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The aim of this book is to assist school children in the accuratestudy of a few birds. It is believed that if this be attained, furtherstudy of birds will take care of itself.

Thanks are due the Audubon Society, ornithologists, educators, andlegislators, for the generous approbation and assistance which theyhave given the Bird Day movement.

Special thanks are due the Department of Agriculture for permission touse the illustrations in this volume. Those on pages 65, 67, 69, 71,73, 75, 77, 79, 85, 87, 89, 93, and 95 are printed from electrotypesfrom the original illustrations appearing in "Farmer's Bulletin," No.54. Those on pages 81 and 83 are from the Yearbook of the Departmentfor 1899, and that on page 91 from the Yearbook for 1898. All thesepublications are issued by the Department.

PART I

BIRD DAY. HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

BIRD DAY

HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"

In the spring of 1894 the writer's attention was attracted to theinterest of the children in that part of their nature study whichrelated to birds. Their descriptions of the appearance and habits ofthe birds they had observed were given with evident pleasure. They hada strong desire to tell what they had seen, not in the spirit ofrivalry, but with the wish of adding to the knowledge of a subject inwhich all were equally interested.

It was thought that this work would be done with even moreeffectiveness if a day were appointed to be celebrated as "Bird Day."With the hope of making a memorable occasion of the day for thosetaking part in it, several of the noted friends of birds were asked towrite something to the children, and to give their opinion of theintroduction of "Bird Day" into the schools.

Secretary J. Sterling Morton, the father of "Arbor Day," respondedwith the following earnest letter, which was at once given to thepublic through Washington dispatches, and later was sent out from theDepartment of Agriculture, in circular No. 17:—

Dear Sir,—Your proposition to establish a "Bird Day" onthe same general plan as "Arbor Day," has my cordialapproval.[10]

Such a movement can hardly fail to promote the developmentof a healthy public sentiment toward our native birds,favoring their preservation and increase. If directed towardthis end, and not to the encouragement of the importation offoreign species, it is sure to meet the approval of theAmerican people.

It is a melancholy fact that among the enemies of our birdstwo of the most destructive and relentless are our women andour boys. The love of feather ornamentation so heartlesslypersisted in by thousands of women, and the mania forcollecting eggs and killing birds so deeply rooted in ourboys, are legacies of barbarism inherited from our savageancestry. The number of beautiful and useful birds annuallyslaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundredsof thousands, and threatens, if it has not alreadyaccomplished, the extermination of some of the rarerspecies. The insidious egg-hunting and pea-shootingproclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread anddestructive. It matters little which of the two agencies isthe more fatal, since neither is productive of any good. Onelooks to the gratification of a shallow vanity, the other tothe gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure ofboyish energy that might be profitably diverted into otherchannels. The evil is one against which legislation can beonly palliative and of local efficiency. Public sentiment,on the other hand, if properly fostered in the schools,would gain force with the growth and development of our boysand girls, and would become a hundredfold more potent thanany law enacted by the State or Congress. I believe such asentiment can be developed, so strong and so universal thata respectable woman will be ashamed to be seen with the wingof a wild bird on her bonnet, and an honest boy will beashamed to own that he ever robbed a nest or wantonly tookthe life of a bird.

Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without theirunremitting services our gardens and fields would be laidwaste by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt eventhan this, for the study of birds tends to develop some ofthe best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among themwe find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of thelove of mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities.Their industry, patience, and ingenuity excite ouradmiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music andpoetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appealto our æsthetic sense; their long migrations to distantlands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquireinto the causes of these periodic movements; and finally,the endless modifications of form and habits by which theyare enabled to live under most diverse conditions of foodand climate—on land and at sea—invite the student ofnature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.

The cause of bird protection is one that appeals to the bestside of our natures. Let us yield to the appeal. Let us havea Bird Day—a day set apart from all the[11] other days of theyear to tell the children about the birds. But we must notstop here. We should strive continually to develop andintensify the sentiment of bird protection, not alone forthe sake of preserving the birds, but also for the sake ofreplacing as far as possible the barbaric impulses inherentin child nature by the nobler impulses and aspirations thatshould characterize advanced civilization.

Other friends of the birds responded cordially to the request, as willbe seen by the following letters:—

From the Department of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania thisencouraging letter was received:—

Bradford Torrey gives an additional title to the day, showing hisappreciation of it:—

The first observance of "Bird Day," May 4, 1894, is briefly set forthin the following paragraph from theNew England Journal ofEducation:—

THE VALUE OF BIRDS

Probably few people understand the value of birds or comprehend howclosely and yet how extensively their lives are interwoven with otherforms of life. The general sentiment in regard to them, at the best,has been that they are harmless, even interesting and beautifulcreatures; but the idea that they are one of the most importantclasses of creation, a class upon which the existence of many otherclasses depends, has never been widely prevalent. Suppose we wereasked which is of more use to man, the fishes of our waters or thebirds of our forests and fields? Many of us would unhesitatinglyanswer in favor of the fishes.

If all of these denizens of the rivers, lakes, and seas should bedestroyed, it would be a stupendous calamity. Mankind woulduniversally deplore it; and if the nations of the world should, at anytime, become convinced that such a thing might occur, how quickly theywould take all possible means to prevent it! All civilized people nowhave laws to preserve this food supply and are making expensive andlaborious efforts to increase it. Any one who should destroy thousandsof tons of these edible swimmers, simply for their heads and tails, orfins and scales, would be regarded as a dangerous person. But if oursupposition were realized, if every fin and gill were to disappearfrom the waters of the globe, what would be the result? A misfortune,truly, for the fins represent a large part of the world's supply offood, and this loss would be felt more deeply as time went on, becausethe ocean will not raise its rent, however crowded may be thepopulation of its shores. The effort to secure the fish might beapplied, however, in other directions and be[15] equally remunerative.Harvest would still follow seedtime; the gold of autumn still rewardthe shallow mines of spring.

But suppose we were forced to the dreadful alternative of choosingbetween the birds and the quadrupeds, again, the most of us wouldprobably decide against the birds. If the four-footed beasts shoulddisappear from the earth, it would be a much greater disaster than thedestruction of the fishes. A much larger fraction of the food supplywould be lost; while many of these animals contribute to man's comfortand necessities in almost innumerable ways. Most nations have learnedto cherish their friends with hoofs and horns, and even some of thosewith claws. Cruelty to animals is now generally forbidden by law; andtheir wanton destruction would be regarded with horror. No one wouldbe permitted to slaughter large numbers of them because he might wishto sell their horns or ears or the tips of their tails.

By the departure of the quadrupeds the life of man would be renderedmuch more difficult, but would still be possible. From fish and fowlhe could obtain a supply of meat limited in variety, yet sufficientfor his needs. The treasures of the vegetable world would still behis, though he would miss the help of his animal allies in securingthem; but his ingenuity would help him to supply this loss, in part,at least.

Consider now what would be the effect of the total destruction ofbirds. Birds are nature's check to the amazing power of insects toincrease. If insect life were allowed free course, it would soonoverpower vegetation; and plant life—and, therefore, animal life,including that of man—would be impossible upon this globe. This is anastounding conclusion, but it is sustained by the judgment of everyman of science who has investigated the subject. How long could theravages of insects be stayed were the birds gone? We should have todepend upon a few predaceous beetles, the bats, and upon the sprayersand squirtguns which throw insecticides. Think of the æsthetic loss insubstituting these agencies for the "sweet spirits" of the wood andfield! Besides not being musical or charming in action, they[16] wouldnot prove efficient. Birds are therefore essential to the life of man.

Their preservation is not merely a matter of sentiment, or ofeducation in that high and fine feeling, kindness to all livingthings. It has a utilitarian side of vast extent, as broad as ourboundless fields and our orchards' sweep. The birds are nature'sguarantee that the reign of the crawlers and spinners shall not becomeuniversal. The "plague of locusts" shall be upon those who sin againstthem.

III

THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS

From almost all sections of the country comes the plaint that the songbirds are fast disappearing. Less and less numerous are the yearlyvisitations of the thrushes, warblers, song sparrows, orioles, and theothers whose habits have been so delightful and whose music has beenso cheering to their open-eyed and open-hearted friends. Many, whowhen listening to the hymn-like cadences of the wood thrush have feltthat the place was holy ground, are now keenly regretting that thisvesper song is so rare; the honest sweetness of the song sparrowmingles with the coarser sounds less often in the accustomed places.Not many now find "the meadows spattered all over with music" by thebobolink, as Thoreau did.

John Burroughs says that the bluebird is almost extinct in his sectionof country. The writer, though a frequent visitor to the fields andwoods, has succeeded in seeing only one pair of these beautiful birdsin two seasons, where they were abundant a few years ago, when almostevery orchard bore a good crop of them. A friend who is a goodobserver has had the same experience. A careful exploration of thecountry within a radius of five miles resulted in the discovery ofonly two pairs of bobolinks, having their nests luckily in the samefield. The males sang together in friendly rivalry. The sparkling,tinkling notes seemed to come in a rippling tumble, two or three at atime, from each throat. Each started his song with his feet barelytouching his perch, his body quivering, his wings half extended, as ifhe were almost supported by the upward flow of his melody. Aftercircular flights he alighted first upon one frail, swinging perch,then upon another, the won[18]derful sounds not ceasing, as if he weretracing magic rings of song round his home, and making them thick inplaces. It was a musical embodiment of the love of life and of itsjoyousness.

The brown thrush is also absent from places where once there weremany. A farmer in this neighborhood states that a few years ago thetreetops near his house seemed to be filled with these fine singers.Now he hears only one or two during the season. Last May the writerfound three nests at least a mile apart, but they were destroyedbefore the time of hatching, and the birds went about silent as ifbrooding upon their trouble. It is doubtful if they will build nextseason in that vicinity. No doubt the clearing away of the forests andthe settling up of the country are responsible for the scarcity of thebirds in part, but only in part. If they were let alone, many of themost interesting and useful birds would build near even our cityhomes, and our gardens and fields would again become populous withthem.

