in it are laid ten to
eighteen white eggs. The family or covey will
remain together until spring, and at night
will squat close together in a circle with tails
together and heads out ready to scatter in all
directions at the slightest indication of dan-
ger. In winter when quail are in this forma-
tion, they may be covered with snow; and
if a crust of sleet or ice which they are unable
to break should form, the entire covey may
smother or starve. (Photo by L. W. Brownell)

5. DUSKY GROUSE. A relative of the ruffed
grouse, this species is found in the Rocky
Mountain regions of the United States and
Canada. (Photo by L. W. Brownell)

6. A WOODCOCK ON ITS NEST. Except in
the Far West the woodcock is found wide-
spread over the United States. It winters in
the South. It lives largely on earthworms and
grubs for which it probes moist soft earth
with a long, sensitive bill. The courtship song-
flights of the male are unique: with a call to
his mate he rises into the air; by a series of
loops he flies higher and higher until from a
height of about two hundred feet he drops
suddenly to a place on the ground very near
where he started. The young quickly learn
to fly, but until they do they are frequently
carried from place to place by their mother
who holds them between her legs with her feet.
(Photo by Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr.)

ANIMALS

The beginning of \the strut. These gobblers are strutting before the camera, hidden ^ by brush,
in an endeavor to attract the hen turkey whose mating call the camera man is imitating

THE TURKEY

That the turkey and not the eagle
should have been chosen for our national
bird, was the conviction of Benjamin
Franklin. It is a native of our country, it
is beautiful as to plumage, and like the
American Indian, it has never yielded en-
tirely to the influences of civilization.
Through the hundreds of years of domes-
tication it still retains many of its wild
habits. In fact, it has many qualities in
common with the red man. Take for in-
stance its sun dance, which anyone who
is willing to get up early enough in the
morning and who has a flock of turkeys
at hand can witness. Miss Ada Georgia
made a pilgrimage to witness this dance
and describes it thus: "While the
dawn was still faint and gray, the long
row of birds on the ridge-pole stood up,
stretched legs and wings and flew down
into the orchard beside the barnyard and
began a curious, high-stepping, * flip-flop '
dance on the frosty grass. It consisted of

little, awkward, up-and-down jumps, var-
ied by forward springs of about a foot,
with lifted wings. Both hens and males
danced, the latter alternately strutting and
hopping and all ' singing/ the hens calling
a ' Quit, quit/ the males accompanying
with a high-keyed rattle, sounding like a
hard wood stick drawn rapidly along a
picket fence. As the sun came up and the
sky brightened, the exhibition ended sud-
denly when ' The Captain/ a great thirty
pound gobbler and leader of the flock,
made a rush at one of his younger breth-
ren who had dared to be spreading a tail
too near to his majesty/'

The bronze breed resembles most
closely our native wild turkey and is there-
fore chosen for this lesson. The colors and
markings of the plumage form the bronze
turkey's chief beauty. Reaching from the
skin of the neck halfway to the middle of
the back is a collar of glittering bronze
with greenish and purple iridescence, each

139

BIRDS

feather tipped with a narrow jet band, the four. On the inner side of the gob-
The remainder of the back is black except bier's legs, about one-third the bare space
that each feather is edged with bronze. above the foot, is a wicked-looking spur
The breast is like the collar and at its which is a most effective weapon. The
center is a tassel of black bristles called wings are large and powerful; the turkey
the beard which hangs limply downward flies well for such a large bird and usually
when the birds are feeding; but when the roosts high, choosing trees or the ridge-
gobbler stiffens his muscles to strut, this " " " * "

pole of the bam for this purpose.

In many ways the turkeys are not more
than half domesticated. They insistently
prefer to spend their nights out of doors
instead of under a roof. They are also
great wanderers and thrive best when al-
lowed to forage in the fields and woods for
a part of their food.

The gobbler is the most vainglorious
bird known to us; when he struts to show
his flock of admiring hens how beautiful
he is, he lowers his wings and spreads the

of the hen are like those of the gobbler stiff primary quills until their tips scrape
except that the bronze brilliance of breast, the ground, lifting meanwhile into a semi-

beard is thrust proudly forth. Occasionally
the hen turkeys have a beard. The long
quills, or primaries, of the wings are barred
across with bands of black and white;
the secondaries are very dark, luminous
brown, with narrower bars of white. Each
feather of the fan-shaped tail is banded
with black and brown and ends with a
black bar tipped with white; the tail-cov-
erts are lighter brown but also have the
black margin edged with white. The colors

neck, and wings is dimmed by the faint
line of white which tips each feather.

The heads of all are covered with a
warty wrinkled skin, bluish white on the
crown, grayish blue about the eyes, and
the other parts are red. Beneath the throat
is a hanging fold called the wattle, and
above the beak a fleshy pointed knob
called the caruncle, which on the gobbler
is prolonged so that it hangs over and be-
low the beak. When the bird is angry
these carunculated parts swell and grow
more vivid in color, seeming to be gorged
with blood. The color of the skin about
the head is more extensive and brilliant in
the gobblers than in the hens. The beak is
slightly curved, short, stout, and sharp-
pointed, yellowish at the tip and dark at
the base.

The eyes are bright, dark hazel with a
thin red line of iris. Just back of the eye is
the opening of the ear, seemingly a mere
hole, yet leading to a very efficient ear,
upon which every smallest sound im-
pinges.

The legs of the young turkeys are nearly
black, fading to a brownish gray when ma-
ture. The legs and feet are large and stout,
the middle toe of the three front ones be-
ing nearly twice the length of the one on
either side; the hind toe is the shortest of

circular fan his beautiful tail feathers; he
protrudes his chest, and raises the irides-
cent plumage of his neck like a ruff to
make a background against which he
throws back his red, white, and blue deco-
rated head. He moves forward with slow
and mincing steps and calls attention to
his grandeur by a series of most aggressive
" gobbles/ 7 But we must say for the gob-
bler that although he is vain he is also a
brave fighter. When beginning a fight he
advances with wings lowered and sidewise
as if guarding his body with the spread
wing. The neck and the sharp beak are
outstretched and he makes the attack
so suddenly that it is impossible to see
whether he strikes with both wing and
beak or only with the latter, as with fury
he pounces upon his adversary apparently
striving to rip his neck open with his spurs.
Turkey hens usually begin to lay in
April in this latitude (southern New
York) and much earlier in more southern
states. At nesting time each turkey hen
strays off alone, seeking the most secluded
spot she can find to lay the large, oval,
brown-speckled eggs. Silent and sly, she
slips away to the place daily, by the most
roundabout ways, and never moving in
the direction of the nest when she thinks
herself observed. Sometimes the sight of

140

any person near her nest will cause her to
desert it. The writer has spent many hours
when a child, sneaking in fence comers
and behind stumps and tree trunks, stalk-
ing turkeys' nests. Incubation takes four
weeks. The female is a most persistent sit-
ter and care should be taken to see that
she gets a good supply of food and water
at this time. Good sound corn or wheat is
the best food for her at this period. When
sitting she is very cross and will fight most
courageously when molested on her nest.

Turkey nestlings are rather large, with
long, bare legs and scrawny, thin necks;
they are very delicate during the first
six weeks of their lives. Their call is a
plaintive " peep, weep/' and when a little
turkey feels lost its cry is expressive of
great fear and misery. But if the mother
is freely ranging she does not seem to be
much affected by the needs of her brood;
she will fight savagely for them if they are
near her, but if they stray, and they usually
do, she does not seem to miss or hunt for
them, but strides serenely on her way,
keeping up a constant crooning "kr-rit,
kr-rit," to encourage them to follow. As a
consequence, the chicks are lost, or get
draggled and chilled by struggling through
wet grass and leaves that are no obstacle
to the mother's strong legs, and thus many
die. If the mother is confined in a coop
it should be so large and roomy that she
can move about without trampling on the
chicks, and it should have a dry floor, since
dampness is fatal to the little ones.

For the first week the chicks should be
fed five times a day, and for the next five
weeks they should have three meals a day.
They should be given only just about
enough to fill each little crop and none
should be left over to be trodden under
their awkward little feet. Their quarters
should be kept clean and free from vermin.

