appiness. This is the _aesthetic_
aspect.

There is a knowledge of Nature which, through the life history of plant
and animal, throws light on the pupil's own life, gives him an insight
into all life in its unity, and leads him to look up reverently to the
author of all life--through Nature up to Nature's God. This is the
_spiritual_ aspect.

Each of these aspects supplements, interprets, or enforces the others.
He who omits or neglects any of these perceives but a part of a complete
whole. Nature Study develops in the pupil a sympathetic attitude toward
Nature for the purpose of increasing the joy of living. It leads him to
see Nature through the eyes of the poet and the moralist as well as
through those of the scientist.

Nature Study is concerned with plants, birds, insects, stones, clouds,
brooks, etc., but it is not botany, ornithology, entomology, geology,
meteorology, or geography. In this study, it is the spirit of inquiry
developed rather than the number of facts ascertained that is important.
Gradually it becomes more systematic as it advances until, in the high
school, it passes over into the science group of studies.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THESE ASPECTS

The simple observational lessons on The Robin, pages 96-7, form the
bases for further study in more advanced classes. This bird as a
destroyer of worms, beetles, etc., is a valuable assistant to the farmer
as, indeed, are practically all birds in this Province. Birds such as
the duck, goose, partridge, etc., are valuable as food, and laws are
made to protect them during certain seasons.

The training in inference which a pupil receives in studying the parts
of a plant or an animal and the adaptation of these parts to function is
valuable. He studies the plant and the animal as living organisms with
work to do in the world, and learns how what they do and their manner of
doing it affect their form and structure.

The short, curved, and slightly hooked bill of the hen and her method of
breaking open a pea pod or splitting an object too large to swallow
shows the bill to be a mallet, a wedge, or a pick as the case may be. A
study of the bills of the duck, woodpecker, and hawk will reveal the
method by which each gets his food and how the organ is adapted to its
purpose. Similar studies of the feet and legs of birds will make the
idea of adaptation increasingly clear.

Literature is rich with tributes to the songs of the birds. The thoughts
and feelings aro