The wearing of feathers and the skins of birds for ornament is thechief cause of the final flight of many of our songsters. It is statedthat a London dealer received at one time more than thirty thousanddead humming birds. Not only brightly colored birds, but any smallbirds, by means of dyes, may come at last to such base uses. It isestimated by some of the Audubon societies that ten million birds wereused in this country in one season. All these bodies, which are usedto make "beauty much more beauteous seem," are steeped in arsenicalsolutions to prevent their becoming as offensive to the nostrils oftheir wearers as they are to the eyes of bird lovers.

The use of dead birds for adornment is a constant object lesson incruelty, a declaration louder than any words that a bird's life is notto be respected. It is currently reported that a million bobolinkswere destroyed in Pennsylvania alone last year to satisfy the demandof the milliners. If this "garniture of death" is in good taste, thenour North American Indian in his war paint and feathers was far aheadof his time.

Let us hope that some oracle of fashion will decree that if theremains[19] of animals must be used for adornment, the skins of mice andrats shall be offered up. Their office seems to be principally that ofscavengers, and their gradual but certain extinction would not matterif the Christian nations should become,pari passu, more cleanly.The squirrel could also be used effectively, mounted as if halfflying, with his hind feet fastened to the velvet pedestal, or sittingupon his haunches with a nut between his fore paws. The squirrel'smain concern seems to be to prevent the undue extension of thenut-bearing trees—an office man has already well taken uponhimself—and besides, he destroys fruit, injures trees, and is a greatenemy of birds. His gradual extinction would be tolerated by acivilized nation.

All these things may take the hues of the rainbow and are capable ofinfinite variety of arrangement. There certainly seems to be no goodreason why in a few years some combination of them may not beconsidered as effective as a row of dead humming birds. The world maybe saved in this way from presenting a spectacle that should excitethe pity of gods and men—the spectacle of the destruction of one ofthe most beautiful, the most harmless, and the most useful classes ofcreation, at the command of the senseless whims of fashion.

Then, too, the sportsmen's guns and the small boys' slings andshooters of various sorts are constantly bringing down numbers of thefeathered songsters. In many parts of our country men and boys roamthe fields, shooting at every bird they see, and their action istacitly approved by the community. This survival of the barbarousinstinct to kill is condoned as "sport." If these people were to spendthis time in following the birds with opera glass and notebook tostudy them, they might not be so readily understood—they might evenbe taken for mild lunatics, so utterly is public sentiment pervertedon this subject.

A little consideration shows this destruction to be more disastrousthan at first appears. According to the latest biological science,every species of animals must have long ago reached the limit beyondwhich it could not greatly increase its numbers. However great itstendency[20] to increase might be, its natural obstacles and enemieswould increase in like proportions till at last the two would balanceeach other, and there could be no further increase in the number ofindividuals of that species. All classes of animals in a state ofnature must have reached this balanced condition generations ago. Thisis true of the birds. Their natural enemies are capable of preventingtheir increase; that is, they can and do destroy every year as many asare hatched that year. Now if man be added as a new destructiveagency, the old enemies, being still able to destroy as many asbefore, will soon sweep them out of existence. Warnings have been sentout by the United States Department of Biology that several species ofbirds are already close to extinction. We know that this is true ofthe passenger pigeon. This bird used to come North in flocks soextensive as sometimes to obscure the sun, like a large, thick cloud.Now they come no more. Italy is practically songless, we are told.

If man would right the wrong that he has done, he must not only stopdestroying the birds, but he must take all possible means to preservethem and to protect them from their natural foes.

Laws for bird protection have been passed in many of our states; butthese have been found effective only where they were not needed. Theyare, however, right, and will help in the development of correctsentiment. What is most needed is knowledge of the birds themselves,their modes of life, their curious ways, and their relations to thescheme of things. To know a bird is to love him. Birds are beautifuland interesting objects of study, and make appeals to children thatare responded to with delight.

Children love intensely the forms of nature—the clouds, the trees,the flowers, the animals—all of the great beautiful world outside ofthemselves, and it is their impulse to become acquainted with thisworld; for this they feel enthusiasm and love. Marjorie Fleming, thelittle playmate of Scott, who at the age of six could recite passagesfrom Shakespeare and Burns so that the great bard would sob like achild or[21] shout with laughter, may be taken as the universal voice ofchildhood. She writes in her diary, "I am going to a delightful placewhere there is ducks, cocks, hens, bubblejacks, two dogs, two cats andswine which is delightful." In another place she says, "Braehead isextremely pleasant to me by the company of swine, geese, cocks, etc.,and they are the delight of my soul."

The waste of time in our public schools has been commented upon andsome of the causes have been pointed out; but is not the chief reasonthe fact that much of the work of the school is unrelated to the worldof the child? At least the child does not see the connection. Heleaves at the threshold the things which he loves and desiresintensely to investigate, and begins his intellectual development withabstractions, with "the three R's." It is said that teachers cannotsucceed unless they love their work. How can we expect children tosucceed and not waste time, not become disheartened at work that, sofar as they can discover, has little more relation to their intereststhan to the mountains of the moon?

We look to nature study to supply the missing links between thechild's life and his school work; to afford opportunities for theinterested observation of things, and to furnish a strong impulsetoward expression. It has been well said that the best result of theprimary schools is the power to use correctly one's own language. Thechief obstacle in the development of this power is the want of animpulse to express. What can afford a stronger tendency to describethan the attempt to report observations that have been made withinterest, even with delight?

PLAN OF STUDY

Begin as soon after the first of January as possible. Assign twoperiods a week of from ten to twenty minutes each for bird study inthe school. Continue the work during these periods until after thecelebration of Bird Day in May.

If no other bird is to be found, the English sparrow will answer.Place the following questions upon the blackboard:—

The children should be directed to answer these questions from theirown observation, at the next period of study. For the lowest gradestwo or three questions will be enough for the first attempt, and eventhen the variety of answers will be surprising.

The teacher should have an opera glass or a small field glass withwhich to make her own observations. It is obvious that the moreglasses there are among the children, the better. It is advisable forthe[23] teacher to make short excursions with the children to the streetsto assist them in answering these questions. These can be made at theclose of school. As a preparation, have some crumbs or seeds scatteredwhere the birds have been seen.

Continue work with these questions until each one can give areasonably accurate description of the appearance of the bird and ofits movements. Have the older pupils write this. It will make a goodlanguage lesson.

The next questions should have reference to the life andcharacteristics of the bird. What does it eat? Put out crumbs orscraps of meat and see if the bird will eat them. What sounds does thebird make? Does it sing? Imitate as many of its sounds as you can.Determine from its actions what its disposition is. For example—Is itcourageous? Is it quarrelsome? Is it inclined to fight? Is it selfish?

Frequently a single incident in a bird's life will furnish an answerto several of these questions. Two sparrows were seen attempting totake possession of the same straw. Each held firmly to his end of thestraw. A regular tug of war ensued. They pulled one another about forsome time on the top of an awning, and finally, becoming tired ofthis, they dropped the straw and furiously attacked each other. Theyfought with beak and claw, paying no attention to the spectators, andfell exhausted to the sidewalk, where they lay upon their backs untilable to hop slowly away from each other. It was some little timebefore they recovered strength to fly in opposite directions,conquering and unconquered.

Early in March advise the children to watch the direction of thesparrows' flight. They will discover that some of them are carryingstraws or feathers or other material for nest building. Notice theposition and style of these nests. Those built early in the season arealways in protected places, under the eaves of houses or in holes intrees or in bird boxes. Some of those built later are in exposedplaces,[24] clumsy affairs, but well thatched with straw, having anentrance on one side. This nest building may be watched during theentire season, for the English sparrow raises more broods than anyother of our birds.

The interpretation of the actions which indicate any of a bird'scharacteristics is a valuable part of the study on account of itsexercise of the imagination and the reason.

A plan similar to the foregoing should be followed with each bird thatis studied. With almost all other birds the study will be far moreinteresting. The English sparrow may be considered as the A B C ofbirds in his appearance and in the kind of life he leads. He istherefore a good subject to begin with. But even he will be found toexhibit unexpected individuality.

After a few days of this study, or at least before the spring birdsbegin to arrive, direct the children to try the following experiments.Scatter crumbs where they may be seen from the windows. Nail cups inthe trees containing sugar and water, and others containing seeds.Nail up a bone or two, and a piece of suet as large as your two hands.This last will be relished by the birds, for it provides the kind offood most needed in cold weather.

Watch carefully the birds that are attracted by the food. Afterfeeding awhile they will become quite tame and may be closelyapproached. Write a description of each bird upon the plan used forthe English sparrow. Encourage the children to add any observations oftheir own which throw light upon the habits and character of thebirds, since one object of this study is the development of rightfeeling toward them.

Among the first to arrive will probably be the blue jay, chickadee, orblack-capped titmouse, and one or more of the woodpeckers. These allshow individual character and are well worth studying.

The blue jay by his striking appearance and outlandish voicechallenges attention. He will be found to possess some gentlemanlytraits. To illustrate, a number of blue jays were seen taking turns,waiting in[25] line, to feed upon a bone where there was room for onlyone at a time. There was no scramble, no hurrying of the one who waseating. The blue jay is a most devoted parent, though not considered agood citizen by other birds. Contrary to the usual belief, he has abeautiful song. It is sweet and low and almost as varied as thecatbird's, and can be heard only a short distance. It has areminiscent character, as if he were thinking of past joys.

The black-capped titmouse or the chickadee is noticeable for hissprightliness and cheeriness, and for his trim, tailor-madeappearance. Emerson's poem worthily celebrates his brave spirit. Heflits around a limb and clings to it with his head up or down, withhis feet up or down, as if his movements were not physical exertions,but mental efforts. His simple little song rings out at all hours ofthe coldest day.