SUGGESTED READING Farm Animals,
by James G. Lawson; also, readings on
pages 28-29.

LESSON 35
TURKEYS

LEADING THOUGHT The turkey is a
native of America. It was introduced into

ANIMALS

Spain from Mexico about 1518, and since
then has been domesticated. However,
there are still in some parts of the coun-
try flocks of wild turkeys. It is a beautiful
bird and has interesting habits.

METHOD If the pupils could visit a
flock of turkeys, the lesson would be given
to a better advantage. If this is impossible,
ask the questions a few at a time and let
those pupils who have opportunities for
observing the turkeys give their answers
before the class.

OBSERVATIONS i. Of what breed are
the turkeys you are studying: Bronze,
Black, Buff, White Holland, or Narragan-
sett?

2. What is the general shape and size
of the turkey? Describe its plumage, not-
ing every color which you can see in it.
Does the plumage of the hen turkey difr
fer from that of the gobbler?

3. What is the covering of the head of
the turkey, what is its color and how far
does it extend down the neck of the bird?
Is it always the same color; if not, what
causes the change? Is the head covering
alike in shape and size on the male and
the female? What is the part called that
hangs from the front of the throat below
the beak? From above the beak?

4. What is the color of the beak? Is it
short or long, straight or curved? Where
are the nostrils situated?

5. What is the color of the turkey's
eyes? Do you think it is a keen-sighted
bird?

6. Where are the ears? Do they show
as plainly as a chicken's ears do? Are tur
keys quick of hearing?

7. Do turkeys scratch like hens? Are
they good runners? Describe the feet and
legs as to shape, size, and color. Has the
male a spur on his legs, and if so, where is
it situated? For what is it used?

8. Can turkeys fly well? Are the wings
small or comparatively large and strong
for the weight of the body? Do turkeys
prefer high or low places for perching
when they sleep? Is it well to house and
confine them in small buildings and parks
as is done with other fowls?

9. Tell, as nearly as you can discover by
close observation, how the gobbler sets

BIRDS M 1

each part of his plumage when he is scribe the turkey's egg, as well as you can,

" showing off " or strutting. "What do you as to color, shape, and size. Can one tell it

think is the bird's purpose in thus exhibit- by the taste from an ordinary hen's egg?

ing his fine feathers? Does the " king of About how many eggs does the turkey hen

the flock " permit any such action by lay in her nest before she begins to " get

other gobblers in his company? broody " and want to sit?

10. Are turkeys timid and cowardly or 13. How many days of incubation ^ are
independent and brave, ready to meet and required to hatch the turkey chick? Is it as
fight anything which they think is threat- downy and pretty as other little chicks?
ening to their comfort and safety? How often should the young chicks be fed,

11. When turkeys fight, what parts of and what food do you think is best for
their bodies seem to be used as weapons? them? Are turkey chicks as hardy as other
Does the male " gobble " during a fight, chicks?

or only as a challenge or in triumph when 14. Is the turkey hen generally a good

victorious? Do the hen turkeys ever fight, mother? Is she cross or gentle when sitting

or only the males? and when brooding her young? Is it pos-

12. How early in the spring does the sible to keep the mother turkey as closely
turkey hen begin to lay? Does she nest confined with her brood as it is with the
about the poultry yard and the bams or is mother hen? What supplies should be
she likely to seek some secret and distant given to her in the way of food, grits, dust-
spot where she may hide her eggs? De- baths, etc.?

BIRDS OF MARSH AND SHORE

1. SHOVELLER, SPOONBILL, OR BROADBILL. The
range of the shoveller extends from Alaska in
summer to Colombia, South America, in win-
ter. With its uniquely long, broad bill, this shal-
low-water 'dabbler" gathers up water and
ooze; by means of the comblike teeth with
which the bill is equipped it strains out the in-
sects and vegetable matter which are its fa-
vorite food. (Photo by L. W. Brownell)

2. THE MALLARD. The range of the mallard in
North America extends in summer south of
the Arctic circle, east to Hudson Bay, and south
to Lower California and Texas. In winter it is
found from the Aleutian Islands south to
Panama. Being a "dabbler" the mallard gen-
erally feeds in shallow water, but it is very
adaptable as to food and environment. From
the economic standpoint it is the most impor-
tant duck in the world, since it is the ancestor
of most domestic ducks, is 'widely distributed,
and produces meat of good quality. (Photo by
L. W. Brownell)

3. LESSER SCAUP DUCKS. This is one of the
most common ducks in the open waters of
rivers, larger lakes and bays, and along sea-
coasts. Its food, consisting chiefly of insects,
crustaceans, water snails, tadpoles, and aquatic
plants, it secures by diving. In the Gulf states,
the lesser scaup is often called the " raft duck "
because of the great numbers that collect into
flocks and move about on the water. These
rafts are sometimes a mile long. (Photo by
S. A. Grimes)

4. PIED-BILLED GREBE ON ITS NEST. The sum-
mer range of this grebe is from southern Canada
to the southern United States; its winter range
extends to Mexico and Cuba. It moves south
when ice forms on northern streams, and re-
turns when it breaks up in spring. Its food
consists chiefly of aquatic animals and some
water plants. To escape danger it dives rather
than flies. This grebe, like others, often carries
its young on its back, thus hiding them from
observers; the mother can even dive with the
young and when she comes again to the sur-
face keep them still concealed. (Photo by Olin
Sewall Pettingill, Jr.)

5. SPOTTED SANDPIPER APPROACHING ITS NEST.
The sandpiper (also called tip-up or tip-tail),
said to be the most widely and commonly dis-
tributed shore bird in North America, is found
in regions about both fresh and salt water. Al-
though it can swim and dive readily, its food
consists chiefly of grasshoppers, cutworms,
grubs, and pests of cultivated lands. The nest,
a hollow in the ground, may be along shores or
even in cultivated fields far from water; it is
built by the united efforts of the pair. (Photo
by L. W. Brownell)

6. CHICKS OF WILSON'S PLOVER, These newly
hatched chicks were picked up on a sandy beach

and " posed 3} in a shell. (Photo by Olin Sewall
Pettingill, Jr.)

7. WILSON'S PLOVER AT ITS NEST. (See also
No. 6.) Wilson's plover is found in the coastal
regions of southern North America and Cen~
tral America. It feeds on the tiny sea creatures
that the falling tide leaves strewn along mud
flats and sandy beaches. The nest, usually
placed above high water on a sandy beach, is
a hollowed out place in the sand. The young
and eggs blend so with the sand as to be almost
unnoticeable. In the one pictured here, note
one egg beneath the female, one in front of her,
and newly hatched chick behind her. (Photo
by S. A. Grimes)

8. KING RAIL ON ITS NEST. The range of this
bird is in the central and southern portions of
the eastern half of the United States. Its food
consists largely of insects of cultivated lands,
which it secures from the edges of swampy
areas in upla?ids. Rails are found chiefly in
grassy marshes. The legs are strong and the
wings are weak, and hence when pursued they
will run or hide, but will fly only as a last resort.
(Photo by S. A. Grimes)

9. THE COMMON TERN AT ITS NEST. Terns
live in both the Eastern and Western Hemi-
spheres.

Terns nest in colonies, usually on the open
sand of an island beach. They can be distin-
guished from gulls by their more pointed bills,
narrower wings, and by their habit of diving or
swimming to catch their food, which consists of
small fish, aquatic worms, and insects. (Photo by
S. A. Grimes)

10. AMERICAN EGRET, GREAT WHITE EGRET.
OR WHITE HERON. The summer range of this
egret is chiefly from the southern United States
south to Patagonia. In late summer it migrates
northward to Maine. Its winter range is Colo-
rado, Texas, and South Carolina southward.
The egrets and other herons are commonly
found about the shores of lakes, rivers, or bays.
They usually nest in flocks. Once in danger of
extinction, they are now under protection and
are increasing in numbers. (Photo by S. A.
Grimes)

11. AN AMERICAN BITTEGRN ON THE DEFEN-
SIVE. This inhabitant of the marshes ranges in
summer across the North American continent
from central Canada to the southern United
States. In winter it is found from the southern
United States to Panama. When approached
bitterns fall into a rigid pose which they hold
until the intruder retires or frightens them into
flight. The cry of this bird is most arresting and
unusual. It is compared to the sound of driving
a stake or the sound of a pump in action. Frogs,
snakes, small fish, mice, and insects comprise
its food. (Photo by S. A. Grimes)

FISHES

It remains yet unresolved whether the happiness of a man in this world doth con-
sist more in contemplation or action. Concerning which two opinions I shall forebear
to add a third by declaring my own, and rest myself contented in telling you that
both of these meet together, and do most properly belong to the most honest, ingen-
ious, quiet and harmless art of angling. And first I tell you what some have observed,
and I have found to be a real truth, that the very sitting by the riverside is not only the
quietest and the fittest place for contemplation, but will invite an angler to it.

