SUGGESTIONS FOR 1. Why is it important to preserve forests in California? Discuss (1) control of water supply and the flow of streams and rivers; (2) what happens where severe lumbering or fire has destroyed the forests; (3) the necessity for observing certain measures of conservation for the sake of the lumber industry. 2. Make a plan showing what you consider desirable tree, shrub and flower planting along California highways. Suggest ways of interesting organizations and people to gain financial support to carry out such a project. 3. Write a composition on the verses about birds to be found in the poems of James Whitcomb Riley, the "children's poet." TREE STUDY Such questions as the following may be asked: What color are the leaves in summer? Are they all the same shade of green? What do the leaves do in summer? In winter? What color are the leaves in autumn? Does each tree have its own autumn color? What color do hickories turn? Do you know any leaves that do not change color? What do we call them? If the leaves remain on the tree all winter, do they ever fall off? Why do you like the trees? Would you like to have your dooryard without trees? Do you like to go to the woods to play? Does the grass grow under the trees just the same as it does out in the sunshine? What gifts does the tree bring to us? What does the tree give you to eat? the fruits. Name the nuts. Name To how many of God's creatures does the tree give food? Does the tree help them in any other way? What do you see in this room that the tree gives to us? Name everything in the dining room at home that the tree gives to you. Tell me all the things you see on the way to school that the tree gives to you. Name all the things that you used when you went away from home on a trip that the tree gives to you. Tell me all the things you see on the way to school that the tree gives to you. Name all the things that you use in one day that the tree gives to you. Name all the things that you used when you went away from home on a trip that the tree gives to you. Name all the things you ever rode in that are made of wood. What musical instruments can you think of that are made of wood? Name five things that you like best that are made of wood. Name five things that you use most that are made of wood. What things does the baby use that are made of wood? What things does grandpa use that are made of wood? There Are Wonderful Tales About How they protect their buds in winter. Stories of the carpenter and what he makes of wood. Stories of toys, household articles, and paper making. Of lumbering, and building houses and bridges and railroads and boats. Stories of the log from forest to furniture. From the big tree to the tiny shoe peg. BIRDS For, if we can fill the plastic minds. of growing children with thoughts of the beautiful world of nature, with the fascination of the myriads of wee beasties, more wonderful than a circus, we can so saturate them with the good, that no room remains for the morbid, the undesirable, the vicious. Let us teach them to read roadsides as well as books.-C. M. Goethe. THE VALUE OF BIRDS Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without their unremitting services. our gardens and fields would be laid waste * THE INVITATION Take the first step in bird study and you are ticketed for the whole voyage. There is a fascination about it quite overpowering. It fits so well with other things with fishing, hunting, farming, walking, camping out-with all that takes one to the fields and woods. One may go a-blackberrying and make some rare discovery; or while driving his cow to pasture, hear a new song or make a new observation. Secrets lurk on all sides. There is news in every brush. Expectation is ever on tiptoe. What no man ever saw before may the next moment be revealed to you. What a new interest the woods have! How you long to explore every nook and corner of them! Ornithology cannot be learned satisfactorily from books. The satisfaction is in learning it from nature. One must have an original experience with the birds. The books are only the guide, the invitation. . . . But let me say, in the same breath, that the books can by no manner of means be dispensed with. The ornithologists divide and subdivide the birds into a great many families, orders, genera, species, etc., which at first sight are apt to confuse and discourage the reader. But any interested person can acquaint himself with most of our song birds by keeping in mind a few general divisions and observing the characteristics of each. By far the greater number of our land birds are either warblers, vireos, fly - catchers, thrushes or finches.-John Burroughs, Alabama Bird Day Book, 1916. Bulletins relative to California native trees may be procured by schools upon postal request of the California Nature Study League, Capital National Bank Building, Sacramento, California, and the U. S. Forest Service, 114 Sansome street, San Francisco, California. For information on California, Audubon Societies, sets of material, buttons, etc., write for information to Mrs. Harriet Williams Myers, 311 N Ave. 66, Los Angeles Calif. by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt even than this, for the study of birds tends to develop some of the best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among them we find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of the love of the mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities. Their industry, patience and ingenuity excite our admiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music and poetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appeal to our esthetic sense; their long migrations to distant lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire into. the causes 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 sea-invite the student of nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.