The woodpecker gives himself freely to study. One winter we frequentlycounted from twelve to fourteen children standing under the tree onwhich a little sapsucker was at work. The upturned faces of thechildren did not disturb him at all, although he was only a littleabove their heads. He drilled away as if his work in the world was thework which must be done. A downy woodpecker with a slightly woundedwing was brought into one of our schoolrooms, where he livedcontentedly for several days, pecking a dead treetop, which the boysbrought in for him after a good deal of thought and severalexcursions. The only food he seemed to like was sweetened water,although the children brought him a great variety to choose from. Novisitor to a schoolroom ever produced a better effect. His presence,instead of interfering with the regular order, pleased the children,and they did their work even better than usual. When his wing washealed he was dismissed from school through the window, and his flightto a neighboring treetop was anxiously watched.

Upon many other occasions wounded birds have been brought into ourschools. Some recovered and others died, but each visit was an epochin the life of the school.[26]

The other birds most likely to visit this feast during January are theflicker, crow, purple finch, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch,snow-flake; American crossbill, white-throated sparrow, tree sparrow,junco, winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, and eventhe solitary robin. The sparrow hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk mayvisit the vicinity to feed upon the other feeders. On the first ofJanuary I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the spire of a church in theheart of a city of eighteen thousand people. After selecting a victimfrom the sparrows on the street below, he calmly spread his wings andpounced upon him, or with no effort at concealment chased the birdwhose flight was nearest.

A female sparrow hawk wintered in the eaves of an apartment house inMorningside Park, New York City. English sparrow was its principaldiet, and every morning and afternoon an observer might have seen thehawk soar to the park grounds on its hunting trips.

A few years ago a sharp-shinned hawk visited our yard. Apparently helived upon the sparrows there for several days. There was no skill inhis hunting or effort to take the game unawares. When he wanted a birdhe simply left his perch and captured it by speed of wing. His ease offlight was remarkable; as a little boy said, "He just opened his wingsand sailed away." He stayed until the sparrows left the neighborhood.

As the season advances the birds will come in greater numbers. On thefirst of April a little girl in one of our schools had identified anddescribed seventeen different species of birds which she had seen inher yard. The same child fed a family of chipping sparrows; theybecame so tame that they would come to meet her when she came withcrumbs, and would pick them up even when they dropped close to herfeet. The next year this family evidently came again and raisedanother brood and brought them along to be fed, for seven andsometimes eight would come when she called. The English sparrow camealso, and the little maid drove them away without the chippies beingdisturbed. A[27] boy from one of our schools was even more fortunate. Inhis yard were a number of trees in which ample provision had been madefor the birds. Late in April, with other kinds a pair of scarlettanagers and a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks visited the trees.These stayed and soon seemed to feel quite at home. To the greatdelight of their neighbors, the house-dwellers, they built theirnests, the grosbeaks in a tree near one side of the porch, thetanagers in one near the opposite side. They became so friendly thatsometimes when the boy came out upon the porch and played softly on amouth organ, the grosbeak's silvery warble and the tanager's loud,clear voice joined him.

Brief written descriptions should be made by the pupils, similar tothe following:—

Later these outlines should be expanded into free descriptions,containing all that the pupil has learned about the bird, his habits,his character, and his life.

Each school should aim to possess a bird manual, for theidentification of the species. The following are recommended assufficient for the purpose: "Birds of the United States," by A. C.Apgar; "Birds of Eastern North America," by Frank M. Chapman; "BirdCraft," by Mabel Osgood Wright; "Birds of Pennsylvania," secondedition, by Warren (this may possibly be obtained at second-handbookstores); "Our Common Birds and How to Know Them," by Grant. Thereport of your own state upon birds, if there is one, will alsofurnish valuable information.

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS

Direct the children to put up boxes for martins, bluebirds, and wrens.These may be also put up around the schoolhouses, if fortunately thereis a yard with trees. Boxes for the martins should be large,containing fifteen or more compartments, each ten inches high by eightwide and eight deep, and each having a separate entrance. The martinbox or house should be placed twenty feet from the ground, upon thetop of a strong post or platform sustained by four smaller posts. Ifvines are planted at the foot of the supports, they will be ornamentaland will make the houses more attractive to the birds. The Englishsparrows will occupy these compartments; but if the martins concludeto take possession they will push out the sparrows and theirbelongings without assistance. Every spring I am amused in watchingthe summary process of ejectment which the martins serve upon thesparrows that have taken possession of their houses. In the morningthe sparrows may be in undisturbed possession, but by afternoon themartins occupy their old quarters, having pushed out the nests of thesparrows with their eggs or young.

The boxes for bluebirds and wrens should be smaller and have only onecompartment. They should be nailed in the tops of trees. If theEnglish sparrows build in them their nests should be broken up; andthis repeatedly, so long as they persist in building. If this is notdone the wrens and bluebirds will not come. They are incapable ofcoping with the sparrows.

Note when the different birds arrive in the spring, making in this waya bird calendar.[30]

Notice also when the birds gather together into flocks in the latesummer or autumn, preparatory to taking their leave. The last bird ofhis kind to leave should be as carefully noted as the first to arrivein your calendar. Distinguish carefully the birds of passage that stoponly a short time to rest on their journeys north and south, and thosethat stay and help to make the summer.

You will need to make frequent excursions afield, always taking yournotebook. Take first a small area and master the birds in that; thengradually extend your territory. You can take no more healthful orhappy exercise. It will greatly increase the interest of children inall their school duties if their teachers make occasional birdjourneys with them. Limit the size of the party to that number whichwill keep still as a mouse while in bird-land. Encourage the childrenalso to make frequent excursions by themselves, in parties of three orfour. Instruct them to have the sun at their backs and to carry ifpossible one glass with each party. Reports of these excursions can bemade in school, while particular attention should be given to theexchange of the knowledge of bird haunts. This can be done during theperiod devoted to bird study.

Direct the party of excursionists to observe the same birds, notebookin hand, and let each one immediately put down what he actually sees.Afterward compare results. In this way improvement will be made inrapidity and accuracy of observing.

There are two ways by which birds may be closely approached. The firstis to go to some locality where birds have been seen and to stand orsit in perfect quiet and wait for them to come. We have known some ofthe shyest wood birds to come within a few feet of the motionlessobserver. It is not an uncommon thing for one who waits to be able tolook directly into the eyes of the American redstart, thechestnut-sided and golden-winged warbler, the wood thrush, catbird,and of almost any other of the birds.

If one can imitate the owl and make a fair "hoot," otherwise keeping[31]still, he may attract many birds that will feel bound to settle thequestion of his identity. A young friend of mine, by a good imitationof a blue jay's quack, finds many little woods' folks peering at himfrom the trees which he might not otherwise see. The "smack" which isproduced by violently kissing the back of the closed fingers will callmany birds from their hiding places, especially during the nestingseason. The sound is similar to that of a bird in distress.

The second method is to follow a bird very quietly and slowly, beingcareful not to make any motions which would startle him. In this way ashore lark has been followed all over a field, the observer graduallycoming near enough to the bird to see what he was doing, and to watchhis movements as he pulled the larvæ of beetles out of the ground,cracked their cases, and ate the contents. All birds that feed in thefields, the meadow larks, the plovers, and the sparrows, may bestudied in the same way.

It is commonly thought to be difficult to get close to the veery. Onone occasion, while the writer and a companion were resting from along ramble, the air was suddenly suffused with the songs of veeries.The music seemed to fill the woods, as an organ seems to fill thechurch with sound. It was weird and suggestive and never to beforgotten. The still, deep woods seemed like enchanted ground wherenothing evil could come. After some search we saw one of the birds ina tree not far from us. As we approached him he flew to another tree.We humbly followed on foot from tree to tree, when to our surprise hestopped on a low tree on the outskirts of the wood and allowed us tocome almost within reach of him, and to stand wonder-stricken while hesang in answer to his companions. We stayed for twenty minutesmotionless. It was difficult to believe that this bird was singing.His notes had a ventriloquous effect, his beak was scarcely parted,and it was only by the trembling of the feathers of his throat that wewere sure the song came from him. Since this time we have frequentlyfound the veeries; in fact one locality is known to us as Veeryville.[32]

It is not necessary to live in the country in order to be a birdstudent and to carry out the suggestions here given. All the largecities have parks where birds may be observed and be encouraged tobecome friendly to the observer. Central Park in New York is the homeof a great variety of birds. Bronx Park is said to be a paradise forthem. On Boston Common most of the birds which come to that latitudehave been seen. There is no city so poor that it cannot boast of a fewbirds in its vicinity.

Great interest and delight may be added to the study of birds by theuse of the camera. If the teacher or one of the older pupils is sofortunate as to have a kodak and will take it when visiting the woods,or will focus it upon birds in the dooryard, the pictures may possessmuch value. To attempt to "take" a bird in flight is, of course, adifficult matter, though it may be done; but birds upon the nest,birds feeding their young, or in the trees above the nest, evidentlyprotecting it, have been successfully taken. Birds' nests with theeggs in make most fascinating pictures. At an entertainment given bythe Pennsylvania Audubon Society in Philadelphia in December, 1898,the audience with one accord cheered the picture of a nest which wasthrown upon a screen.

Work of this kind is especially adapted for high schools, and thereare sure to be several painstaking amateurs among the pupils. Topossess genuine value from the point of view of the naturalist, thepictures should not be touched up, no matter how much artistic beautymight thus be given to them; they should be entirely true to nature.