ISAAK WALTON

Dear, human, old Isaak Walton discov-
ered that nature-study, fishing, and phi-
losophy were akin and as inevitably related
as the three angles of a triangle. And yet
it is surprising how little the fish have been
used as subjects for nature lessons. Every
brook and pond is a treasure to the teacher
who will find what there is in it and who
knows what may be got out of it.

Almost any of the fishes found in a
brook or pond may be kept in an aquar-
ium for a few days of observation in the
schoolroom. A large water pail or a bucket
does very well if there is no glass aquar-
ium. The water in an aquarium should
be changed whenever it becomes foul.
The practice should be established, once
for all, of putting these finny prisoners
back into the identical body of water from
which they were taken. Much damage has
been done by liberating fish in bodies of
water where they do not belong. Many
fish have cannibalistic traits: black bass,

for instance, if they are either the new-
comers or the original inhabitants, will
be likely to attack and destroy other
fish. Besides, even if the new home pro-
vides suitable living conditions for the
newcomers, they may upset the balance
existing among the various forms of plant
and animal life already there.

SUGGESTED READING The Book of
Fishes, by J. O. LaGorce; Cold-blooded
Vertebrates, by Samuel F. Hildebrand,
Charles W. Gilmore, and Doris M. Coch-
ran, Vol. 8 of Smithsonian Scientific Se-
ries; The Complete Aquarium Book, by
W. T. Innes; Field Book of Ponds and
Streams, by Ann H. Morgan; A History of
Fishes, by J. R. Norman; Nature by Sea-
side and Wayside, by Mary G. Phillips
and Julia M. Wright, Book 3, Plants and
Animals; Our Great Outdoors: Reptiles,
Amphibians and Fishes, by C. W. G.
Eifrig; Young Folks' Book of Fishes, by
Ida M. Mellen. See also Bibliography.

THE GOLDFISH

Once upon a time, if stories are true,
there lived a king called Midas, whose
touch turned everything to gold. When-
ever I see goldfish, I wonder if, perhaps,
King Midas were not a Chinese and if he
perchance did not handle some of the lit-
tle fish in Orient streams. But common
man has learned a magic as wonderful as
that of King Midas, although it does not

act so immediately, for it is through his
agency in selecting and breeding that
we have gained these exquisite fish for
our aquaria. In the streams of China the
goldfish, which were the ancestors of these
effulgent creatures, wore safe green colors
like the shiners in our brooks; and if any
goldfish escape from our fountains and
run wild, their progeny return to their

FISHES

145

native olive-green color. There are many
of such dull-colored goldfish in the lakes
and rivers of our country. It is almost in-
conceivable that one of the brilliant-col-
ored fishes, if it chanced to escape into our
ponds ? should escape the fate of being
eaten by some larger fish attracted by such
glittering bait.

The goldfish, as we see it in the aquar-
ium, is brilliant orange above and pale
lemon-yellow below; there are many speci-
mens that are adorned with black patches.
And as if this fish were bound to imitate
the precious metals, there are individuals
which are silver instead of gold; they are
oxidized silver above and polished silver
below. The goldfish are closely related
to the carp and can live in waters that
are stale. If water plants and scavengers,
such as water snails, are kept in the
aquarium, the water does not become foul.
The water, then, need not be changed; but
unless the aquarium is covered, it will be
necessary to add water to replace that
which evaporates. Goldfish should not be

fed too lavishly. An inch square of one of
the sheets of prepared fish food we have
found a fair daily ration for five medium
sized fish; these fish are more likely to

"DorsaT fi

Helen F. Hill

Fish in a hatchery pond

Goldfish with parts named

die from overfeeding than from starving.
Goldfish are naturally long-lived; Miss Ada
Georgia kept them until seven years old
in a school aquarium; and there is on rec-
ord one goldfish that lived nine years.

Too often the wonderful common
things are never noticed because of their
commonness; and there is no better in-
stance of this than the form and move-
ments of a fish. It is an animal in many
ways similar to animals that live on land;
but its form and structure are such that it
is perfectly adapted to live in water all
its life; there are none of the true fishes
which live portions of their lives on land
as do the frogs. The first peculiarity of the
fish is its shape. Looked at from above, the
broader part of the body is near the front
end, which is rounded or pointed so as to
cut the water readily. The long, narrow,
hind portion of the body with the tail acts
as a propeller in the sense that it pushes
the body forward; this movement is not
at all similar to the action of an airplane
propeller or a ship's screw. Seen from the
side, the body is a smooth, graceful oval
and this form is especially adapted to
move through the water swiftly, as can
be demonstrated to the pupil by cutting a
model of the fish from wood and trying
to move it through the water sidewise.

Normally, the fish has seven fins, one
along the back called the dorsal, one at
the end of the tail called the tail or caudal
fin, one beneath the rear end of the body
called the anal ? a pair on the lower side

ANIMALS

N. Y. State Conservation Dept.

Large-mouthed black bass
Aplites salmoides

of the body called the ventrals, and a pair
just back of the gill openings called the
pectorals. All these fins play their own
parts in the movements of the fish. The
dorsal fin is usually higher in front than
behind and can be lifted or shut down like
a fan. This fin when it is lifted gives the
fish greater height and it can be twisted
to one side or the other and thus be made
a factor in steering. The anal fin on the
lower side acts in a similar manner. The
tail fin is the propeller and sends the body
forward by pressing backward on the
water, first on one side and then on the
other, being used like a scull. The tail
fin varies in shape very much in different
species. In the goldfish it is fanlike, with
a deeply notched hind edge, but in some
it is rounded or square. The paired fins
correspond anatomically to our arms and
legs, the pectorals representing the arms,
the ventrals the legs.

Fishes 7 eyes have no eyelid but the eye-
ball is movable, and this often gives the
impression that the fish winks. Fishes are
necessarily nearsighted since the lens of
the eye has to be spherical in order to see
in the water. The sense of smell is located
in a little sac to which the nostril leads;
the nostrils are small and often partitioned
and may be seen on either side of the
snout. The nostrils of a fish have no con-
nection whatever with breathing.

The tongue of the fish is very bony or
gristly and immovable. Very little sense
of taste is developed in it. The shape,
number, and position of the teeth vary ac-
cording to the food habits of the fish. The
commonest teeth are fine, sharp, and short
and are arranged in pads, as seen in the
bullhead. Some fish have blunt teeth suit-
able for crushing shells. Some herbivorous
fishes have sharp teeth with serrated edges,
while those living upon crabs and snails
have incisor-like teeth. In some species we
find several types of teeth; in others, such
as goldfish or minnows in general, the
teeth may be entirely absent. The teeth
are borne not only on the jaws but also
in the roof of the mouth, on the tongue,
and in the throat.

The ear of the fish has neither outside
form nor opening and is very imperfect
in comparison with that of man. Extend-
ing along the sides of the body from head
to tail is a line of modified scales contain-
ing small tubes connecting with nerves;

N. Y. State Conservation Dept.

A chain pickerel
Esox niger

N. Y. State Conservation Dept.

A yellow perch
Perca flavescens

this is called the lateral line and it is be-
lieved that it is in some way connected
with the fish's senses, perhaps with the
sense of hearing.

