BIRD MIGRATION
(Consult Bird Life by Frank M. Chapman, and Bird Studies by G. A. Cornish.)
In the autumn, direct attention to the flight of wild ducks and geese and to the gathering into flocks of robins, crows, bronze grackles, blue herons, sparrows, and other birds in preparation for migration.
Discuss with the pupils the reasons for migration, namely, scarcity of food, the cold, the snow. In the spring, the return is stimulated by the nesting instinct.
Note how the birds are guided—some, for example the ducks and geese, by their leaders, while others have no guides but their instincts.
In winter, require the pupils to observe the kinds of birds that are to be seen in the gardens, fields, orchards, and woods, having them note the scarcity of birds and the absence of many forms that are with us in the summer.
CORRELATIONS
Geography: By pointing out on the map the countries into which the birds go, namely, Central America, Brazil, etc.
Reading and literature: By interpreting
Where did you spend the dreary winter?
In a green and sunny land,
By the warm sea-breezes fanned,
Where orange trees with fruit are bent,
There the dreary time I've spent.