| Show FOR A BIRD DAY state legislature will be asked to appoint such A day for the public schools of the state according to advices advises from the office of the state superintendent of public instruction efforts mil nill bo be made at this session of the legislature e to have a bird day appointed for the public schools ifo no opposition is expected and none should occur mr kelson nelson strongly favors the idea of bird day and thinks that a favorable tune time for holding it would N be toward the end of march or very veri early in april As early as 1894 mr morton the author of arbor day and then secretary of agricula ture while dic discussing the benefits of the arbor day celebration in the sentiment and interest aroused among the people in the growing of trees and in the the broader stud studs of nature resulting from this observance expressed this opinion that the observance of a bird day would appeal still more strongly to the people of this country and particularly to the youth the melancholy fact that our women and our boys are among the greatest enemies of our birds led the secretary to declare in favor of creating such a sentiment for bud blid protection as would lead women to be ashamed to bo be seen with the wings of a wild bird on their bonnets and every honest boy to be to V own that he be ever robbed a nest or uan wantonly tonly took the life of a bird the love of feather ornamentation on the part of women and a ni mama ania for collecting eggs and k killing illing birds on the part of our boys mr morton declared to be legacies of barbarism inherited from our savage ancestry and it is true that the number of beautiful and useful birds annually slaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundreds of thousands and threatens if it has not already accomplished the elterm of some of our rarer species the insidious egg hunting and pea shooting proclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread and destructive it mattert little which of the two agencies is the more fatal since neither is productive of any good one looks to the gratification fi cation of a shallow anity the other to the gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure of boyish energy that might be profitably diverted into other channels the evil is one against which legislation can be only palliative and of local efficiency public sentiment on the other hand if properly fostered in the schools would gain force with the growth and training of our boys and girls and would become more potent than any law lat enacted by the bbate or congress nevertheless the law would bea be a q great help briefly stated the object of bird day is to d diffuse I 1 knowledge cor corn ing our native birds and to arouse a more general interest in bird protection As such it should appeal not only to ornithologists sportsmen and fart farmers ners who have a practical interest in the preservation of birds but also the general public who would soon appreciate the loss if the common songsters song were exterminated mr morton says birds are of inestimable value to mankind without their unremitting services our gardens and fields would be belaik laid ii waste aste by inject insect pests posts but we oft on e them a greater debt even than this for the study of birds tends to develop gome onie of the best attributes e and impulses i in i pulses of aur na tures among them we ise find examples of generosity unselfish devotion of the 10 loie e of the mother for offspring and other esti estimable mablo qualities their industry patience and ingenuity excite our admiration their songs inspire ua us with a love of f music and t their beautiful plumage and graceful manners appeal to our esthetic sense then long migrations to distant lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire into the cause of these periodic movements and finally the endless modifications of form and habits by which they are enabled to live under most diverse conditions of food and climate on land and at eoa in mute tite the students of nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research the cause of bird protection is one that appeals to the best side of our natures let us yield to the appeal let lot us have a bird daj day a day set apart from all the other days of the jear to tell the children about tho the birds but we ne must not stop here we should strive continually to develop and intensify ther the sentiment of bird protection not alono alone for the sake of preserving the birds but also for the sake of replacing as far as possible the barbaric impulses inherent in child nature by the nobler impulses and aspirations that should characterize advanced civilization it when the question of introducing arbor day into the schools was brought before tha national educational association in february 1884 the objection was made that the subject was inas out of place in the schools tho the value of the innovation could not bo appreciated by those who did not sec see the practical bearing of the subject on an ordinary school course but at the next meeting of the association the tion was again brought up and unanimously adopted to the mutual benefit of the schools and of al 61 forestry with t the be advent of more progressive ivo ideas concerning education there is a demand for instruction st in subjects which a few years ago would have been considered out of place or of no special value if the main object of our educational cat ional system is to prepare boys and girls forthe for the intelligent performance of the duties and labors of life why should not some attention be given to tho the study of nature particularly in rural schools where the farmers of the nest generation are now being educated the department at washington declares that it i is s time to gin gi e more intelligent attention to the birda birdland and appreciate their value many schools says mr palmer already have courses in natural history or nature study and such a day would add zest to the regular studies encourage the pupils to observe carefully and glo them something to look fori forward ard to and work for in the words of the originator of the day the general anca ianes of a bird day dai in our schools would probably dp do more to open thousands of young minds to iho the reception of bird lore than anything else that can be devised the firby thing is to inter interest est the pupils in birds and particularly in those of their own locality good lists of birds have been prepared for several of the states and it is hoped that similar public publications actions will soon be within the reach mach of ever one here the instruction st should not bo be limited to books the children should be en couill ged to observe the buds birds in the fields to study their habits and migrations grat ions their nests and foods and should be taught to respect the laws protecting game and song birds we trust that our own state u fiill ill not be behind other parts of tho the union in responding to the call of the state superintendent for the establishment by law and the due observance by the schools and the pub lie of a bird day the manner of observance elac elsewhere where is 13 thus described in the pamphlet entitled bird dal da 21 issued by the department of arni irni 4 t t 4 f 2 agriculture 1 ti tho the exe rubea consist of original compositions of the pupils containing the results of their observations of birds of talks by pupils and teachers compiling comparing observations ions gning gi 1 effig localities of bird haunts and general exchange of bird lore of recitations from eminent prose writers on birds and from tho the poets finally many of our schools closed their exercises by a trip to the woods to listen to the vesper concert of our feathered brothers we begin the study of birds on january I 1 and continue till june studying those tint that stay all winter and trying to keep account of the new comers corners as they arrive wo we devote denote wo periods of twenty minutes cich each per week to this study bird day is a summary or focusing of the work of the year the tile results of bird study and of jbard day are arc interesting te our children generally know most of our bird residents they also love them and feel like protecting them there haq been a complete change in the relations existing between the small boy and the birds so writes one buann wo we understand moreover that the state game i warden arden is in sympathy with the movement and will use his influence in favor of the passage of a law creating a bird day it is 13 believed that such a day can be observed with profit by schools of all grades the department of agriculture ri therefore commends the subject to the attention of teachers and school superintendents in the hope that they will co operate with other agencies now at work to the di dit truc ruction tion of our native birds deserette deseret ve yi st t |
