The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-28
BIRD STUDY AT WELLESLEY.
H0W TT IS CARRIED ON BY THE
 YOUNG WOMEN STUD DENTS.
Lectures and Field Work Under Fa- vorabie ConditioMs--objects to be A- and tho Birds.

fained-Bsnefits Both to tho students
 and tho Birds.
 Bird study at Wellesley is a part of
 the course in general biology, and con-
 sists of field work, of lectures and of
 laboratory practice throughout the sec
 ond half-year. Though, however, it is
 conducted by the department of zoology
 and for the benefit of those students
 who elect that course, the lectures are
 open to all, and there exists throughout
 the college a genuine interest in the sub-
 ject. The facilities for this work at
 Wellesley are, for a college unique.
 Lake, river and brook grassy field and
 marshy meadow, deep wood and culti-
 vated estate, orchard and clearing, hill-
 side and swamp, make the situation
 singularly attractive, and tempt many
 birds of many kinds. Those which may
 be easily seen within a radius of half a
 mile from the main building number GJSHCy -lllll6, dIlN llS llsl OI liiosoC lOeciA- ed within a radius of eight miles in
 cludes two hundred and forty-four.
 This wealth of material would justify the devoting of time to pursuit so de-
 lightful in itself, were there no educa-
 tional advantages involved. But when
 we remember that bird study has been
 demonstrated to be one of the best of fields for the training of that accurate observation and that clear thinking which every beginner in scientific work must cultivate, the reason for it's form ing a part of a course on general bolo- gy is made clear.
 No less desirable thar the mental training afforded by this pursuit is of course the cultivation of spirit of friendliness and protection toward these brothers of the air.' All studies in nat ural history tend to develop in us the humane, but birds appeal so naturally and so powerfully to the gentler side of our natures that they need only to be known to win love and protection. To interest women in living birds is the way to kill their interest in dead ones
 These, then are the objects of the work-the training of quick and accu- rate eye, the developing of a thoughtful mind and the rousing of chivalrous spirit. And yet, while these aims con- stitute the justification of the course and form the handspring of the meth- ods of procedure, it must be confessed that when the time for action comes, pedagogical motives fly to the winds, and our only desire is to make other people see how much they miss by hav- ing no acquaintance with these friends. After all if one really knows the birds, does not that signify all the rest? They themselves are the best educators, they are their own most eloquent advocates.
 The chief aim being, then, to know the living bird, the greatest emphasis rests on field work. The walks" form the characteristic feature of the course. Once or twice in the early spring the girls by turns go out in squads of eight or nine with the instructor in charge, and when the warm days of May and June arrive sometimes whole division of twenty-five or thirty moves out of doors for its class appointment, to fol- low the sights and sounds of which those days are full Most of the field work goes on, however, independent of LHG lIlSLIuClOI, dIQ So lIlOIOuSu IS IL that no Wellesley landscape in the spring would be complete without some where a motionless figure gazing through opera glass intently into space.
 The outdoor work is likely to be vague unless steps are taken to render it defi- nite One device which may be adopted Is the use of charts for guiding and re- cording observations. We employ at Wellesley three such charts; the first presents and names the various colors with which the pathological student needs to become familiar; the second deals with the seasonal distribution. showing in graphic way the times of arrivals and departures and the third is used as check list. This last one, ruled in squares, contains at the top the names of the members of the class, and at the side the names of the birds which occur within 8 radius of five or ten miles from the college as a center. Each girl enters in the column below her name, in line with the name of the bird which she has seen, the date of her observation. Before she completes the course she must have identified in the field a certain number of species. This total varies, of course, with the chang ling conditions of different seasons; last year it was forty-a small number it is true, but small because experience has shown that it is better to demand fewer than the majority can sec
 An excellent museum and an ade- uuate library do much to simplify the task of identification. Just outside the stands a small case, in which | are kept bird books, ranging from such classics as Wilson and Audubon. encyclopedias like Newton's, | to those works which in recent years, have sprung up in answer to the call for 'handbool1s.'' Beside it is reading ta- ble on which lie Bird Lore and other as we'll as the publications of the Audubon society Each student possesses one book, either the Birds of l Wellesley and Vicinity" or one with l keys for Identification.
 Formal instruction is embodied in l weekly lectures, to which come others l than those who are members of the l class. The object of these talks is to | arouse an interest in~rhe birds so great l that it will be satisfied with nothing short of personal acquaintance with l them in the field. They give, therefore, | only such hints of the time and place l for finding them, of their characteristic | ,,otes and habits. as will eouip the stu ! 4 I rf,.,f ,f,,.s ,,N