The Delawarean., 1900-05-26

by ruling a note book like the diagram
IN The board a page to the pupil from
pheir description of the bird we could
usually place the bird when there was
any doubh, we used Bird Neighbors"
by Nalye Blanchan.
To fix the self-gained knowledge
from topics they wrote their language
lesson. These topics after a time were
but few words as size, difference in
plumage of male and female, range,
migration and habits.
We attempted but very little in the
way of illustrations, as specimens were
not possible and drawing in the lower
grades from memory is not often very
satisfactory.
We kept a flower record, weather re-
cord and several others. While the
pupils were more or less interested in
all, the bird record aroused the m st
curiosity and interest. There were
some children in the school of the un-
couth, untamed kind, that, it seemed
near an impossibility to teach anything
between the two covers of the simplest
primer, but they would spend hours in
the woods and meadows watching a
bird build her nest. or follow a new
specimen rods that they might be able
to describe and have it named, the
next day, when We would stop our
work for a minute or two to listen to
the song of some bird in the yard, and
| asked for it's name these children
were usually prepared to answer, but
the mere sight of the word bird" from
the board or their book completely out
did them. The bad boy of the school
was never so supremely happy as when
writing language lesson on this sub
ject. AS he was somewhat of an ar
tist he was kept out of mischief and
improved many leisure moments illus
trating covers for the portfolios we
used for these papers.
Birds and their life are so akin to
children and theirs that it should be
one of a teachers duties to teach them
to know where to look for the birds
that catch their food flying and choose
the topmost twig of the tree for their
perch Tell them to look here for the
king bird swallow, humming bird
pewee and phoebe, that the tanagers,
orioles and warblers are to be found
in the orchard and gardens, swinging
on the topmost branches, their brilliant
red and yellow plumage reminding one
of some gaudy flower Teach them
when they go to the woods for wild
flowers, that here in the thick-leaved
low branches of the trees they will
SHY little wrens, that the wood peckers,
nuthatch kinglet and warblers delight
in climbing and inquisitively peering
into every crevice of the bark. for food,
on the trunk and large limbs of trees
near the edge of the woods, that in the
winter they will find the saucy chiek-a-
dee, the trim waXwing and grosbeak
in the evergreen. how the more daring
viris, fly catcher and yellow bird swing
lazily on the very end of the tiny twig,
that the meadows and lowlands fairly
ring with the song of the jolly bob-o-
link and red winged black bird, that
these two with the meadow lark, indigo
bird, gold finch and yellow throat with
but very few others sing while on the
wing
Your pupils know when and where
to look for the first blood root, May
flowers and arbu'tus Why not when
to expect the first blue bird and robin?
It's just as easy and more interesting
for them to learn that these make
their appearance between February 10,
and March 10. as that they
may find the hepatiea in early
April. or they may be sure they
heard the phoebe and pewee any time
after March Is, that the gayest plum
aged and sweetest songsters make us
a rather flying visit between the 18th of
April and June.
All children are architects enough to
enjoy knowing how the chimney swift
builds her nest of sticks and CLUES it to
the inside of the chimney; how the
robin makes her ragged nest of weeds
and plasters it with mud They enjoy
the work of the smallest of this list of
carpenters, the ruby-throated hum
ming bird, how she builds the tiny
home of lichen and horsechestnut
down on the upper side of large
limb out of sight. They are as much
pleased with the long basket-shaped
wozen nest of the oriole and marsh
wren as any of the Mother Goose
jingles.
There are so many interesting tales
and stories in connection with the
naming of the birds that the most in
teresting, apparently, of these feather
ed friends may be made to read like
some fascinating fairy tale. The old
Norwegian story of how the robin and
lhlua bird came with red breasts and the