The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-22

1.-The Lady of the Birds is the
name bestowed by the pupils of New
York's public school on Miss Eliza
beth Putnam Moore, whose mission is
to bring children to more init
mate knowledge and a better appre-
citation of bird life.
Once in SO often she makes her
rounds of the schools in what are
known as the tenement districts, and
to the children these rounds seem
far apart. They never know when
she is coming, but some morning
when the opening exercises are over,
class finds her standing at the table
with her arms full of sky" as they
call the big blue cloth which she car
ries about with her for a setting to
her bird talks.
The sky is placed on the table
and out of its changeable folds she
draws bird after bird-birds that are
all red, large birds of black and yell
low, brown birds with flash of GRIM
son on the breast and modest gray
brown birds. And then the fifty or a
hundred children whose daily horizon
is bounded by sky-scrapers and tow
ering dwelling houses, listen to the
tale of the songsters they all hope to
see some day.
How She Studied Birds.
Miss Moore conceived the idea
about six years ago of teaching city
children bird-lore. To pursue her
own studies of the bird life as city
children might find it, if they were in
duced to visit the parks, she spent
days in the parks and outlying dis
tricts, dressing in green and sitting
motlonless among the trees, while the
birds flew and played about her, built
their nests and fed their young, I'M
alarmed by the presence of a strange
creature. To-day her work, both pro-
fessional and social, is broad and far
reaching, but her chosen field is the
primary schools in the poor over
crowded sections of the city.
The wrapt attention of the children
and their delight at seeing the most
ordinary birds familiar to all chill
dren who live in the country is truly
pathetic.
This first wonder is at the real size
and color of the birds of which they
have read. 1t seems that the best of
illustrations to be found in circulating
Libraries give wrong impressions.
Generally the size of a bird is a disap-
poihtment. The children have i'm
agined it many times as large. In
variably when a scarlet tanger is pro-
duced, there is a hushed chorus of
"Oh, see the robin!" For the chill
dren have read that a robin is called
"redbreast.''
The teachers are enthusiastic about
Miss Moores work as are the chill
dren, and her methods may be follow
ed without trouble by mothers and
teachers everywhere.
A bird talk" means much more
than the name implies. For one thing
it is an excellent form of mind train
ing. Miss Moore profits by long eX-
perience in working with children in
the kindergarten. Her talk is not
recital of facts but a conversation with
the children, in which she tells them
interesting stories of the birds she
shows and keeps them on the alert to
think out the various points for them
selves.
A d-pecker is drawn from
the blue sky The children guess its
name. Generally there is at least one
who has read that wood-peckers live
In trees. Miss Moore draws tree on
the blackboard. She shows how the
bird runs up and down the trunk.
She draws a hole in the side Of the
tree. Then she draws eggs inside the
nest with the specimen In her hand
she illustrates how the bird goes INTO
its hole and how Il comes out. she
tells how II feeds on insects which j
picks out Of The bark. A. the end,
whom she asks Why the wood-pecker
has a long. hard bill and why IT'S claws