The covering of fishes varies: most fish,
such as the yellow perch and black bass,
are sheathed in an armor of scales; others,
such as the bullhead, have only a smooth
skin. All fish are covered with a slimy
substance which somewhat reduces fric-
tion as they swim through the water.

In order to understand how the fish
breathes we must examine its gills. In
front, just above the entrance to the gullet,
are several bony ridges which bear two
rows of pinkish fringes; these are the gill
arches and the fringes are the gills. The

FISHES

gills are filled with tiny bloodvessels, and
as the water passes over them, the impu-
rities of the blood pass out through the
thin skin of the gills and the life-giving
oxygen passes in. Since most fish cannot
make use of air unless it is dissolved in
water, it is very important that the water
in the aquarium provide a sufficient sur-
face area to enable the fish to secure air.
The gill arches also bear a series of bony
processes called gill-rakers. Their function
is to prevent the escape of food through
the gills while it is being swallowed, and
they vary in size according to the food
habits of the fish. We note that the fish in
the aquarium constantly opens and closes
the mouth; this action draws the water
into the throat and forces it out over the
gills and through the gill openings; this,
then, is the act of breathing.

SUGGESTED READING Goldfish Culture
for Amateurs, by A. E. Hodge and Arthur
Derham; Goldfish, Their Care in Small
Aquaria and Ponds, by E. C. Fearnow
(Document 980, Bureau of Fisheries,
Washington, D. C.); The Pet Book, by
Anna B. Comstock; also, readings on page
144.

LESSON 36

A STUDY OF THE FISH

LEADING THOUGHT A fish lives in the
water where it must breathe, move, and
find its food. The water world is quite
different from the air world and the fish
have developed forms, senses, and habits
which fit them for life in the water.

METHOD The goldfish is used as a
subject for this lesson because it is so
conveniently kept where the children may
see it. However, a shiner or other minnow
would do as well.

Before the pupils begin the study, place
the diagram shown on p. 145 on the black-
board, with all the parts labeled; thus
the pupils will be able to learn the parts
of the fish by consulting it ? and not be
compelled to commit them to memory
arbitrarily. It would be well to associate
the goldfish with a geography lesson on
China.

OBSERVATIONS i . Where do fish live?

147

2. What is the shape of a fish when
seen from above? Where is the widest
part? What is its shape seen from the
side? Think if you can in how many ways
the shape of the fish is adapted for mov-
ing swiftly through the water.

3. How many fins has the fish? Make
a sketch of the goldfish with all its fins
and name them from the diagram on the
blackboard.

4. How many fins are there in all? Four
of these fins are in pairs; where are they
situated? What are they called? Which
pair corresponds to our arms? Which to
our legs?

5. Describe the pectoral fins. How are
they used? Are they kept constantly mov-
ing? Do they move together or alternately?
How are they used when the fish swims
backward?

6. How are the ventral fins used? How
do they assist the fish when swimming?

7. Observe a dorsal fin and an anal fin.
How are these used when the fish is
swimming?

8. With what fin does the fish push
itself through the water? Make a sketch
of the tail. Note if it is square, rounded,
or notched at the end.

9. Watch the goldfish swim and de-
scribe the action of all the fins while it
is in motion. In what position are the fins
when the fish is at rest?

10. What is the nature of the covering
of the fish? Are the scales large or small?
In what direction do they seem to over-
lap? Of what use to the fish is this scaly
covering?

11. Can you see a line which extends
from the upper part of the gill opening,
along the side to the tail? This is called
the lateral line. Do you think it is of any
use to the fish?

12. Note carefully the eyes of the fish.
Describe the pupil and the iris. Are the
eyes placed so that the fish can see in
all directions? Can they be moved so as
to see better in any direction? Does the
fish wink? Has it any eyelids? Do you
know why fish are nearsighted?

13. Can you see the nostrils? Is there
a little wartlike projection connected

ANIMALS

with the nostril? Do you think fishes
breathe through their nostrils?

14. Describe the mouth of the fish.
Does it open upward, downward, or di-
rectly in front? What sort of teeth have
fish? How does the fish catch its prey?
Does the lower or upper jaw move in the
process of eating?

15. Is the mouth kept always in mo-
tion? Do you think the fish is swallowing
water all the time? Do you know why it
does this? Can you see a wide opening
along the sides of the head behind the
gill cover? Does the gill cover move with
the movement of the mouth? How does a
fish breathe?

16. What are the colors of the goldfish
above and below? What would happen to
our beautiful goldfish if they were put
in a brook with other fish? Why could
they not hide? Do you know what
happens to the colors of the goldfish
when they run wild in our streams and
ponds?

17. Can you find in books or cyclo-
pedias where the goldfish came from? Are
they gold and silver in color in the streams
where they are native? Do you think that
they had originally the long, slender, swal-
low-tails which we see sometimes in gold-
fish? How have the beautiful colors and
graceful forms of the gold and silver fishes
been developed?

I have my world, and so have you,
A tiny universe for two,

A bubble by the artist blown,
Scarcely more fragile than our own,
Where you have all a whale could wish,
Happy as Eden's primal fish.
Manna is dropt you thrice a day
From some land heaven not far away,
And still you snatch its softening crumbs,
Nor, more than we, think whence it

comes.

No toil seems yours but to explore
Your cloistered realm from shore to shore;
Sometimes you trace its limits round,
Sometimes its limpid depths you sound,
Or hover motionless midway,
Lilce gold-red clouds at set of day;
Erelong you whirl with sudden whim
Ofi to your globe's most distant rim,
Where, greatened by the watery lens,
Methinlcs no dragon of the fens
Flashed huger scales against the sky,
Roused by Sir Bevis or Sir Guy;
And the one eye that meets my view,
Lidless and strangely largening, too,
Like that of conscience in the dark,
Seems to make me its single mark.
What a benignant lot is yours
That have an own All-out-of-doors,
No words to spell, no sums to do,
No Nepos and no parlyvool
How happy you, without a thought
Of such cross things as Must and

Ought

I too the happiest of boys
To see and share your golden joys!
" THE ORACLE OF THE GOLDFISHES,"

LOWELL

THE BULLHEAD

The bull-head does usually dwell and hide himself in holes or amongst stones in
clear water; and in very hot days will lie a long time very still and sun himself and will
be easy to be seen on any flat stone or gravel; at which time he will suffer an angler to
put a hook baited with a small worm very near into his mouth; and lie never refuses
to bite, nor indeed, to be caught with the worst of anglers. ISAAK WALTON

When one looks a bullhead in the face
one is glad that it is not a real bull, for
its barbels give it an appearance quite fit
for the making of a nightmare; and yet
from the standpoint of the bullhead, how

truly beautiful those fleshy feelers are!
For without them how could it feel its
way about searching for food in the mud?
Two of these barbels stand straight up;
the two largest ones stand out on each

FISHES

149

Common bullhead
Ameiurus nebulosus

State of New York Conservation Department

side of the mouth, and two pairs of short
ones adorn the lower lip, the smallest pair
at the middle.

As the fish moves about, it is easy to
see that the large barbels at the side of the
mouth are of the greatest use; it keeps
them in a constantly advancing move-
ment, feeling of everything it meets. The
upper ones stand straight up, keeping
watch for whatever news there may be
from above; the two lower ones spread
apart and follow rather than precede the
fish, seeming to test what lies below. The
upper and lower pairs seem to test things
as they are, while the large side pair deal
with what is going to be. The broad
mouth seems to be formed for taking in
all things eatable, for the bullhead lives
on almost anything alive or dead that it
discovers as it noses about in the mud.
Nevertheless, it has its notions about its
food, for I have repeatedly seen one draw
material into its mouth through its breath-
ing motion and then spew it out with a
vehemence one would hardly expect from
such a phlegmatic fish.

Although it has feelers which are very
efficient, it also has perfectly good eyes
which it uses to excellent purpose; note
how promptly it moves to the other side
of the aquarium when we are trying to
study it. The eyes are not large; the pupils
are black and oval and are rimmed with
a narrow band of shiny pale yellow. The
eyes are prominent so that when moved
backward and forward they gain a view

of the enemy in the rear or at the front
while the head is motionless. It seems
strange to see such a pair of pale yellow,
almost white eyes in such a dark body.