-J. Sterling Morton. DISTINCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF I. Woodpeckers, with long, strong bills, climb up and down the trunks of trees bracing with their tails and tapping the bark vigorously. II. Hummingbirds are the smallest birds with irridescent plumage which buzz about flowers extracting nectar and tiny insects with their long needle-shaped bills. III. Flycatchers sit erect with drooping teetering tails, watching alertly for insect prey upon which they pounce in mid-air, afterwards returning to their perch. IV. Larks are birds of sparrow size which walk about (rather than hop) on the ground feeding on weed seeds. Feathers above eye are erectile, giving the appearance of horns, hence the name horned lark, given the only true lark in our state. (The meadowlark belongs to the circle, blackbird family.) V. Crows, Ravens and Jays are good sized birds, with raucus calls and bold behavior, usually inhabiting open fields or wooded areas. VI. Blackbirds and Orioles have bright plumage and usually inhabit open fields. The sexes Winter flocking is the rule. differ in coloration. VII. Sparrows and Finches have stout seedcracking bills, feed on or near the ground, seldom fly high or far at a time, and are for the most part fine songsters. VIII. Tanagers, remarkable for the brilliant plumage of the males, are birds of the coniferous forests, during the summer, but during migration visit fruit orchards. IX. Swallows, with long pointed wings, skim through the air in graceful and long sustained flights and often perch on telephone wires. X. Waxwings are conspicuous because of a crested head and yellow tipped tail. They are usually seen in large flocks feeding upon berries in trees or bushes. They perch and fly in closeset flocks. XI. Shrikes are usually solitary and choose conspicuous perches. In silhouette a flat-topped head, short neck and hooked bill are evident. XII. Vireos, chubby, large-eyed birds, the color of foliage, are at home on the boughs of trees and sing freely as they glide in and out among the leaves to feed. XIII. Warblers are small, tireless, gaily-colored explorers of the twigs of trees and bushes. A few exhibit flycatcher-like habits. XV. Thrashers and Mockingbirds have long curved bills and long tails, inhabit bushy areas and orchards. They are noisy and possess wonderful ventriloquial and imitative powers. XVI. Wrens, with tails erect, slip mouse-like about brush heaps, crevices and bushes, though often perching in sight while singing; scolding notes distinctive. XVII. Creepers, as the name signifies, creep upward on the trunks of trees and the larger limbs, searching for insects in the crevices of the bark, the long curved bill and sharp pointed tail feathers used like a woodpecker's being great aids. XVIII. Nuthatches are smaller than woodpeckers and have much the same habit of climbing up and down tree-trunks but with a freer wig-wagging motion, often descending head downward. XIX. Titmice and Chickadees are small, noisy, active, restless birds feeding largely in foliage ог on inner limbs. They have fluffy, grayish plumage and short straight bills, with which they often hammer seeds with woodpecker-like blows while holding them with their feet. XX. Kinglets, tiny, chubby birds with large eyes, move restlessly about in foliage, ever keeping on the move. XXI. Thrushes, who, with the exception of the Robin and Bluebird, are very plainly dressed and have spotted breasts, run about on the ground, stopping suddenly in listening attitude. -Adapted by H. C. Bryant. THE LITTLE NEST A wonderful thing is a little nest, But a little bird could weave with its bill The wee grassy cup A secret that few may see. A wonderful thing is the little bird From the tree tops high Is borne to you and to me! A wonderful God has given the bird Perhaps they'd come more quickly If we should advertise. We'll give the rental gratis As long as they will stay. Please tell them that-and maybe They'll come here right away. Come and see the home provided, We're sure you'll think it great. Come, Mr. Wren, we like you; Come, and bring your little mate. -John M. Morse. THE BROKEN WING In front of my pew sits a maiden— A little brown wing on her hat, With its touches of tropical azure, And the sheen of the sun upon that. Through the bloom-colored pane shines a glory By which the vast shadows are stirred, But I pine for the spirit and splendor That painted the wings of that bird. The organ rolls down its great anthem With the soul of a song it is blent; But for me, I am sick for the singing Of one little song that is spent. The voice of the curate is gentle: "No sparrow shall fall to the ground." But the poor broken wing on the bonnet Is mocking the merciful sound.