6. Birds of Song—The nightingale, the mocking-bird, thrushes, warblers.
Books to Consult—Robert Ridgway: Manual of North American Birds. H. K. Job: How to Study Birds. Chapman: Bird Life. Beetham: Photography for Bird Lovers. Weed and Dearborn: Birds in Their Relation to Man.
If there is time, have these papers also: Birds' nests in the different climates; the coloring of birds' eggs; the plumage of birds and its use in millinery; bird songs; bird study with opera-glass and camera. Have several readings from Burroughs' Wake Robin, and Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller's Little Brothers of the Air.
IX—FLOWERS
1. The Study of Botany as a Recreation—Character of the local neighborhood. The humble plants and flowers: grasses, mosses, ferns, and water plants. The herbarium.
2. Wild Flowers of the Forest, the Swamp, the Mountain, and the Prairie.
3. Cultivated Flowers—House plants. The amateur greenhouse. Window boxes. Curious flowers and orchids.
4. Gardens and Gardening—Literature (Evelyn, etc.). Cultivation of annuals. Raising of spring flowers. Flowers for market. Italian gardens.
Books to Consult—Gray: Botanical Text Book. Mrs. W. S. Dana: How to Know the Wild Flowers. Caroline A. Creevey: Flowers of Field, Hill and Swamp. H. L. Keller: Our Garden Flowers. Kerner: Flowers and Their Unbidden Guests.
The subject of gardens can be extended to cover an entire program. The literature of the subject has become very great, and many interesting and beautiful readings may be chosen from such books as Ruskin's Proserpina, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, and Mabel Osgood Wright's Garden of a Commuter's Wife. An entire paper might be given to the fascinating subject of sun-dials. Another might deal with the literature of the rose, or the relation of plants and insects, or the color of flowers (consult Grant Allen).