On no account should children be encouraged to make collections ofbirds or of eggs. The only objection the author has felt to the veryfine bird manuals before the public is that they contain minutedirections for the preparation of dead birds for purposes of mountingand preservation, and also for the collection and preservation ofbirds' eggs. If this were to cause the school children of the countryto set out to make collections of birds and of eggs in order to studythem, the study would better be omitted. Nothing more deadly than anopera glass[33] should be aimed at a bird for a generation. The utilityof a collection is not so great; a dead bird's plumage is not asbeautiful as in life, and he loses every attitude and movement whichmakes him an individual. A corpse is not a bird. Persons who canidentify birds by one glimpse of them through the trees, or by a fewnotes of their song, or by their flight are frequently at a loss toidentify the same birds when they are dead, unless they are familiarwith the dead birds.

The only collection the children should be encouraged to make is thatof nests after the birds are through with them; and especially ofnests with whose family history they are acquainted. These may bebrought into the schoolroom. In one of our school yards the childrendiscovered a pair of red-eyed vireos building. The nest was sosituated that it could be seen from one of the upper schoolroomwindows. After the young had left, the nest was taken down, and to thepleasure which the children had enjoyed in watching its builders andtheir family was added another. They found in the bottom of the nestlittle bits of the papers they had used in school with their lettersand figures upon them.

DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK

Have the children give anecdotes about birds that they have observed.Let them describe actions which they saw them perform, payingparticular attention to the ways of birds in eating. For example,sparrows were observed carrying hard crusts of bread to a little poolof water, formed in a dent in a tin roof, to soften before attemptingto eat them. Day after day crusts were put out, and the water wasrenewed.

Written descriptions of birds feeding their young.—Young birds liveentirely upon insect life. It has been computed that a bird during thefirst few weeks of its life consumes nearly one and one half times itsweight of insects daily. Note the amazing amount of insect life thatwill be destroyed by the birds of a neighborhood in a single season.Give, if possible, illustrations from your own observation. A robinwas noticed feeding one of its young, which sat on a limb with itsmouth open, crying for more, except when it was stopped with food. Theparent came with her beak filled with worms twenty-seven times in lessthan as many minutes, and then left her child seemingly as hungry asever, for he complained and hopped along the limb, keeping a sharplookout for several minutes. That chick must have been as full ofworms as a fisherman's bait-box. Picture the condition of our lawns,gardens, and groves if all the birds were suddenly banished and theinsects held full sway. In this connection, the writer should studyand make quotations or abstracts from "The Birds of Killingworth," byLongfellow.

In a recent lecture, Prof. Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia, cited manyfacts to show that birds are nature's great check on the excess ofin[35]sects, and that they keep the balance between plants and insectlife. Ten thousand caterpillars, it has been estimated, could destroyevery blade of grass on an acre of cultivated ground. In thirty daysfrom the time it is hatched an ordinary caterpillar increases 10,000times in bulk, and the food it lives and grows on is vegetable. Theinsect population of a single cherry tree infested with aphides wascalculated by a prominent entomologist at no less than twelve million.The bird population of cultivated country districts has been estimatedat from seven hundred to one thousand per square mile. This is smallcompared with the number of insects, yet as each bird consumeshundreds of insects every day, the latter are prevented from becomingthe scourge they would be but for their feathered enemies.

Mr. E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist of the Board of Agriculture ofMassachusetts, states that the stomachs of four chickadees contained1,028 eggs of the cankerworm. The stomachs of four other birds of thesame species contained about 600 eggs and 105 female moths of thecankerworm. The average number of eggs found in twenty of these mothswas 185; and as it is estimated that a chickadee may eat thirty femalecankerworm moths per day during the twenty-five days which these mothscrawl up trees, it follows that in this period each chickadee woulddestroy 138,750 eggs of this noxious insect.

A pamphlet issued by the Department of Agriculture of the UnitedStates says that the cuckoo, which is common in all the EasternStates, has been conclusively shown to be much given to eatingcaterpillars, and, unlike most birds, does not reject those that arecovered with hair. In fact, cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillarsthat the hairs pierce the inner lining of their stomach and remainthere, so that when the stomach is opened and turned inside out, itappears to be lined with a thin coating of hair. This bird also eatsbeetles, grasshoppers, sawflies, and spiders. It turns out from theinvestigations of the department that the suspicion with which allfarmers look upon woodpeckers is undeserved by that bird. These birdsrarely leave an important mark[36] upon a healthy tree, but when a treeis affected by wood-boring larvæ the insects are accurately located,dislodged, and devoured. In case the holes from which the borers aretaken are afterward occupied and enlarged by colonies of ants, theseants are drawn out and eaten. Woodpeckers are great conservators offorests, and to them more than to any other agency is due thepreservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.

The department defends the much-abused crow and states that he is notby any means the enemy of the farmer, in which rôle he is generallyrepresented. The pamphlet shows that he is known to eat frogs, toads,salamanders, and some small snakes, and that he devours May beetles,June bugs, grasshoppers, and a large variety of other destructiveinsects. It is admitted that he does some damage to sprouting corn,but this can be prevented by tarring the seed, which not only savesthe corn, but forces the crow to turn his attention to insects.

Insects injurious to vegetation.—Essays may be written describingsome of the insects injurious to fruit trees; also the birds that feedlargely upon these insects—the warblers, thrushes, orioles, wrens,woodpeckers, vireos, and others. Tell, if possible, from your ownobservation, of their curious, but effective, ways of finding theirfood. Describe how the birds inspect the trees, limb by limb and budby bud, in their eager search for the eggs, larvæ, and mature forms ofinsects. Note, especially, the oriole as he runs spirally round abranch to the very tip, then back to the trunk, treating branch afterbranch in the same way, till the whole tree has been thoroughlysearched, almost every bud having been in the focus of those brighteyes. It is hard to describe which is the more beautiful—theirbrilliant, flaming colors or their bugle-like bursts of music. Is thewoodpecker's drumming, and apparent listening with the side of hishead turned to the tree, all for fun, and nothing for reward?

Birds that feed upon the potato beetle.—The grosbeaks and thetanagers. Describe these. Why are these and other brightly coloredbirds[37] so shy? What has been the effect of the extensive killing ofthem for ornament, and the equally cruel practice of securing theiryoung to be kept in cages? Note how much more attractive our fieldsand gardens would be if these beautiful beings were common in them,and by their quaint ways were "teaching us manners."

Personations of birds.—Ask the children to write "personations" ofbirds, as if the writer were the bird. Give them the followingdirections: Write in the first person. Describe yourself as accuratelyas you are able, without telling your name. Tell of your habits andmanner of life, your summer and winter homes, your home cares—yournest building, your parental joys and anxieties, the enemies you haveto avoid. Mention at some length the trouble you take to give yourlittle ones a good start in life, and to enable them to earn their ownliving. Describe your songs, and try to indicate why they differ, andwhat you mean by each one. Try to present a somewhat complete pictureof the bird and its life, from the bird's point of view. At the closeof your personation the hearers may vote upon the name of the birdpresented.

A family of birds may also be described, as if they were persons,—andare they not? A very fine model of this kind of work is "Our NewNeighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.

Beginning in March, note for several days the different kinds of birdsyou see, which were not seen the day before. Make at least twoobservations daily, one in the morning and one after school. When isthe greater number of new birds seen, in the morning or in theafternoon? Or, if you live in a comparatively quiet neighborhood, evenin a large city, go out at night and listen for bird sounds in theair. You need not go far to make this trial—your own back door "opensinto all outdoors."

Watch for a robin leading out his family. Notice the feeding, afterthe birds are large enough to run and fly fairly well. The young birdsare placed apart, and kept apart by the parent, who visits each one inturn, and rebukes any who tries to be piggish, sometimes rapping itwith his bill when it runs out of turn. Notice this parent teachingthe young to sing. It is a very interesting sight.

More birds sing at night than is commonly supposed. The female robincalls to her mate frequently during the night, and he responds with asong. The catbird also sings at night. Last May one was heard to singthree nights in succession from eleven o'clock until daylight inresponse to little complaining calls from his mate. The song sparrow,warblers, and many other birds sing at night. Their songs at thesetimes sound as if the bird were sleepy and reluctant to sing, or as ifhe were startled and were hurrying through the performance. Make anote of songs heard at night and try to determine the cause. Learn todistinguish the call of the female from the song of the male.[39]

The kinds of nests.—What birds are weavers? What ones are masons orplasterers? What ones are tailors, in the construction of their nests?

Find a pair of birds engaged in nest building; robins may generally befound. Learn to distinguish the male from the female in appearance, aswell as voice. Notice what materials they are using. Which bird takesthe lead in building? What does the other bird do? Does he ever carrymaterial, or does he simply act as escort? Does he ever protect hismate from other birds?

Write this out, carefully drawing your conclusions from your ownobservations. After the young birds have left the nest and have nofurther use for it, you may take the nest and examine it closely. Youwill find that while there is a similarity in the nests of the samekind of birds, they differ considerably in the materials of which theyare composed. For example, the typical robin's nest consists of strawsand hairs plastered together with mud and lined with some softmaterial, but others have been found made entirely of raveled rope;others of carpet rags. The bird evidently is not guided in this matterby blind instinct, but uses its reason in adapting materials that areat hand.

If you are fortunate you may find a pair of orioles building theirnest. Place some bright-colored yarn or string in pieces of convenientlength where the birds will see them. Some of them are almost sure tobe woven into the nest. The oriole's nest may be attached to a limb bytwo or more cords; if it is, notice how it is prevented from swingingby side ropes. You will find it guyed against the prevailing winds.The oriole frequently ties several twigs together, and so uses theseto suspend his nest. Notice the nest pouch; those built near housesare quite shallow; those near forests are much deeper. Can you tellwhy?

The wings of birds.—Describe the different kinds, as short andround, or long and slender, and the effect of the wing-shape upon thebird's motion in the air. Describe the flights of different birds.[40]

Songs of birds.—Write the syllables which seem to you to expressthe different songs of birds. Notice the different songs of the samebird. A song sparrow was observed to have twelve different songs. Hesang each one several times over, as if each song had a number ofverses. Then changing his position, he would sing another. To mostears the robin's song is always the same, but close attentiondiscovers that there are variations. Many birds are genuine musiciansand compose as they sing, not having formal songs.