The general shape of the front part of
the body is flat, in fact, it is shaped de-
cidedly like a tadpole; this shape is espe-
cially fitted for groping about muddy

bottoms. The flat effect of the body is em-
phasized by the gill covers opening below
rather than at the sides, every pulsation
widening the broad neck. The pectoral
fins also open out on the same plane as
the body, although they can be turned
at an angle if necessary; they are thick and
fleshy and the sharp tips of their spines
offer punishment to whosoever touches
them. The dorsal fin is far forward and
not large; it is usually raised at a threat-
ening angle.

Near the tail there is a little fleshy dor-
sal fin which stands in line with the body,
and one wonders what is its special use,
The ventral fins are small. The anal fin is
far back and rather strong, and this with

150

ANIMALS

the long ? strong tail gives the fish good
motor power; it can swim very rapidly if
occasion requires.

The bullhead is mud-colored and has
no scales. The skin is very thick and leath-
ery so that it is always removed before the
fish is cooked. The bullhead burrows deep
into the mud in the fall and remains there
all winter; when the spring freshets come,
it emerges and is hungry for fresh meat.

Bullhead guarding his nest

The family life of the bullheads and
other catfishes seems to be quite ideal.
Dr. Theodore Gill tells us that bullheads
make their nests by removing stones and
gravel from a more or less irregularly circu-
lar area in shallow water, and on sandy or
gravelly ground. The nest is somewhat
excavated, both parents removing the peb-
bles by sucking them into the mouth and
carrying them off for some distance. After
the eggs are laid, the male watches over
and guards the nest and seems to have
great family responsibilities. He is the
more active of the two in stirring and mix-
ing^ the young fry after they are hatched.
Smith and Harron describe the process
thus: "With their chins on the bottom,
the old fish brush the corners where the
fry were banked, and with the barbels all
directed forward, and flexed where they
touch the bottom, thoroughly agitate the
mass of fry, bringing the deepest individu-
als to the surface. This act is usually re-
peated several times in quick succession.

" The nests are usually made beneath
logs or other protecting objects and in
shallow water. The paternal care is con-
tinued for many days after the birth of the
young. At first these may be crowded to-
gether in a dense mass, but as time passes
they disperse more and more and spread
around the father. Frequently, especially
when the old one is feeding, some one
or more of the young are taken into the
mouth, but they are instinctively sepa-
rated from the food and spit out. At last
the young swarm venture farther from
their birthplace, or perhaps they are led
away by their parents/'

SUGGESTED READING Along the Brook,
by Raymond T. Fuller; Backyard Explora-
tion, by Paul G. Howes; The Pet Book,
by Anna B. Comstock; The Pond Book,
by Walter P. Porter and Einar A. Hansen;
also, readings on page 144.

LESSON 37

THE BULLHEAD, OR HORNED POUT

LEADING THOUGHT The bullhead
lives in mud bottoms of streams and
ponds and is particularly adapted for life
in such locations.

METHOD A small bullhead may be
placed in a small aquarium jar. At first let
the water be clear and add a little pond
weed so as to observe the natural tendency
of the fish to hide. Later add mud and
gravel to the aquarium and note the be-
havior of the fish.

OBSERVATIONS i. What at the first
glance distinguishes the bullhead from
other fish? Describe these strange " whis-
kers" growing about the mouth; how
many are there and where are they situ-
ated? Which are the longest pair? Can
the fish move them in any direction at
will?

2. Where do we find bullheads? On
what do they feed? Would their eyes help
them to find their food in the mud? How
do they find it?

3. Explain, if you can, why the bull-
head has barbels, or feelers, while the
trout and bass have none.

4. What is the shape of the mouth?

FISHES

151

5. What is the general shape of the
body? What is its color? Has it any scales?

6. Why should the bullhead be so flat
horizontally while the sunfish is so flat
in the opposite direction?

7. Describe the bullhead's eyes. Are
they large? What is their color? Where
are they placed?

8. Describe the dorsal fin ? giving its
comparative size and position. Do you see
another dorsal fin? Where is this peculiar
fin and how does it differ from all of the
others?

9. Describe the tail fin. Does it seem
long and strong? Is the bullhead a good
swimmer?

10. Is the anal fin large or small as com-
pared with that of the goldfish?

11. How do the pectoral fins move as
compared with those of the sunfish? Why
is the position of the pectoral and dorsal
fins of benefit to this fish?

12. How does the bullhead inflict
wounds when it is handled? Tell how
these spines may protect it from its natural
enemies.

13. When is the best season for fishing
for bullheads? Does the place where they
are found affect the flavor of their flesh?
Why?

14. What is the spawning season? Do
you know about the nests the bullheads
build and the care they give their young?

15. Write an essay on the nest-making
habits of the bullheads and the care given
the young by the parents.

And what fish will the natural boy nat-
urally talce? In America, there is but one
fish which enters fully into the spirit of
the occasion. It is a fish of many species
according to the part of the country, and
of as many sizes as there are sizes of boys.
This fish is the horned pout, and all the
rest of the species of Ameiums. Horned
pout is its Boston name. Bullhead is good
enough for New York; and foi the rest of
the country, big and little, all the fishes

of this tribe are called catfish. A catfish is
a jolly blundering sort of a fish, a regular
Falstaff of the ponds. It has a fat /owl,
and a fat belly, which it is always trying
to fill. Smooth and sleek, its skin is almost
human in its delicacy. It wears a long
mustache, with scattering whiskers of
other sort. Meanwhile it always goes
armed with a sword, three swords, and
these it has always on hand, always ready
for a struggle on land as well as in the
water. The small boy often gets badly
stuck on these poisoned daggers, but, as
the fish knows how to set them by a
muscular twist, the small boy learns how,
by a like untwist, he may unset and leave
them harmless.

The catfish lives in sluggish waters. It
loves the millpond best of all, and it has
no foolish dread of hooks when it goes
forth to bite. Its mouth is wide. It swal-
lows the hook, and very soon it is in the
air, its white throat gasping in the untried
element. Soon it joins its fellows on the
forked stick, and even then, uncomfort-
able as it may find its new relations, it
never loses sight of the humor of the oc-
casion. Its large head and expansive fore-
head betoken a large mind. It is the only
fish whose brain contains a Sylvian fissure,
a piling up of /issue consequent on the
abundance of gray matter. So it under-
stands and makes no complaint. After it
has dried in the sun for an hour, pour a
little water over its gills, and it will wag
its tail, and squeak with gratitude. And
the best of all is, there are horned pouts
enough to go around.

The female horned pout lays thousands
of eggs, and when these hatch, she goes
about near the shore with her school of
little fishes, like a hen with myriad chicks.
She should be respected and let alone,
for on her success in rearing this breed of
" bullying little rangers " depends the
sport of the small boy of the future.

" FISH STORIES," CHARLES FREDERICK
HOLDER AND DAVID STARR JORDAN

ANIMALS

State of New York Conservation Department

The common sucker
Catostomus commersonnii

THE COMMON SUCKER

He who loves to peer down into the
depths of still waters, often sees upon the
sandy, muddy, or rocky bottom several
long, wedge-shaped sticks lying at various
angles one to another. But if he thrust
down a real stick, behold, these inert,
water-logged sticks move off deftly! And
then he knows that they are suckers. He
may drop a hook baited with a worm in
front of the nose of one, and if he waits
long enough before he pulls up he may
catch this fish, not by its gills but by the
pit of its stomach; for it not only swallows
the hook completely but tries to digest it
dong with the worm. Its food is made up
of soft-bodied insects and other small
water creatures; it is also a mud eater and
manages to make a digestive selection
from the organic material of silt. For this
latter reason it is not a desirable food fish,
although its flesh varies in flavor with the
locality where it is found. The suckers
taken when the waters are cold, are tasty
but somewhat more bony than most fishes,
while those taken from warm waters are
very inferior in flavor and often unpalat-
able.

Seen from above, the sucker is wedge-
shaped, being widest at the eyes; seen from
the side it has a flat lower surface and
an ungracefully rounded contour above,
which tapers only slightly toward the tail.

