f a year can well and
profitably be given over to the birds. Than such study, nothing can be
more interesting. The cultivation of an intimate acquaintanceship with
our feathered friends is a source of genuine pleasure. We are under
greater obligations to the birds than we dream of. Without them the
world would be more barren than we imagine. Consequently, we have some
duties which we owe them. What these duties are only a few of us know
or have ever taken the trouble to find out. Our children should not be
allowed to grow to maturity without this knowledge. The more they know
of the birds the better men and women they will be. We can hardly
encourage such studies too much."

Of all animated nature, birds are the most beautiful in coloring, most
graceful in form and action, swiftest in motion and most perfect
emblems of freedom.

They are withal, very intelligent and have many remarkable traits, so
that their habits and characteristics make a delightful study for all
lovers of nature. In view of the facts, we feel that we are doing
a useful work for the young, and one that will be appreciated by
progressive parents, in placing within the easy possession of children
in the homes these beautiful photographs of birds.

The text is prepared with the view of giving the children as clear an
idea as possible, of haunts, habits, characteristics and such other
information as will lead them to love the birds and delight in their
study and acquaintance.

NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING

* * * * *

#BIRDS.#

ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY.

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VOL. 1. JUNE, 1897. No. 6.
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BIRD SONG.

"I cannot love the man who doth not love,
As men love light, the song of happy birds."

It is indeed fitting that the great poets have ever been the
best interpreters of the songs of birds. In many of the plays of
Shakespeare, especially where the scene is laid in the primeval
forest, his most delicious bits of fancy are inspired by the flitting
throng. Wordsworth and Tennyson, and many of the minor English poets,
are pervaded with bird notes, and Shelley's masterpiece, The Skylark,
will long survive his greater and