Free description of birds.—Write description of some bird of youracquaintance, noting the following:—

Its appearance.—Color, gait, flight, size from tip of beak to endof tail, spread of wings.

Song.—Season when song is most frequent, also times of day. Does itconsist of many or only a few notes? Is it cheery, like the robin's,or tuneful, like the thrush's, or rollicking and rapturous, like thebobolink's, or a Romanza, like the catbird's? Notice the differentemotion sounds, the notes of fear, of parental or conjugal reprimand,of joy, of anger, of deep sorrow, made by the bird at times.

This bird in literature.—What writers have described, what poetshave immortalized him? How did they characterize him?

Some of the following books are almost indispensable to one who wishesto know the birds:—

"Wake Robin," John Burroughs; "Birds and Poets," John Burroughs; "TheBirds and Seasons of New England," Wilson Flagg; "Upland and Meadow,"Charles C. Abbott; "Bird Ways," Olive Thorne Miller; "Birds through anOpera Glass," Florence A. Mer[41]riam; "Birds in the Bush," BradfordTorrey; "The Birds About Us," Charles C. Abbott; "From Blomidon toSmoky," Frank Bolles.

Recent magazines should be searched and the current ones scrutinizedfor articles by any of the above-named writers.

Destruction of birds.—Find out how many birds are annuallyslaughtered in the United States, and for what purposes.

In the report of the American Ornithologist Union published in 1886,it was estimated that about five million birds were annually requiredto fill the demand for the ornamentation of the hats of the Americanwomen. In 1896 it was estimated that the number thus used was tenmillion. "The slaughter is not confined to song-birds; everything thatwears feathers is a target for the bird butcher. The destruction of40,000 terns in a single season on Cape Cod, a million rail and reedbirds (bobolinks) killed in a single month near Philadelphia, arefacts that may well furnish food for reflection. The swamps andmarshes of Florida are well known to have become depopulated of theiregrets and herons, while the state at large has been for years afavorite slaughter ground of the milliners' emissaries." An article inForest and Stream, speaking of the destruction of birds on LongIsland, states that during a short period of four months 20,000 weresupplied to the New York dealers from a single village.

The Audubon Society of Massachusetts has looked up the figures andreports that "it is proved that into England alone between 25,000,000and 30,000,000 birds are imported yearly, and that for Europe thenumber reaches 150,000,000. Hence, the fashionable craze has annuallydemanded between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 birds. From the EastIndies alone a dealer in London received 400,000 humming birds, 6,000birds of paradise, and 400,000 miscellaneous birds. In an auctionroom, also in London, within four months, over 800,000 East and WestIndian and Brazilian bird skins, besides thousands of pheasants andbirds of paradise, were put up for sale."

This demand for birds has been going on for a quarter of a century,[42]and billions of rich-plumaged creatures have been slaughtered to meetit, and several of the feathered tribes have been exterminated.

Humane Education Committee, 61 Westminster Street, Providence, R. I.;George T. Angell, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the MassachusettsAudubon Society, Boston, Mass.; Secretary of the New York AudubonSociety at New York; Secretary of the Department of Agriculture,Washington, D. C.; Secretary of the Audubon Society of Pennsylvania atPhiladelphia; also write to the Department of Agriculture of your ownstate.

VII

PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY

A Bird Day exercise, in order to have much value educationally, shouldbe largely the result of the pupils' previous work, and should not bethe mere repetition of a prepared program taken verbatim from somepaper or leaflet. It is, of course, better to have the pupils recitethis leaflet or list of statements than it would be to have it groundout of a phonograph. The program should be prepared by the pupilsunder direction of the teacher.

1. For the first observance of this day by a school it would be wellto have some pupil read Senator Hoar's petition of the birds to theLegislature of Massachusetts.

The petition which was instrumental in getting the Massachusetts lawpassed, prohibiting the wearing of song and insectivorous birds onwomen's hats, was written by Senator Hoar. The petition read asfollows:—

To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts: We, the song birds of Massachusetts and theirplayfellows, make this our humble petition. We know moreabout you than you think we do. We know how good you are. Wehave hopped about the roofs and looked in at your windows ofthe houses you have[44] built for poor and sick and hungrypeople, and little lame and deaf and blind children. We havebuilt our nests in the trees and sung many a song as we flewabout the gardens and parks you have made so beautiful foryour children, especially your poor children to play in.Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping allthe time where the sun is bright and warm. And we know thatwhenever you do anything the other people all over thisgreat land between the seas and the Great Lakes find it out,and pretty soon will try to do the same. We know. We know.

We are Americans just the same as you are. Some of us, likeyou, came across the great sea. But most of the birds likeus have lived here a long while; and the birds like uswelcomed your fathers when they came here many, many yearsago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their best toplease your fathers and mothers.

Now we have a sad story to tell you. Thoughtless or badpeople are trying to destroy us. They kill us because ourfeathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls, who weshould think would be our best friends, kill our brothersand children so that they may wear our plumage on theirhats. Sometimes people kill us for mere wantonness. Cruelboys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our youngones. People with guns and snares lie in wait to kill us; asif the place for a bird were not in the sky, alive, but in ashop window or in a glass case. If this goes on much longerall our song birds will be gone. Already we are told in someother countries that used to be full of birds, they are nowalmost gone. Even the nightingales are being killed inItaly.

Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this and will saveus from this sad fate. You have already made a law that noone shall kill a harmless song bird or destroy our nests orour eggs. Will you please make another one that no one shallwear our feathers, so that no one shall kill us to get them?We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls are prettyenough without them. We are told that it is as easy for youto do it as for a blackbird to whistle.

If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times over. Wewill teach your children to keep themselves clean and neat.We will show them how to live together in peace and love andto agree as we do in our nests. We will build pretty houseswhich you will like to see. We will play about your gardenand flower beds—ourselves like flowers on wings, withoutany cost to you. We will destroy the wicked insects andworms that spoil your cherries and currants and plums andapples and roses. We will give you our best songs, and makethe spring more beautiful and the summer sweeter to you.Every June morning when you go out into the field, orioleand bluebird and blackbird and bobolink will fly after youand make the day[45] more delightful to you. And when you gohome tired after sundown, vesper sparrow will tell you howgrateful we are. When you sit down on your porch after dark,fifebird and hermit thrush and wood thrush will sing to you;and even whip-poor-will will cheer you up a little. We knowwhere we are safe. In a little while all the birds will cometo live in Massachusetts again, and everybody who lovesmusic will like to make a summer home with you.

It should be noted that the result of this petition was the passage ofa law by the Legislature of Massachusetts forbidding the wearing ofparts of wild birds. A bill forbidding the transportation of feathersor the skins of birds from one state to another was also introduced bySenator Hoar in the United States Senate.

2. At this first exercise it would be well to have read "Our NewNeighbors at Ponkapog," by T. B. Aldrich.

3. The best essays that have been written by the pupils during theirpreliminary study may be given. If the school has not made thispreliminary study, select subjects and have essays written accordingto the directions already given, allowing as much time as possible fororiginal observations.

4. Have recitations from the poets. These will add a peculiar charm tothe occasion. A short list of suitable poems will be given. Many[46]others may be found in a book called "Voices of the Speechless,"published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

The works of John Burroughs, Bradford Torrey, Maurice Thompson, Mrs.Olive Thorne Miller, and Dr. C. C. Abbott abound in passages which areexcellent for recitation. It is surprising how familiar the best-knownnovelists have been and are with birds. In appreciation of them theyare second only to the poets. Charles Reade's description of thelark's song in the mines of Australia, in "Never Too Late to Mend," isan inspiring recitation.

5. Short quotations from well known authors should be given, ifpossible, by every pupil in the school. We give a few taken almost atrandom:—

The mocking bird is a singer that has suffered much from itspowers of mimicry. On ordinary occasions, and especially inthe daytime, it insists on playing the harlequin. But whenfree in its own favorite haunts at night, it has a song, orrather songs, which are not only purely original, but arealso more beautiful than any other bird music whatsoever.Once I listened to a mocking bird singing the livelongspring night, under the full moon, in a magnolia tree; and Ido not think I shall ever forget its song.

The great tree was bathed in a flood of shining silver; Icould see each twig, and mark every action of the singer,who was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as Ihave never listened to before or since. Sometimes he wouldperch motionless for many minutes, his body quivering andthrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would dropsoftly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached,when he would rise, fluttering and leaping through thebranches, his song never ceasing for an instant until hereached the summit of the tree and launched into the warmscent-laden air, floating in spirals, with outspread wings,until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree anddown through the branches, while his song rose into anecstasy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like aclarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered thewidest possible compass; theme followed theme, a torrent ofmusic, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any twobars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him; hewas singing when I went to sleep; he was still singing whenI woke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelongnight.—Theodore Roosevelt.

Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered the rights of cattle,and said that they should have a Sabbath. "Thou shalt not doany work, thou, nor thy cattle." He declared with infiniteemphasis that the ox on the threshing-floor should have theprivilege of eating some of the grain as he trod it out, andmuzzling was forbidden. If young birds were taken from thenest for food, the despoiler's life depended on the mothergoing free. God would not let the mother-bird suffer in oneday the loss of her young and her own liberty. And he whoregarded in olden time the conduct of man toward the brutes,to-day looks down from heaven and is interested in everyminnow that swims the stream, and every rook that cleavesthe air.—DeWitt Talmage, D.D.

And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! Theface beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems topossess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, thiswoman, for they are cheap enough and plentiful enough,heaven knows; but she has them not, therefore she must wearwithin things infinitely precious, namely, good sense, goodtaste, good feeling. Does any woman imagine these with[49]eredcorpses (cured with arsenic), which she loves to carryabout, are beautiful? Not so; the birds lost their beautywith their lives.—Celia Thaxter.