The profile of the face gives the impres-
sion of a Roman nose. The young speci-
mens have an irregular scale-mosaic pat-
tern of olive-green blotches on a paler
ground color, while the old ones are quite
brown above and on the sides. The suck-
ers differ from most other fishes in having
the markings of the back extend down
the sides almost to the belly. This is a
help in concealing the fish, since its sides
show from above quite as distinctly as its
back because of its peculiar form. The
scales are rather large and are noticeably
larger behind than in the region of the
head. Like other fish it is white below.

The dorsal fin is placed about midway
the length of the fish as measured from
nose to tail. The tail is long and strong
and deeply notched; the anal fin extends
back to where the tail begins. The ventral
fins are small and are directly opposite the
hind half of the dorsal fin. The pectorals
are not large but are strong and are placed
low down. The sucker has not a lavish
equipment of fins, but its tail is strong
and it can swim swiftly; it is also very ex-
citable; in its efforts to escape, it will jump
from the aquarium more successfully than
any other fish. When resting on the bot-
tom, it is supported by its extended pec-
toral and ventral fins, which are strong al-
though not large.

FISHES

L 53

The eyes are fairly large but the iris is
not shiny; they are placed so that the fish
can easily see above it as well as at the
sides; the eyes move so as to look up or
down and are very well adapted to serve
a fish that lives upon the bottom. The
nostrils are divided, the partition project-
ing until it seems a tubercle on the face.
The mouth opens below and looks like
the puckered opening of a bag. The lips
are thick but are very sensitive; it is by
projecting these lips, in a way that re-
minds one of a very short elephant's
trunk, that it is enabled to reach and find
its food in the mud or gravel; so al-
though the sucker's mouth is not a beauti-
ful feature, it is doubly useful. The sucker
has the habit of remaining motionless for
long periods of time. It breathes very
slowly and appears sluggish; it never seizes
its food with any spirit but simply slowly
engulfs it; and for this reason it is consid-
ered poor game. It is only in the spring
when they may be speared through the ice
that there is any fun in catching suckers;
it is at this season of the year that they
move upstream to shallow riffles to
spawn. Even so lowly a creature as the
sucker seems to respond to influences of
the springtime, for at that period the
male has a faint rosy stripe along his sides.
In the winter these fish retire to the
depths of the rivers or ponds.

There are many species of suckers and
they vary in size from six inches to three
feet in length. They inhabit all sorts of
waters, but they do not like a strong cur-
rent and are, therefore, found in still
pools. The common sucker (Catostomus
commersonii), which is the subject of this
lesson, sometimes attains the length of
twenty-two inches and the weight of five
pounds. The ones under observation were
about eight inches long, and proved to be
the acrobats of the aquarium, since they
were likely at any moment to jump out;
several times I found one on the floor.

SUGGESTED READING Along the
Brook, by Raymond T. Fuller; Backyard
Exploration, by Paul G. Howes; also, read-
ings on page 144.

LESSON 38
THE COMMON SUCKER

LEADING THOUGHT The sucker is es-
pecially adapted by shape for lying on the
bottom of ponds under still water wheie
its food is abundant.

METHOD If still-water pools along
rivers or lakesides are accessible, it is far
more interesting to study a sucker in its
native haunts, as an introduction to the
study of its form and colors when it is in
the aquarium.

OBSERVATIONS i. Where do you find
suckers? How do you catch them? Do
they take the hook' quickly? What is the
natural food of the sucker?

2. What is the shape of this fish's body
when seen from above? From the side?
What is the color above? On the sides?
Below? Does the sucker differ from most
other fishes in the coloring along its sides?
What is the reason for this? What do
suckers look like on the bottom of the
pond? Are they easily seen?

3. Describe or sketch a sucker, showing
the position, size, and shape of the fins
and tail. Are its scales large or small? How-
does it use its fins when at rest? When
moving? Is it a strong swimmer? Is it a
high jumper?

4. Describe the eyes; how are they espe-
cially adapted in position and in move-
ment to the needs of a fish that lives on
the bottom of streams and ponds?

5. Note the nostrils. Are they used for
breathing?

6. Where is the mouth of the sucker
situated? What is its form? How is it
adapted to get food from the bottom of
the stream and from crevices in the rocks?

7. Tell all you know about the habits of
the suckers. When do you see them first
in the spring? Where do they spend the
winter? Where do they go to spawn? How
large is the largest one you have ever
seen? Why is their flesh sometimes con-
sidered poor in quality as food? Is there a
difference in the flavor of their flesh de-
pending upon the temperature of the
water in which they live?

ANIMALS

State of New York Conservation Department

Common shiner or redfin
Notropis cornutus

THE SHINER

This is a. noteworthy and characteristic lineament, or cipher ? or hieroglyphic, or
type of spring. You look into some clear, sandy bottomed brook where it spreads into
a deeper bay, yet flowing cold from ice and snow not far off, and see indistinctly poised
over the sand on invisible fins, the outlines of the shiner, scarcely to be distinguished
from the sands behind it as if it were transparent. THOREAXJ

There are many species of shiners and
it is by no means easy to recognize them
or to distinguish them from chub, dace,
and other minnows, since all these belong
to one family; they all have the same ar-
rangement of fins and live in the same
water; and the plan of this lesson can with
few changes be applied to any of them.

Never were seen more exquisite colors
than shimmer along the sides of the com-
mon shiner (Notropis cornutus) . It is
pale olive-green above, just a sunny brook-
color; this is bordered at the sides by a line
of iridescent blue-purple, while the shin-
ing silver scales on the sides below flash
and glimmer with the changing hues of
the rainbow. Most of the other minnows
are darker than the shiners.

The body of the shiner is ideal for slip-
ping through the water. Seen from above
it is a narrow wedge, rounded in front and
tapering to a point behind; from the side,
it is long, oval, lance-shaped. The scales
are large and beautiful, and the lateral line
looks like a series of dots embroidered at
the center of the diamond-shaped scales.

The dorsal fin is placed just back of the
center of the body and is not very large;
it is composed of soft rays, the first two
being stiff and unbranched. The tail is
long, large, graceful and deeply notched.
The anal fin is almost as large as the dor-
sal. The ventral pair is placed on the lower
side, opposite the dorsal fin; the pectorals
are set at the lower margin of the body,
just behind the gill openings. The shiner
and its relatives use the pectoral fins to
aid in swimming, and keep them con-
stantly in motion when moving through
the water. The ventrals are moved only
now and then and evidently help in keep-
ing the balance. When the fish moves
rapidly forward, the dorsal fin is raised so
that its front edge stands at right angles to
the body and the ventral and anal fins are
expanded to their fullest extent. But when
the fish is lounging, the dorsal, anal, and
ventral fins are more or less closed, al-
though the tip of the dorsal fin swings
with every movement of the fish.

The eyes are large, the pupils being
very large and black; the iris is pale yellow

FISHES

155

and shining; the whole eye is capable of 4. Describe or sketch the fish, showing

much movement forward and back. The
nostril is divided by a little projecting par-
tition which looks like a tubercle. The
mouth is at the front of the head; to see
the capabilities of this mouth, watch the
shiner yawn, if the water of the aquarium
becomes stale. Poor fellow! He yawns just
as we do in the effort to get more oxygen.

The shiners are essentially brook fish
although they may be found in larger
bodies of water. They lead a precarious
existence, for the larger fish eat them in all
their stages. They hold their own only by
laying countless numbers of eggs. They
feed chiefly on water insects, algse, and
fish eggs, including their own. They are
pretty and graceful little creatures and
may be seen swimming up the current in
the middle of the brook. They often oc-
cur in schools or flocks, especially when
young.

SUGGESTED READING BacJcyard Ex-
ploration, by Paul G. Howes; The Pet
Boole, by Anna B. Comstock; also, read-
ings on page 144.

LESSON 39
THE SHINER

LEADING THOUGHT The shiners are
among the most common of the little fish
in our small streams. They are beautiful
in form and play an important part in the
life of our streams.

METHOD Place in the aquarium shin-
ers and as many as possible of the other
species of small fish found in our creeks
and brooks. The aquarium should stand
where the pupils may see it often. The fol-
lowing questions may be asked, giving the
children time for the work of observation.

