used or suggested by these songs are the topics of much
of the world's enduring poetry. Longfellow, in his "Birds of
Killing-worth" (_Tales of a Wayside Inn_) sings exquisitely of the use
and beauty and worth of birds. Shelley, in his "Skylark", describes in
glowing verse "the unbodied joy" that "singing still dost soar and
soaring ever singest". Wordsworth hears the blithe new comer, the
Cuckoo, and rejoices

Though babbling only to the vale
Of sunshine and of flowers
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

The life story of a bird throws light on our own lives, puts us in
sympathy with the lives of others, teaches kindness, teaches the duties
and responsibilities of the higher to the lower, teaches respect for all
life.

Observe the helpless bird in its nest, helpless as a baby. See the care
given by the mother and father to keep it warm till its down and
feathers grow, to feed it till it is able to leave the nest. Watch the
parents teaching it to fly by repeated short flights. Olive Thorn Miller
in her _Bird Ways_ gives a delightful sketch of the father robin
teaching a young robin where to look for worms and how to dig them up.
When that task was accomplished, his father began to give him "music
lessons", that is, practice in imitating the Robin's song. Thus, the
young bird was equipped to make a living and to enjoy life. The social
life of birds, as they sing their matins, as they choose their mates, as
they gather in flocks preparatory to migration, furnish many
opportunities for indirect teaching on many of life's problems.

The Ontario Readers contain many poems that may be used in connection
with the Nature Study lessons. To supplement the observational studies
of birds, read from the Third Reader, "The Robin's Song", "The
Red-winged Blackbird", "The Sandpiper", "To the Cuckoo", "Bob White",
"The Lark and the Rook", "The Poet's Song".

In the Third Reader, the lessons on "The Fountain", "The Brook", "The
Tide River", and "A Song of the Sea" form a group that can be used in
connection with lessons in geography. "A Song for April", "An Apple
Orchard in the Spring", "The Gladness of Nature", "The Orchard", "A
Midsummer Song", "Corn-fields", "The Corn Song", "The Death of the
Flowers", "The Frost", "The Snow-storm", make another group to accompany
a study of the seasons. A similar group may be selected from the Fourth
Reader.

The pupil who has made a study of a "brook" as a l