I walked up my garden path as I was coming home fromshooting. My dog ran on before me; suddenly he went slowerand crept carefully forward as if he scented game. I lookedalong the path and perceived a young sparrow, with its downyhead and yellow bill. It had fallen from a nest (the windwas blowing hard through the young birch trees beside thepath) and was sprawling motionless, helpless, on the ground,with its little wings outspread. My dog crept softly up toit, when suddenly an old black-breasted sparrow threwhimself down from a neighboring tree and let himself falllike a stone directly under the dog's nose, and, withruffled feathers, sprang with a terrified twitter severaltimes against his open, threatening mouth. He had flown downto protect his young at the sacrifice of himself. His littlebody trembled all over, his cry was hoarse, he wasfrightened to death; but he sacrificed himself. My dog musthave seemed to him a gigantic monster, but for all that, hecould not stay on his high, safe branch. A power strongerthan himself drove him down. My dog stopped and drew back;it seemed as if he, too, respected this power. I hastened tocall back the amazed dog, and reverently withdrew. Yes,don't laugh; I felt a reverence for this little hero of abird, with his paternal love.

Love, thought I, is mightier than death and the fear ofdeath; love alone inspires and is the life of all.—IvanTourgueneff.

The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with youngerhope than ever! The faint, silvery warblings heard over thepartially bare and moist fields from the bluebird, the songsparrow, and the redwing, as if the last flakes of wintertinkled as they fell!—H. D. Thoreau.

I heard a robin in the distance, the first I had heard formany a thousand years, methought, whose note I shall notforget for many a thousand more,—the same sweet, powerfulsong as of yore.—Ibid.

Walden is melting apace. A great field of ice has crackedoff from the main body. I hear a song sparrow from thebushes on the shore,—olit, olit, olit—chip, chip, chip,che char—che wis, wis, wis. He, too, is helping to crackthe ice.—Ibid.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.—Ibid.

6. One of the most interesting features of a Bird Day program will bethe personations of birds.

7. Bird facts and proverbs form a valuable part of a program and maybe given by some of the children. Let the pupils search for them andbring some similar to these:—

The program may be diversified by songs about birds. Many suitable forthis occasion will be found in a collection called "Songs of HappyLife," made by Sarah J. Eddy. It is published by the Nature StudyPublishing Company, of Providence, R. I.

VIII

THE POETS AND THE BIRDS

"The birds are the poets' own," says Burroughs. How could it beotherwise? The bird, with his large brain, quick circulation, and hightemperature, is possessed of a tropical, ecstatic soul that blossomsinto music as naturally as a bulb bursts into bloom and fragrance. Heis a creature of marvelous inheritance. Poetry is a true bird-land,where you shall hear the birds as often as in any meadow or orchard ona May morning. All poets have been their lovers, from the psalmist ofold, who knew "all the birds of the mountains," to our own Lowell withhis "Gladness on wings—the bobolink is here."

The poets, who voice our deepest thoughts, have studied birds with theutmost care. It is astonishing to note the mention made of them in thepages of Browning, Tennyson, and in fact of every great maker ofverse. Not merely as adjuncts of the landscape are they mentioned, butwith intensity of feeling, as in William Watson's poem on his recoveryfrom temporary loss of mind—one of the most pathetic poems everwritten—where he thanks the Heavenly Power for letting him feel onceagain at home in nature and again related to the birds and to humanlife. Dr. Van Dyke's wish that, when his twilight hour is come, he"may hear the wood note of the veery" finds response in the heart ofevery one who has listened to that song. Frequently the poet seems tohave entered into the life of the bird and to have found his innersecret, as Keats in the "Ode to a Nightingale":—

Sometimes the words seem to have caught the rhythm and ripple of thesong, as in Browning's reference to the thrush:—

Or the bird's voice may be so suggestive as to lead the seer to thevery limits of thought and aspiration, like Shelley's "Skylark." As weneed the help of the naturalists, who see more accurately than we, wealso need the assistance of the poet's clearer vision, with its widerand deeper sweep. How completely Sidney Lanier summed up the mockingbird! and how much more pleasing is the bird in the tree because ofthe bird in the poem:—

Recitations from the poets should be a prominent feature of Bird Dayexercises. Readings and studies of poems about birds may be veryprofitably made a part of the literary work of the year.

"The Birds' Orchestra," Celia Thaxter; "The Robin," Celia Thaxter;"The Song Sparrow," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird," Alice Cary; "TheRaven's Shadow," William Watson; "On Seeing a Wild Bird," Alice Cary;"What Sees the Owl?" Elizabeth S. Bates; "Lament of a Mocking Bird,"Frances Anne Kemble; "The Snow-bird," Dora Read Goodale; "To aSeabird," Bret Harte; "The Rain Song of the Robin," Kate Upson Clark;"The Swallow," Owen Meredith; "A Bird at Sunset," Owen Meredith; "TheTitlark's Nest," Owen Meredith; "The Dead Eagle," Campbell; "Ode to aNightingale," John Keats; "What the Birds Said," John GreenleafWhittier; "The Sandpiper," Celia Thaxter; "The Blackbird and theRooks," Dinah Mulock Craik; "The Canary in his Cage," Dinah MulockCraik; "The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Titmouse," Ralph WaldoEmerson; "The Stormy Petrel," Barry Cornwall; "To the Skylark," PercyBysshe Shelley; "The O'Lincoln Family," Wilson Flagg; "To aWaterfowl," William Cullen Bryant; "Robert of Lincoln," William CullenBryant; "The Return of the Birds," William Cullen Bryant, "The Eagle,"Alfred Tennyson; "To the Eagle," James G. Percival; "The Forerunner,"Harriet Prescott Spofford; "The Skylark," James Hogg; "To theSkylark," William Wordsworth; "Sir Robin," Lucy Larcom; "The Pewee,"J. T. Trowbridge; "The Yellowbird," Celia Thaxter "The Dying Swan,"Alfred Tennyson; "Story of a Blackbird," Alice Cary; "The Blue Jay,"Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Song Sparrow," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "TheCatbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "Sparrows," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney;"The Ovenbird," Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney; "The Vireos," Mrs. A. D. T.Whitney; "The Ovenbird," Frank Bolles; "Whip-poor-will," Frank Bolles;"The Veery," Henry Van Dyke; "The Song Sparrow," Henry Van Dyke; "TheWings of a Dove," Henry Van Dyke; "The Whip-poor-will," Henry VanDyke; "To the Cuckoo," William Wordsworth; "Secrets," Susan Coolidge;"The Falcon," James Russell Lowell; "The Mocking Bird," Sidney Lanier;"Forbearance," Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The Mocking Bird,"[55] ClintonScollard; "The Mocking Bird," Maurice Thompson; "The Mocking Bird," R.H. Wilde; "The Mocking Bird," A. B. Meek; "The Mocking Bird," AlbertPike; "The Song of the Thrush," Edward Markham.

OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY

The general observance of a "Bird Day" in our schools would probablydo more to open thousands of young minds to the reception of bird lorethan anything else that can be devised. The scattered interests of thechildren would thus be brought together, and fused into a large andcompact enthusiasm, which would become the common property of all.Zeal in a genuine cause is more contagious than a bad habit.

The first Bird Day in the schools was celebrated on the first Fridayin May, 1894. This is as good a date as any for the sections not inthe extreme North or South.

It would better come a little after the birds begin to arrive. Theafternoon session will be found sufficient to devote to the specialexercises. The date should be announced some time beforehand, so thatthe children may prepare for it. They will not only preparethemselves, but will have the whole community aroused by the sharppoints of their inquisitorial weapons. Exercises should be held in allgrades, from the primary to the high school.

We quote the following from circular No. 17 sent out by the UnitedStates Department of Agriculture:—

When the question of introducing Arbor Day into the schoolswas brought before the National Educational Association inFebruary, 1884, the objection was made that the subject wasout of place in the schools. The value of the innovationcould not be appreciated by those who did not see thepractical bearing of the subject on an ordinary schoolcourse. But at the next meeting of the Association thequestion was again brought up and unanimously adopted—tothe mutual benefit of the schools and of practical forestry.With the advent of more progressive ideas concerningeducation there is a demand for instruction in subjectswhich a few years ago would have been considered out ofplace, or of no special value. If the main object of oureducational system is to prepare boys and girls for theintelligent per[58]formance of the duties and labors of life,why should not some attention be given to the study ofnature, particularly in rural schools where the farmers ofthe next generation are now being educated?

The study of birds may be taken up in several ways and fordifferent purposes; it may be made to furnish simply acourse in mental training or to assist the pupil inacquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be taken upalone or combined with composition, drawing, geography, orliterature. But it has also an economic side which mayappeal to those who demand purely practical studies inschools. Economic ornithology has been defined as the "studyof birds from the standpoint of dollars and cents." Ittreats of the direct relations of birds to man, showingwhich species are beneficial and which injurious, teachingthe agriculturist how to protect his feathered friends andguard against the attacks of his foes. This is a subject inwhich we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge,but it is none the less deserving of a place in oureducational system on this account. Its practical value isrecognized both by individual States and by the NationalGovernment, which appropriate considerable sums of money forinvestigations of value to agriculture. Much good work hasbeen done by some of the experiment stations and Stateboards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana,Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In theUnited States Department of Agriculture, the Division ofBiological Survey (formerly the Division of Ornithology)devotes much attention to the collection of data respectingthe geographic distribution, migration, and food of birds,and to the publication and diffusion of informationconcerning species which are beneficial or injurious toagriculture. Some of the results of these investigations areof general interest, and could be used in courses ofinstruction in even the lower schools. Such facts would thusreach a larger number of persons than is now possible, andwould be made more generally available to those interestedin them.