-Selected. GAME THE EQUITY OF THE GAME LAWS Game laws, like other laws, are made for a definite purpose, and that purpose is a wise one. No one who has given the subject a moment's serious consideration can fail to see the need of placing restrictions on the taking of wild game, both as to numbers and as to the length of the season in which they can be taken. The difference arises chiefly as to the degree of restriction, and there are inequalities no doubt. Many of those who criticise the restrictions do it thoughtlessly, not realizing that as civilization pushes out and extends its borders, taking up the wild lands, just so surely are the breeding grounds and habitat of the wild game reduced. The wild bird flies no faster, has no better means of defense, than it had two hundred years ago, but man has increased his efficiency to kill and take a thousandfold; advancing successively from the bow and arrow to a muzzle-loading gun, then to the rapid-firing breechloader with smokeless powder and belt full of cartridges, until finally there has been evolved the "game hog." Should there be any question about the wisdom of, and necessity for, these restrictions?-Chas. Vogelsang. A LESSON ON FISH AND GAME LAWS By H. C. Bryant Man is the greatest enemy of wild birds and animals. Wild life undisturbed succeeds even when many natural enemies are present, but let man come in and hoggishly take a large toll and see the disappearance of fish and of game. To give wild life a chance and assure a perpetual supply, it is necessary to have laws for the protection of birds, animals and fish. Even laws fail to do what we desire if people do not know about them and appreciate their value. To be a conservationist, one must know not only the things to be protected, but also the laws which give them protection. We all ought to know as much about protective laws as the boy scout when he takes a test on conservation and he has to know about the fish and game laws. Here is a short review of California's fish and game laws which is designed to teach you some of the main features regarding the laws which give protection to the wild birds, animals and fish of this state. A questionnaire which follows will act as a test as to how much you learned by reading the article. The first law which gave any protection to game in California was passed by the third state legislature in 1852. Legislation which followed was more or less local in application, but beginning in 1880, protective laws have been given uniform treatment in all countries. Protection for fish and game became more adequate after the hunting license law was passed in 1908. Now, everyone who hunts game in California must own and carry with him a hunting license which, if he is a citizen of the state, costs one dollar. Every grown person who fishes for game fish in California must have a fishing license, which, if he is a citizen of the state, also costs one dollar. However, because fishing has always been a favorite sport of the small boy, an angling license is not required of anyone under 18 years of age. For disobeying fish and game laws one is taken into court and fined, or given a jail sentence, or perhaps both. Fines so collected go into the state's fish and game protective fund. Since the main object of game laws is to assure the use of a natural surplus and to leave a sufficient breeding stock, most laws have to do with either season or bag limit. Season It seems very reasonable that game should not be disturbed or killed during the breeding season. Certainly one would not market cows, leaving calves to starve. Likewise we could not expect to kill deer and quail which were parents of young that would die as a result. Most game birds and mammals rear their young in the spring. and early summer, and the first laws having to do with open and closed seasons NOTICE TO OUR READERS! The travelogue, Alaska, a Vacation Afloat in Northern Waters, by Geraldine Sartain, has been omitted this month but will be continued in the next issue. Schools and Teaching in the Far North, by Ruth Thompson, will be concluded in the next issue of the Western Journal of Education. The records are adapted to any type of disc machine using needles. They are fulltoned, resonant, and have the rhythmic beats distinctly marked. They are arranged progressively, starting with low speed, and graduated up to high speed. Each record also has a very flexible speed range. The music you will accept without question. The record outfit consists of six discs (12 10-inch records) packed in a beautiful, compact, cloth covered, carrying case. Teacher's Manual free with every set. Price $12 a set, net. Individual records not sold, except for replacement. FREE TRIAL So sure are we of the merits of these records that we will send them to any teacher or school for three days' free trial. COUPON The Gregg Publishing Company, Phelan Bldg., San Francisco. Send me for three days' free trial a set of Rational Rhythm Records. I agree to handle these records carefully, play them with new needles, and to return them in good condition within three days after receipt if for any reason I do not wish to keep them. If I decide to keep the records, you may charge my account with $12. Name Position School Address At the present time a duck hunter may kill ducks only between October 1 and January 15. A deer hunter is allowed an open season of only one month and a half in the fall. One may trap fur-bearing animals from October 15 to March 1. The quail season opens in most of the states on the first day of November and closes on the fifteenth day of January. Seasons are also given to fish, the open season for trout in most sections of the state being from May 1 to November 1, with protection for these firs during the rest of the year. Black bass still have a long open season of seven months. Even abalones, clams, crabs and spiny lobsters are protected during their breeding seasons. Sometimes daily seasons are used to limit the numbers taken, hence one is not allowed to shoot between sunset and sunrise, nor anyone take any game fish between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. It