OBSERVATIONS i . What is the shape
of the shiner's body when seen from
above? When seen from the side? Do you
think that its shape fits it for moving rap-
idly through the water?

2. What is the coloring above? On the
sides? Below?

3. Are the scales large and distinct, or
very small? Can you see the lateral line?
Where are the tiny holes which make this
line placed in the scales?

position, relative size, and shape of all the
fins and the tail.

5. Describe the use and movements of
each of the fins when the fish is swim-
ming.

6. Describe the eyes. Do they move?

7. Describe the nostrils. Do you think
each one is double?

8. Does the mouth open upward, down-
ward, or forward? Have you ever seen the
shiner yawn? Why does it yawn? Why do
you yawn?

9. Where do you find the shiners liv-
ing? Do they haunt the middle of the
stream or the edges? Do you ever see them
in flocks or schools?

MINNOWS

How silent comes the water round that

bend;

Not the minutest whisper does it send
To the o'er-hanging sallows; blades of grass
Slowly across the chequered shadows pass,
Why, you might read two sonnets, ere

they reach
To where the hurrying freshnesses aye

preach

A natural sermon o'er their pebbly beds;
Where swarms of minnows show their lit-
tle heads,
Staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the

streams,

To taste the luxury of sunny beams
Tempered with coolness. How they ever

wrestle
With their own sweet delight, and ever

nestle

Their silver bellies on the pebbly sand/
If you but scantily hold out the hand,
That very instant not one will remain;
But turn your eye, and there they are

again.
The ripples seem right glad to reach those

cresses,
And cool themselves among the em'rald

tresses;
The while they cool themselves, they

freshness give,
And moisture, that the bowery green may

live.

JOHN KEATS

i 5 6

ANIMALS

State of New York Conservation Department

The brook trout
Salvelinus f ontinalis

THE BROOK TROUT

Up and down the brook I ran, where beneath the banks so steep,
Lie the spotted trout asleep. WHITTIER

But they were probably not asleep, as
Mr. Whittier might have observed if he
had cast a fly near one of them. There is
in the very haunts of the trout a sugges-
tion of where it gets its vigor and wariness :
the cold, clear streams where the water
is pure; brooks that wind in and out over
rocky and pebbly beds, here shaded by
trees and there dashing through the open
it makes us feel vigorous even to think
of such streams. Under the overhanging
bank or in the shade of some fallen log
or shelving rock, the brook trout hides
where he may see all that goes on in the
world above and around him without be-
ing himself seen. Woe to the unfortu-
nate insect that falls upon the surface of
the water in his vicinity or even flies low
over it, for the trout will easily jump far
out of the water to seize its prey It is
this habit of taking the insect upon and
above the water's surface which has made
trout fly-fishing the sport that it is. Man's
ingenuity is fairly matched against the
trout's cunning in this contest. I know of
one old trout that has kept fishermen in
the region around on the qui vive for
years; and up to date he is still alive, mak-
ing a dash now and then at a tempting

bait, showing himself enough to tantalize
his would-be captors with his splendid
size, but always retiring at the sight of the
line.

The brook trout varies much in color,
depending upon the soil and the rocks of
the streams in which it lives. Its back is
marbled with dark olive or black, mak-
ing it just the color of shaded water. This
marbled coloration also marks the dorsal
and the tail fins. The sides, which vary
much in color, are marked with beautiful
vermilion spots, each placed in the center
of a larger, bluish spot. In some instances
the lower surface is reddish, in others
whitish. All the fins on the lower side
of the body have the front edges creamy
or yellowish white, with a darker streak
behind.

The trout's head is quite large and
somewhat blunt. The large eye is a little
in front of the middle of the head. The
dorsal fin is at about the middle of the
body, and when raised is squarish in out-
line. Behind the dorsal fin and near the
tail is the little, fleshy adipose fin, so called
because its tissue is more or less adipose
in nature. The tail is fan-shaped, slightly
notched at the end and is large and strong.

FISHES

The anal fin is rather Iarge ? being shaped
much like the dorsal fin, only slightly
smaller. The ventral fins are directly be-
low the dorsal fin and a little behind its
middle. The pectorals are low down, being
below and just behind the gill arches.

In size the brook trout may reach four-
teen inches, but the majority of those
caught are seldom longer than seven or
eight inches. It does not flourish in water
which is warmer than 70 Fahrenheit,
and prefers a temperature of about 50
Fahrenheit. It must have the pure water
of mountain streams and cannot endure
the water of rivers which is polluted by
mills or the refuse of cities. Where it has
access to streams that flow into the ocean,
it forms the salt-water habit, going out
to sea and remaining there during the
winter. Such specimens become very
large.

The trout can lay eggs when about six
inches in length. The eggs are laid from
September until late November in most
parts of the United States. One small
mother trout lays from 400 to 600 eggs,
but the large-sized ones lay more. The pe-
riod of hatching depends upon the tem-
perature of the water. In depositing their
eggs the trout seek water with a gravelly
bottom, often where some spring enters
into a stream. The nest is shaped by the
tail of the fish, the larger stones being car-
ried away in the mouth. To make the pre-

Verne Morton

When resting on a stream bed trout face into
the current

Where the trout live

cious eggs secure they are covered with
gravel.

Strict laws have been enacted by almost
all of our states to protect the brook trout
and preserve it in our streams. While it is
true that brook trout spawn when five to
six inches in length, the legal size in most
states is six to seven inches; this gives
them a chance to spawn at least about
once before being caught. It is the duty of
every decent citizen to abide by these laws
and to see to it that his neighbors observe
them. The teacher cannot emphasize
enough to the child the moral value
of being law-abiding. There should be in
every school in the Union children's
clubs which should have for their pur-
pose civic honesty and the enforcement
of laws which affect the city, village, or
township.

Almost any stream with suitable water
may be stocked with trout from the na-
tional or the state hatcheries, but what
is the use of this expense if the game
laws are not observed and these fish are
caught before they reach maturity, as is
so often the case?

SUGGESTED READING Along the Brook,
by Raymond T. Fuller; Backyard Explora-

i 5 8

ANIMALS

tion, by Paul G. Howes; Mountain Neigh-
bors, by Edith M. Patch and Carroll L.
Fenton (Rainbow Trout) ; The Watchers
of the Trails, by Charles G. D. Roberts;
also, readings on page 144.

LESSON 40
THE BROOK TROUT

LEADING THOUGHT The brook trout
have been exterminated in many streams
in our country largely because the game
laws were passed too late to save them;
and because of misuse of our waters. The
trout is one of the most cunning and beau-
tiful of our common fishes and the most
delicious for food. Many mountain
streams in our country could be well
stocked with brook trout.

METHOD For this lesson secure a
trout from a fisherman at the opening of
trout season. In some states, a permit is
required before a trout may be legally kept
in captivity, unless it is a legally captured
specimen and is kept only during fishing
season.

OBSERVATIONS i. In what streams are
the brook trout found? Must the water be
warm or cold? Can the trout live in im-
pure water? Can it live in salt water?

2. Do the trout swim about in schools
or do they live solitary? Where do they
like to hide?

3. With what kind of bait are trout
caught? Why do they afford such excel-
lent sport for fly-fishing? Can you tell what
the food of the trout is?

4. What is the color of the trout above?
What colors along its sides? What mark-
ings make the fish so beautiful? What is
its color below? Has the trout scales? Do
you see the lateral line?

5. What is the general shape of the
brook trout? Describe the shape, position,
and color of the dorsal fin. Describe the
little fin behind the dorsal. Why is it un-
like the other fins? What is the shape of
the tail fin? Is it rounded, square, or cres-
cent-shaped across the end? What is the
position and size of the anal fin compared
with the dorsal? What are the colors on
the ventral fins and where are these fins

placed in relation to the dorsal fin? What
color are the pectoral fins and how are
they placed in relation to the gill arches?