If illustrations of the practical value of a knowledge ofzoölogy are necessary they can easily be given. It has beenestimated recently that the forests and streams of Maine areworth more than its agricultural resources. If this is so,is it not equally as important to teach the best means ofpreserving the timber, the game, and the fish, as it is toteach students how to develop the agricultural wealth of theState? In 1885 Pennsylvania passed its famous "scalp act,"and in less than two years expended between $75,000 and$100,000 in an attempt to rid the State of animals and birdssupposed to be injurious. A large part of the money wasspent for killing hawks and owls, most of which belonged tospecies which were afterwards shown to be actuallybeneficial. Not only was money thrown away in a useless waragainst noxious animals, but the State actually paid for thedestruction of birds of[59] inestimable value to its farmers.During the last five or six years two States have beenengaged in an unsuccessful attempt to exterminate Englishsparrows by paying bounties for their heads. Michigan andIllinois have each spent more than $50,000; but, althoughmillions of sparrows have been killed, the decrease innumbers is hardly perceptible. A more general knowledge ofthe habits of the English sparrow at the time the bird wasfirst introduced into the United States would not only havesaved this outlay of over $100,000, but would also havesaved many other States from loss due to depredations bysparrows.

Is it not worth while to do something to protect the birdsand prevent their destruction before it is too late? Apowerful influence for good can be exerted by the schools ifthe teachers will only interest themselves in the movement,and the benefit that will result to the pupils could hardlybe attained in any other way at so small an expenditure oftime. If it is deemed unwise to establish another holiday,or it may seem too much to devote one day in the year to thestudy of birds, the exercises of Bird Day might be combinedwith those of Arbor Day.

It is believed that Bird Day can be adopted with profit byschools of all grades, and the subject is recommended to thethoughtful attention of teachers and school superintendentsthroughout the country, in the hope that they will coöperatewith other agencies now at work to prevent the destructionof our native birds.

The results of Bird Day are noticeable in the schools in which it hasbeen observed. The spirit of the schools has become fresher andbrighter. There has been more marked improvement in the compositionwork and in the language of the pupils. Most of the children know thenames of many of our birds and considerable of their ways of life, andwish to know more, and are their warm friends and protectors. The oldrelations between the small boy and the birds have been entirelychanged. The birds themselves have been affected. They have becomemuch more numerous. Many that were formerly rare visitants now nestfreely in the shade trees of the city; for example, the orioles, thegrosbeaks, the scarlet tanagers, and even the wood thrushes, and theirnests are[60] about as safe as the other homes. The children say that thebirds know about Bird Day, and have come to help it along.

The correlation of the public library and the public schools isassured in those towns where Bird Day has been introduced. If therewere no other result of this new day, the demand for healthfulliterature would be enough. The call for Burroughs and BradfordTorrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and the other writers of our out-of-doorsliterature is so great as to attract attention in the libraries. Infact, in one the writer knows well there is a constant and steadydemand, particularly from the boys. Frank Bolles is a great favoritewith them. The excursions to the woods have a new and æstheticinterest. What would Emerson have thought when he wrote that matchlessbit—

if he had known that the boys of another generation would be able toanswer as he would have liked to have them!

The effect upon teachers is not less marked. The trip to the woods inthe early morning and at sunset, sometimes with the children andsometimes in parties by themselves, has resulted in physical andmental good. A new and charming relation has sprung up betweenteachers and children. The tie of community of interests is a strongone. A taste in common is always conducive to friendship.

The surprising thing about this new departure in nature study is thatonce taken up it will never be abandoned. There is somethingfascinating in it. One may love trees and flowers, but their processesand habits of growth are in a way unrelated to us; but our "littlebrothers in feathers" are kin to us in their hopes and fears.

"When I think," said a bright woman the other day, "that this summer Ihave learned to know by plumage and by song twenty birds, and when Irealize the delight the knowledge has given me, I feel as if[61] I oughtto go out as a missionary to the heathen women in my neighborhood."She did not exaggerate the feeling of every bird lover. So much islost to life and good cheer by this ignorance.

Now that the Bird Day idea is being taken up and spread by the UnitedStates Government in the interests of economy, it will do much tosweeten the lives of the coming generation. The natural impulse tolove and watch the birds will be encouraged instead of beingdisregarded.

PART II

NOTES ON REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS

KINGBIRD (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Called also Bee Bird, Bee Martin, and Tyrant Flycatcher

Length, about eight and one-half inches; spread of wings, fourteen andone-half inches. The upper parts of body are a blackish ash; top ofhead, black; crown with a concealed patch of orange red; lower partspure white, tinged with pale bluish ash on the sides of the throat andacross the breast; sides of the breast and under the wings ratherlighter than the back; the wings dark brown, darkest towards the endsof the quills; upper surface of the tail glossy black, the featherstipped with white.

This bird is a common summer resident of the Middle States, where itusually arrives the last of April. The nametyrannus given to it isdescriptive of the character of the male, since during the breedingseason he is anxious to attack everything wearing feathers. Hisparticular aversion is hawks and crows, which he assails by mountingabove his adversary and making repeated and violent assaults upon hishead. He will even drive the eagle from his vicinity.

The farmer could have no better protection for his corn fields thanthe near-by nest of a pair of kingbirds. They eat some honeybees, butfor every bee thus taken they destroy ten noxious insects. They can beeasily frightened away from the vicinity of the hives without beingkilled.

The kingbird's nest is made of slender twigs, weed stalks, andgrasses, and is placed among the branches of trees, fifteen totwenty-five feet from the ground. There are usually four or five eggs,white, spotted with brown. They have generally two broods a year.[65]

FLICKER (Colaptes auratus)

Called also Yellow-hammer, Pigeon Woodpecker, Hittock, and Yucker

Length, twelve and one-half inches; extent, about twelve inches. Theback and wings above are of a dark umber, cross marked with streaks ofblack; parts surrounding the eyes, a bright cinnamon color; upper partof head, dark gray; strip of black on each side of the throat aboutone inch long; a narrow crescent-shaped spot of a vivid red upon theback of the head. The breast is ornamented with a broad crescent ofblack; under parts of the body, white, tinged with yellow, and havingmany round spots of black; the lower side of the wing and tail, abeautiful golden yellow; the rump, white.

This bird may be easily distinguished by the white rump and the brightyellow under the wings seen in flight.

Its food consists largely of wood lice, ants, of which it is veryfond, and of other insects which it finds upon the ground or upontrees. The female differs from the male in appearance, the blackstrips upon the sides of the throat being very indistinct or wantingentirely.

The flicker's nest, like those of other woodpeckers, may be found inmaples, oaks, apple trees, and occasionally pines or birches. They aremore frequently built in clusters of trees than in exposed places, andfrom ten to thirty feet from the ground. The male has been noticedcoming to the ground and throwing chips about, so that thenest-building might not be observed. The eggs are plain white.[67]

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)

Length, nine and one-half inches; extent, eighteen inches. The headand neck are crimson; a narrow crescent of black on the upper part ofthe breast; back, outer part of the wings, and tail, black glossedwith blue; rump, lower part of the back, inner part of the wings, andthe whole under parts, from the breast downwards, white; legs andfeet, bluish green; claws, light blue. Like all woodpeckers, the tailfeathers are sharp and stiff and help the bird to sustain itself uponthe tree. It can strike hard blows with its bill, and drill into thehardest wood with rapidity and apparent ease. It will locateaccurately the position of a grub or an insect that is within the woodof a tree, drill a hole to the inmate, and pull it out with its long,sticky tongue. The female is like the male in appearance, except thather colors are somewhat fainter. Woodpeckers as a class arebeneficial, and do much to preserve trees from destructive insects.

The red-headed woodpecker builds its nest at the bottom of a tunnel ina tree, dug by other birds, or adapted to use from an already existingcavity. The nest is a mere heap of soft, decaying wood, more attentionbeing paid by the bird to securing protection against rain than inhaving the nest clean and nice. The eggs are white, speckled withreddish brown, and are usually six in number.[69]

BLUE JAY (Cyanocitta cristata)

Length, twelve inches; extent, seventeen inches. The head is crested;crest and upper back are a light purplish blue; wings and tail, brightblue; a collar of black proceeds from the hind part of the head,gracefully curving down each side of the neck to the upper part of thebreast, where it forms a crescent; the chin, throat, and under partsare white or slightly tinged with blue; the tail is long and composedof twelve feathers marked with cross curves of black, each featherbeing tipped with white, except the two middle ones, which are a darkpurple at the ends. The legs and bill are black.

The nest of the blue jay is large and clumsily made, and is placedhigh in the branches of tall trees, the cedar being preferred. It islined with fine, fibrous roots. The eggs are four or five in number,of a dull olive, spotted with brown.[71]

BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)

Called also Ricebird, Reedbird, and Boblincoln

Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, twelve and one-fourthinches. The female is a little smaller than the male. The male has thetop and sides of the head and under parts black; large yellowish patchon the back of the neck; middle of back is streaked with buff; lowerpart of the back and upper tail feathers, grayish white; wings andtail, black; the bill is short, conical, and is blue black. The tailfeathers are sharp-pointed and stiff like a woodpecker's. The femalehas the upper parts olive buff streaked with black; yellowish beneath;two stripes on the top of head; wings and tail, brownish; tailfeathers with pointed tips. In the autumn the male puts on a dresssimilar to that of the female, the colors being a little morepronounced.

The nest is built on the ground, of grasses. It contains from four toseven grayish eggs, spotted with blotches of brown.[73]

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (Agelaius phœniceus)

Called also American Redwing, Marsh Blackbird, and Swamp Blackbird

Length, nine and one-half inches; spread of wings, fifteen andone-fourth inches. The male is of a uniform black, which glistens inthe sunshine; shoulders bright scarlet bordered with brownish yellow;bill, legs, and feet black. The female is smaller than the male, anddiffers greatly from him in appearance. She is dark brown above,streaked with lighter and darker shades; below, gray streaked withbrown; throat and edge of wing tinged with pink or yellow, but mostlypink in the summer. The young male at first resembles the female, butmay soon be recognized by black feathers appearing in patches.