is sometimes necessary to protect animals the year round, especially when their numbers have become so small that there is danger of extermination. The animals given total protection in California are the elk, antelope, mountain sheep, sea otter and beaver. Because so many gray squirrels have died of disease during the past few years, the season has been closed on this animal until September 1, 1925. All birds not hunted for food or sport are given protection with the exception of blue jays, butcher birds, English sparrows, sharpskinned hawks, Cooper's hawks, duck hawks, great horned owls, California linnets, and blackbirds in the section of the state north of Tehachapi. Blackbirds are protected in Southern California. These birds are blacklisted because of their depredations on growing crops. Swans and wild pheasants are among the game birds given protection the year round. Bag Limits With increasing numbers of hunters, so many game birds, animals and fish were taken that it became necessary to limit the number a man might take. Some hunters and fishermen were so hoggish that they would take just as many as possible. They failed to think of others who might desire a share. Furthermore, so many were killed that game and fish began to disappear. To improve conditions, laws were passed and now one may take only two buck deer per season, only fifteen rabbits, valley quail or doves per day, but four sage hen or grouse, and but twenty-five trout, black bass, perch or sunfish. These limits allow a man all he can possibly eat or properly utilize, and at the same time reduce the toll so as to give fish and game a chance. Methods Lest anyone be allowed to take more than his fair share, laws now prohibit the trapping of any kind of a bird. To use any animal except a dog as a blind to approach any wild bird, to shoot any kind of game from a power boat, sail boat, automobile or airplane, to take trout except by means of hook and line, is now prohibited by law. A ban is placed on certain types of nets. The size of mesh might be so small as to capture too small fish and consequently the size of mesh is regulated by law. Non-Sale When a hunter was allowed to sell the game he had shot and the angler the fish caught, there was an incentive to kill more than his fair share. Consequently, one by one the various game birds were not allowed to be sold; just quail and shore birds and, later on, ducks. The sale of venison or the hide of a deer has long been prohibited. A Federal law prohibits the sale of all migratory birds throughout the country. Pollution In early days sawdust from lumber mills was dumped into streams with the result that the fish died in great numbers. Various kinds of mining operations also muddy and pollute the streams unless regulated by law. In recent years oil pumped from ships into the ocean has caused the death of many fish and large numbers of sea birds. The oil, floating on the surface of the water, collects on the feathers of the birds and forms a thick, gummy coating which makes it impossible for the bird to fly or swim and the result is slow starvation. In order to prevent fish and game from being thus destroyed due to the pollution. being thus destroyed due to the pollution of water, strict laws prohibit water pollution dangerous to fish and game. Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act entered into a treaty which provided for In 1916 the United States and Canada uniform protection to migratory and insectivorous birds. In the same year the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act made provision for Federal regulations giving added protection to many wild birds. This Federal law, which has been responsible for a remarkable increase of waterfowl, provides among other things for a short open season on water-fowl, for the total protection for most of the shore birds, and for the wood duck and the band-tailed pigeon, as well as for the non-sale of all birds covered by the act. States may give added protection, but may not have longer open seasons or larger bag limits than those provided for in the Federal law. Law Enforcement Enforcement of the fish and game laws is in the hands of deputies or game wardIf you find someone violating the law call your nearest game warden by phone or write one of the three offices of the Fish and Game Commission, which are located in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. ens. QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Who is required to have a hunting license in California? 2. What do we mean by an "open season" on game? 3. Why does a closed season give protection to fish and game? 4. Does a California hunter violate the law if he hunts quail during the months of May and June? Why? 5. Name some mammals and birds given total protection the year round. 6. What song birds are black-listed and given no protection? 7. Why is there a bag limit of fifteen on quail and of twenty-five on ducks? 8. How many trout may a boy take in one day? 9. How many deer may a hunter take in California during a year? 10. What are considered illegal methods of taking fish and game? 11. Can one buy quail or ducks in the market for a sick friend? 12. Why must we limit the taking of game to those who can go afield and get it, and make no provision for those who are unable to go afield? 13. What sources of water pollution are found in this state? 