6. Describe the trout's eyes. Do you
think the trout is keen-sighted?

7. When and where are the eggs laid?
Describe how the nest is made. How are
the eggs covered and protected?

8. Could a trout live in the streams of
your neighborhood? Can you get state aid
in stocking the streams?

9. What are the game laws concerning
trout fishing? When is the open season?
How long must the trout be to be taken
legally? If you are a good citizen what do
you do about the game laws?

10. Write a story telling all you know
about the wariness, cunning, and strength
of the brook trout.

TROUT

It is well for anglers not to make trout,
of all fishes, the prime objective of a day's
sport, as no more uncertain game loves the
sunlight. Today he is yours for the very
asking; tomorrow, the most luscious lure
will not tempt him. One hour he defies
you, the next, gazes at you from some en-
sconcement of the fishes, and knows you
not, as you pass him, casting, by.

I believe I accumulated some of this
angling wisdom years ago, in a certain
trout domain in New England, where
there were streams and pools, ripples, cas-
cades and drooping trees; where every-
thing was fair and promising to the eyes
for trout; but it required superhuman pa-
tience to lure them, and many a day I
scoreda blank. Yet on these very days when
lures were unavailing, the creel empty
save for fern leaves, I found they were
not for naught; that the real fishing day
was a composite of the weather, the wind,
even if it was from the east, the splendid
colors of forest trees, the blue tourmaline
of the sky that topped the stream amid the
trees, the flecks of cloud mirrored on
the surface. The delight of anticipation,
the casting, the play of the rod, the exer-
cise of skill, the quick turns in the stream
opening up new vistas, the little openings
in the forest, through which were seen dis-

FISHES

tant meadows and nodding flowers all
these went to make up the real trout fish-
ing, the actual catch being but an incident
among many delights.

Just how long one could be content
with mere scenery in lieu of trout, I am
not prepared to say; if pushed to the wall,
I confess that when fishing I prefer trout
to scenic effects. Still, it is a very imprac-
ticable and delightful sentiment with
some truth to it, the moral being that the
angler should be resourceful, and not be
entirely cast down on the days when the
wind is in the east.

I am aware that this method of angling

is not in vogue with some, and would be
deemed fanciful, indeed inane, by many
more; yet it is based upon a true and
homely philosophy, not of today, the phi-
losophy of patience and contentment.
" How poor are they that have not pa-
tience/ 7 said Othello. It is well to be con-
tent with things as we find them, and it is
well to go a-fishing, and not to catch fish
alone, but every offering the day has to
give. This should be an easy matter for the
angler, as Walton tells us that Angling
is somewhat like poetry; men are to be
born so.
" FISH STORIES/' HOLDER AND JORDAN

State of New York Conservation Department

Brook stickleback and nest
Eucalia inconstans

THE STICKLEBACK

This is certainly the most sagacious of
the Lilliputian vertebrates; scarcely more
than an inch in length when full-grown,
it gazes at you with large, keen, shining-
rimmed eyes, takes your measure and darts
off with a flirt of the tail that says plainly,
" Catch me if you can/' The sticklebacks

are delightful aquarium pets because their
natural home is in still water sufficiently
stagnant for algae to grow luxuriously; thus
we but seldom need to change the water
in the aquarium, which, however, should
be well stocked with water plants and have
gravel at the bottom.

i6o

ANIMALS

When the stickleback is not resting, he
is always going somewhere and he knows
just where he is going and what he is going
to do, and earthquakes shall not deter
him. He is the most dynamic creature in
all creation, I think, except perhaps the
dragon fly, and he is so ferocious that if
he were as large as a shark he would de-
stroy all other fishes. His ferocity is fright-
ful to behold as he seizes his prey and
shakes it as a terrier does a rat.

Well is this fish named stickleback, for
along the ridge of its back are sharp, strong
spines five of them in our tiny brook
species. These spines may be laid back flat
or they may be erected stiffly, making an
efficient saw which does great damage to
fish many times larger than the stickle-
back. When we find the minnows in the
aquarium losing their scales, we may be
sure they are being raked off by this saw-
back; and if the shiner or sunfish under-
takes to make a stickleback meal, there is
only one way to do it, and that is to catch
the quarry by the tail, since he is too alert
to be caught in any other way. But swal-
lowing a stickleback tail first is a danger-
ous performance, for the sharp spines rip
open the throat or stomach of the captor.
Dr. Jordan says that the sticklebacks of
the Puget Sound region are called " sal-
mon killers " and that they well earn the
name; these fierce midgets unhesitatingly
attack the salmon, biting off pieces of
their fins and also destroying their spawn.

As seen from the side, the stickleback
is slender and graceful, pointed like an
arrow at the front end, and with the body
behind the dorsal fin forming a long and
slender pedicel to support the beautifully
rounded tail fin. The dorsal fin is placed
well back and is triangular in shape; the
anal fin makes a similar triangle opposite
it below and has a sharp spine at its front
edge. The color of the body varies with
the light; when the stickleback is floating
among the water weeds, the back is green-
ish mottled with paler green, but when
the fish is down on the gravel, it is much
darker. The lateral line is marked by a
silver stripe.

If large eyes count for beauty, then the

stickleback deserves " the apple," for its
eyes are not only large but gemlike, with a
broad iris of golden brown around the
black pupil. I am convinced that the
stickleback has a keener vision than most
fish; it can move its eyes backward and
forward rapidly and alertly. The mouth
opens almost upward and is a wicked
little mouth, in both appearance and
action.

When swimming, the stickleback darts
about rapidly, its dorsal and anal fins ex-
tended, its spines all abristle, and its tail
lashing the water with strong strokes.
When the fish wishes to lift itself through
the water, it seems to depend entirely
upon its pectoral fins and these are also
used for balancing. Its favorite position
is hanging motionless among the pond
weeds, with the tail and the dorsal and
ventral fins partially closed; it usually rests
upon the pectoral fins which are braced
against some stem; in one case I saw the
ventrals and pectorals used together to
clasp a stem and hold the fish in place. In
moving backward the pectorals do the
work, with a little beckoning motion of
the tail occasionally. When resting upon
the bottom of the aquarium, it closes its
fins and makes itself quite inconspicuous.
It can dig with much power, accomplish-
ing this by a comical auger-like motion; it
plunges head first into the gravel and then,
by twisting the body and tail around and
around, it soon forms a hiding place.

But it is as house builder and father
and home protector that the stickleback
shines. In the early spring he builds him a
nest made from the fine green algas called
frog-spittle. This would seem too delicate
a material for the house construction, but
he is a clever builder. He fastens his filmy
walls to some sterns of reed or grass, using
as a platform a supporting stem; the ones
which I have especially studied were fas-
tened to grass stems. The stickleback has
a little cement plant of his own, supposed
to be situated in the kidneys, which at this
time of year secretes the glue for building
purposes. The glue is waterproof. It is
spun out in fine threads or in filmy masses
through an opening near the anal fin. One

FISHES

161

species weights his platform with sand
which he scoops up from the bottom, but
I cannot detect that our brook stickleback
does this. In his case, home is his sphere
literally, for he builds a spherical house
about the size of a glass marble, three-
quarters of an inch in diameter. It is a
hollow sphere; he cements the inside
walls so as to hold them back and give
room, and he finishes his pretty structure
with a circular door at the side. When fin-
ished, the nest is like a bubble made of
threads of down, and yet it holds to-
gether strongly.

In the case of the best-known species,
the male, as soon as he has finished his
bower to his satisfaction, goes a-wooing;
he selects some lady stickleback, and in his
own way tells her of the beautiful nest he
has made and convinces her of his ability
to take care of a family. He certainly has
fetching ways, for he soon conducts her to
his home. She enters the nest through the
little circular door, lays her eggs within it,
and then, being a flighty creature, she
sheds responsibilities and flits off carefree.
He follows her into the nest, scatters the
fertilizing milt over the eggs, and then
starts off again and rolls his golden eyes on
some other lady stickleback and invites
her also to his home. She comes without
any jealousy because she was not first
choice; she also enters the nest and
lays her eggs and then swims off uncon-
cernedly. Again he enters the nest and
drops more milt upon the eggs and then
fares forth again, a still energetic wooer.
If there was ever a justified polygamist, he
is one, since it is only the cares and respon-
sibilities of the home that he desires. He