The nests, which are composed chiefly of coarse grasses lined withfiner grass, are built upon the ground or in low bushes. Those builtin bushes are compact, the others are generally loosely made. The eggsnumber four to six, spotted and lined with black and brown.[75]

MEADOW LARK (Sturnella magna)

Called also Field Lark

Length of male, ten and one-half inches; spread of wings, sixteeninches. The female is smaller. The feathers above are dark brown, withtransverse dark brown bars across the wings and tail; the outer tailfeathers, white; the throat, breast, under parts and edge of wing,bright yellow. A yellow spot extends from the nostril to the eye. Thebreast has a large black crescent, the points of which reach halfwayup the neck; hind toes long, its claws twice as long as the middleone. The female is like the male, but duller in color.

Their food is various forms of insects, beetles, grasshoppers,cutworms, larvæ, sometimes varied by the seeds of grasses and weeds,wild cherries, and berries.

The nest is built upon the ground, of dried grasses, carefullyconcealed in tufts of grass. The eggs are oval, usually five innumber; they are white, dotted with reddish brown. Both sexes engagein building the nest.[77]

BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus galbula)

Called also Golden Robin, Firebird, and Hangbird

Length, about eight inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches. Thehead, throat, and upper part of the back are black; the lower part ofthe back, the breast, and forward part of the wing are a brilliantorange. The base of the middle tail feathers is orange, the endsblack; all the others are orange, with a black band in the middle. Thefemale is smaller, and colors are not so bright.

The nest is composed of various materials, such as grasses, plantfibers, hairs, strings, which are capable of being interwoven. It issuspended near the end of a limb. The eggs are commonly five innumber. They are whitish and variously marked with black and brownspots and lines.[79]

SONG SPARROW (Melospiza fasciata)

Length, a little over six inches; extent, about eight and one-halfinches. General color of the upper parts brown streaked with black,gray, and different shades of brown; no white wing bars; the crowndull brown, with a faint grayish line in the middle; white line overthe eye; under parts whitish with numerous dark brown streaks on theneck, breast, and sides; a conspicuous black spot in the middle of thebreast; bill, legs, and feet are brownish. The female is the same asthe male.

The nest is composed of grasses, lined with finer grass. It is builtin a low bush or on the ground. The eggs vary greatly both in size andin markings. They are generally five in number, and are greenish orbluish white, variously spotted with brown. These birds raise two andsometimes three broods.

GOLDFINCH (Spinus tristis)

Called also Yellowbird, Thistle-bird, and Wild Canary

Length, five and one-fourth inches; extent, nearly nine inches. Theback and under parts are bright yellow; wings and crown cap, black;tips of the wing and tail feathers, white on their inner webs. Themale in autumn loses his black cap, and his bright yellow parts changeto a dull brownish yellow similar to the female; the wings and tail,however, remain darker and the white markings are more noticeable thanthose of the female. The female has no black cap; the wings and tailare dusky, marked with white as in the male; lower parts, yellowishgray; upper parts inclining to olive.

The nest is cup-shaped, composed of plant fibers, lined with downysubstances. The eggs are usually five in number, white or faintlybluish.[83]

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Habia Ludoviciana)

Length, eight inches; extent, thirteen inches. Back, throat, and headare black; breast and under wings, rose-red; wings, black; rump, whitetipped with black. The female is about the same size as the male. Herupper parts are brown, margined with buff and pale brown, with whitishline over the eye; wings and tail, dark gray; feathers of the forewing tipped with white; under parts yellowish, streaked with brown.

The nest is a thin, flat structure made of dried grasses and smalltwigs. The eggs are greenish white with brown spots; they are usuallyfour in number. These birds are said to be great destroyers of potatobugs.[85]

CEDAR BIRD (Ampelis cedrorum)

Length, seven and one-fourth inches; extent, about twelve inches. Thehead is crested; general color, grayish brown; forehead, chin, and aline through the eye, black; tail and wings, gray; tail tipped withyellow; some of the shorter wing feathers are tipped with small oblongbeads of red, resembling sealing wax.

These birds are fond of cherries and berries. The fruit grower canprotect his interests by planting some choke cherries, mulberries, andmountain ash trees at the edges of his orchard. Cedar birds destroygreat quantities of insects, and are entitled to a part of the fruitwhich they have helped to save.

The nest is large and loosely made of strips of bark, leaves, grasses,sometimes of mud, lined with finer materials. The eggs are usuallyfive in number, dull gray spotted with black and brown.[87]

BROWN THRUSH (Harporhynchus rufus)

Called also Brown Thrasher

Length, eleven and one-fourth inches; extent, thirteen inches; tail,five and one-half inches long. The iris is yellow; upper parts,reddish or cinnamon brown; lower parts, white; feathers of middle wingedged with white; the breast and sides strongly spotted with darkbrown.

The nest is a carelessly made, bulky affair, composed of rootlets,strips of bark, twigs, leaves, and other material. It is generallypoorly concealed in some low tree or even in the corner of a fence.For this reason it is frequently broken up. The eggs, four or five innumber, are brownish mottled with darker brown. During the nestingseason the bird at morning and in the afternoon ascends to the tops oftrees and pours forth his wonderful song. He has even been thought tobe "showing off," for he will sing almost as long as any one will stayto listen; but he is probably attracting attention to himself in orderto detract it from his nest, which is always somewhere within thecircle of his song.[89]

CHICKADEE (Parus atricapillus)

Called also Blackcap Titmouse

Length, five and one-half inches; extent, eight inches. The generalcolor of back is ashy; the top of head, throat, and chin black; nocrest; under parts, whitish with buff on the sides; wing and tailfeathers edged with white; legs, bluish gray; bill, black. The song ofthis bird is an oft-repeatedchick-a-dee, from which it takes itsname. Its call consists of two high notes, the first one a third abovethe second, which may be easily imitated, and the bird attracted tothe vicinity of the person answering his call.

Its nest is made of grasses and feathers, placed in a hole in a stumpor tree; frequently in the deserted cavity made by a woodpecker. Theeggs, six or seven, are white, spotted with brown about the largerend.[91]

CATBIRD (Galeoscoptes Carolinensis)

Length, nine inches; extent, eleven and one-half inches. The generalcolor is dark slate, somewhat lighter beneath; top of the head andtail, black; under side of tail near the base, chestnut; bill andfeet, black; eye, brown. The female is like the male, but smaller. Asa musician, this bird closely approaches the brown thrush. There aregreat differences in individual singers.

The nest is bulky, composed of twigs, rootlets, dead leaves, strips ofbark, etc. Strips of grapevine bark are quite commonly used, somenests being constructed almost wholly of this material. The eggs aregenerally four in number and of a greenish blue, unmarked.[93]

BLUEBIRD (Sialia sialis)

Length, six and one-half inches; extent, twelve and one-half inches.The upper parts, wings, and tail are bright blue; sides of the headand upper part of chin also blue; throat, breast, and sides, reddishbrown; abdomen and under side of tail, white; legs and bill, blackish;eye, brown. The female is similarly marked, but the colors are duller.

The nest is loosely built of grasses, feathers, and soft material, inholes of trees, in hollows of posts, or in bird boxes. The eggs arelight blue and are four or five in number.[95]

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		PAGE
I.	History of the Movement for "Bird Day"	9
II.	The Value of Birds	14
III.	The Destruction of Birds	17
IV.	Plan of Study	22
V.	Further Suggestions	29
VI.	Directions for Written Work	34
VII.	Programs for Bird Day	43
VIII.	The Poets and the Birds	52
IX.	Objects and Results of Bird Day	56
X.	Some Representative Birds	64

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The Project Gutenberg eBook ofBird Day; How to prepare for it

BIRD DAYHOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

BY

CHARLES A. BABCOCK, A.M., LL.B.

Superintendent of Schools, Oil City, Pennsylvania

SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY

New York Boston Chicago

Copyright, 1901, By Silver, Burdett and Company

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

TO THE LOVERS OF CHILDREN

AND OF BIRDS

AUTHOR'S NOTE

CONTENTS

PART I

BIRD DAY. HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

BIRD DAY

HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

I

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR "BIRD DAY"

II

THE VALUE OF BIRDS

III

THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS

IV

PLAN OF STUDY

V

FURTHER SUGGESTIONS

VI

DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK

VII

PROGRAMS FOR BIRD DAY

VIII

THE POETS AND THE BIRDS

IX

OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF BIRD DAY

PART II

NOTES ON REPRESENTATIVE BIRDS

KINGBIRD (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Called also Bee Bird, Bee Martin, and Tyrant Flycatcher

FLICKER (Colaptes auratus)

Called also Yellow-hammer, Pigeon Woodpecker, Hittock, and Yucker

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)

BLUE JAY (Cyanocitta cristata)

BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)

Called also Ricebird, Reedbird, and Boblincoln

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (Agelaius phœniceus)

Called also American Redwing, Marsh Blackbird, and Swamp Blackbird

MEADOW LARK (Sturnella magna)

Called also Field Lark

BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus galbula)

Called also Golden Robin, Firebird, and Hangbird

SONG SPARROW (Melospiza fasciata)

GOLDFINCH (Spinus tristis)

Called also Yellowbird, Thistle-bird, and Wild Canary

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Habia Ludoviciana)

CEDAR BIRD (Ampelis cedrorum)

BROWN THRUSH (Harporhynchus rufus)

Called also Brown Thrasher

CHICKADEE (Parus atricapillus)

Called also Blackcap Titmouse

CATBIRD (Galeoscoptes Carolinensis)

BLUEBIRD (Sialia sialis)

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

BIRD DAY
HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT

Copyright, 1901,
By Silver, Burdett and Company