14. How does water pollution in California affect fish and game? 15. For what does the Federal Migratory Treaty Act provide? Superintendent Horace M. Rebok of Santa Monica, the forceful educational leader whose record as a school administrator has brought him into national prominence, will retire at the close of the school year from his position. This is due to the fact that by a vote of three to two the board of education declared the position vacant June 30, 1924. Superintendent Rebok's thousands of friends will deplore the action of the majority members of the board. Superintendent Rebok in a straightforward, manly statement says: "I have long realized that no one individual is necessary to the welfare of the state, but if this is the reward of devoted and efficient public service, running through 17 years, when my contract expires June 30, of this year, I will no longer be interested in the superintendency of schools, here_or_else where. I intend to continue to make Santa Monica my home and to enter business here." Superintendent W. L. Stephens has been re-elected as superintendent of schools for Long Beach with an increase of salary. He will receive under the new contract $7500 per year. Superintendent Stephens is one of the great progressive superintendents of the Pacific States, and his re-election is a reward for faithful service. Professor John Almack in a letter to the State Teachers' College, San Jose commends the practice teaching that is being done in the Milpitas and Centreville schools. Professor Almack says the spirit of the teachers in the typical school conditions is a great contributor to efficiency. Professor Dias, principal of the Centreville schools, has a splendid record for efficiency, both as a teacher and citizen, and it is fortunate indeed that cadet teachers come in contact with a principal of practical experience and vision. J. S. Denton, the principal of the Rio Vista Union High School, was awarded $250 dollars damages in his suit for libel against a local paper. Delighted. Professor Denton, who is a genius in wood work, a scholar of the highest type in academic studies as well, was sneeringly called a carpenter by the local paper. As a matter of principle Mr. Denton took the matter to court and won. It is a good lesson to newspaper men who use the columns of their paper without regard to truth, justice or fairness. Fred T. Moore, the new representativve of Silver, Burdett & Company, has been sending out letters that are a real service. The following extracts, which are very suggestive about the use of text books, are certainly worth while: Perhaps you have never attempted to determine definitely just what percentage of teaching efficiency depends upon the text-book. Is it 5 per cent, or 10 per cent, or 20 per cent, or an even greater per cent? If that could be determined, even approximately, would it not be logical when budgeting total teaching costs to provide for text-book expenditures that would approach this with some degree of relativity? So much has been done in the way of educational measurements, setting up standard, and evaluating the various factors in education that it would not be strange to see a beginning made toward some determination of this import ant matter. The enclosed leaflet has "set me thinking." Would not a more liberal expenditure for good text-books increase the efficiency of schools far beyond the money value involved: Has the true significance of the educational advancement been realized? If not, it is because of some lingering taint of the "old days," or because the growth into their present state of high professional efficiency has been so gradual that it has escaped attention? If you are interested, I should like to tell you some of the specific things that Silver, Burdett & Company are do ing for the advancement of education through intelligent and scientific text-book making. Minnie M. Gray, county superintendent of schools of Sutter County, is making a campaign for progressive educational advancement among the teachers, children and parents. There was recently organized the Sutter County Teachers' Association. The officers for the year are as follows: Mr. G. W. Spring, president; Mrs. Minnie M. Gray, first vice-president; Mr. Chester D. Winship, second vice-president; Mrs. Edna N. Moore, third vice-president; and Mrs. Pearl Morehead, secretary-treas urer. The American Historical Association at its annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, December 22-28, passed a resolution condemning certain newspapers, patriotic societies, fraternal orders, etc., for agitation against a number of textbooks in history and in favor of official censorship. The association commends textbook publishers, authors and teachers who have been loyal and open-minded enough to teach history based on truth and not on local or class prejudices. Start your vacation nowby preparing for it Like everything else, the enjoyment of a vacation is made possible by planning in advance. Now is the time to prepare for the summer outing. Start a savings account and accumulate funds for vacation needs and for other special purposes or emergencies! BANK OF ITALY Women's Banking Department MARKET, POWELL AND EDDY STREETS SAN FRANCISCO Habit Overcomes Habit To overcome bad language habits, combat the undesirable automatic process with the desirable automatic process-while the mind is plastic. Essential Language Habits By CHARTERS, BETZ, AND COWAN Contains more games, drills, and exercises for the fixation of correct language habits than any other series. Every one of these games and drills has been tested by actual classroom use. Every topic of language and grammar in the series is of use in correcting and improving speech. For further information about this series, write to |