Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study Part 21

WINTER BIRDS

In the cla.s.s lesson on winter birds, take up the birds that the pupils have seen, such as chickadee, blue jay, quail, ruffed grouse, hairy woodp.e.c.k.e.r, downy woodp.e.c.k.e.r, great horned owl, house-sparrow, snow bunting (snow bird), pine grosbeak, snowy owl, and purple finch. The four latter are to be noted as winter visitors. Use pictures for ill.u.s.trating these birds. The habits and winter food of the birds should also be described from the view-point of how these adapt the birds for spending the winter in a cold climate. Direct the children to look for grosbeaks in the pine and rowan trees, where they may be seen feeding on the seeds. The ruffed grouse (commonly called partridge) feeds on the buds of trees in winter; its legs and feet are thickly covered with feathers in winter but are bare in summer.

FIELD EXERCISES

Arouse the interest of the pupils by a conversation of about three minutes on birds that they have seen during the winter, and a.s.sign the following exercise:

Take a walk through the orchards and woods on a bright winter day. What birds do you see? What are these birds doing? Are they found singly or in flocks? What bird sounds do you hear?

CLa.s.s-ROOM LESSON

The method is conversational and based upon the observations made by the pupils during the field exercises.

The discussion would involve the winter habits of some of the more common birds, as, for example, the ruffed grouse (commonly though incorrectly called the partridge). This bird takes shelter from the winter storms in the centre of a dense evergreen or burrows deep into a snow bank. The close covering of feathers upon its feet serves not only to keep the feet warm, but also as snow-shoes. In the evenings these birds may frequently be seen in the tops of such trees as maple, birch, cherry, and poplar, the buds of which form the greater part of their winter food.

The snow bird, or snow bunting, is another bird commonly seen in winter.

Flocks of these hardy little winter visitors frequent the roads and fields during winter. Its summer home is in the far north.

Another visitor from the sub-arctic regions is the pine grosbeak, which is often mistaken for the robin, for these two birds are nearly equal in size. The carmine colour of the upper surface of the male grosbeak distinguishes it from the grays and blacks of the upper part of the robin. The grosbeak frequents the rowan trees.

The bird sounds which attract attention during the winter are the cheerful notes of the chickadee, the bold clarion call of the blue jay, and the sharp tap, tap, tap, of the downy woodp.e.c.k.e.r.

The downy woodp.e.c.k.e.r and the chickadee have snug winter homes within hollow trees, but, when the weather is favourable, they go about searching industriously for the eggs and larvae of insects that infest forest and orchard trees.

CORRELATIONS

Literature:

Do you know the chickadee, In his brownish ashen coat, With a cap so black and jaunty, And a black patch on his throat?

Language: Write a story about the winter experiences of a downy woodp.e.c.k.e.r.

Geography: Describe the summer home of the snow bird.

ANIMALS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS

Pupils who have an opportunity to visit museums or zoological gardens will observe more intelligently if the visit is preceded by such a discussion in the cla.s.s-room as will arouse their curiosity respecting the habits, movements, and adaptive features of the animals about to be studied.

CLa.s.s-ROOM LESSON

Name the kinds of bears you have seen or have read about. What kind was the largest?

Are all bears wholly flesh-eating animals? Find out what food the keepers give these animals.

What features give to the bear his great strength? Observe the length of his "arms", teeth, claws.

Does the bear climb a pole in the same way that a boy does?

Read:

Rogers. Wild Animals Every Child Should Know. McClelland, Goodchild, & Stewart. 50 cents.

Thompson-Seton. Wild Animals I Have Known. Briggs. $1.50.

Roberts. Children of the Wild. Macmillan. $1.35.

CHAPTER VIII

FORM II

SPRING

GARDEN WORK

The pupils have now arrived at an age when they are able to do most of the work of preparing and planting their own plots. The seeds have been selected and placed in readiness for planting long before the ground is ready. The plans for the garden and the varieties to be sown in the different plots have likewise been arranged. Fertilizers, lines, tools, and labels are made ready for use. With such thorough preparation the making and planting of the garden becomes a pleasure and a delight to both teacher and pupils. The garden diary should begin as soon as the snow disappears from the garden and be continued until all the work is completed in the autumn, and the garden again blanketed in snow.

The main points to be safeguarded are:

1. Thorough cultivation and fertilization.

2. The best available seed carefully planted. Guard against thick sowing and deep covering.

3. Frequent cultivation and careful thinning while the plants are quite small.

4. Vigilance in detecting the appearance of cutworms or other injurious insects and promptness in combating them.

5. Protection of the garden against injury from dogs, pigs, poultry, and English sparrows.

6. Failure of some plots, through the owner's absence from school for long periods.

COMBATING GARDEN PESTS

CUTWORMS

In gardens where the soil is light or sandy, cutworms are most likely to be troublesome. Watch for them about the time that the plants are nicely above ground. They come up at night and cut the young plants off just above the ground. They are about an inch long, gray and brown, fat and greasy-looking. To protect the plants put one quarter of a pound of paris-green with twenty-five pounds of slightly moistened bran, using a little sugar in the water and stirring the paris-green into the bran very thoroughly. If too wet, add more dry bran. It should crumble through the fingers. Sprinkle a little of this mixture with the fingers along the row close to the plants. The cutworms eat this poisoned bran quite readily. Care must be exercised in using this poison lest poultry should get at it. On the other hand, poultry should not be allowed to get into the garden. Wrapping a piece of paper around the stem when transplanting young plants will help to save them from cutworms.

ROOT MAGGOTS

Root maggots of cabbage, radish, and onions are the larvae of flies similar in appearance to house-flies but a little smaller. When the plants are young, the flies lay their white eggs on the stem close to the ground. When the eggs hatch, the larvae crawl down under the ground and cause the plants to decay. The wilting of the leaves is the first sign of the trouble. Prevention is better than cure in this case. Dust some dry white h.e.l.lebore along the rows of onions or radishes and around the cabbage plants; or, for radishes, make a decoction of insect powder (Pyrethrum), four ounces to one gallon of water, and pour around the root, using half a teacupful to each plant.

FLEA-BEETLES

The turnip flea-beetle quickly destroys young plants of the cruciferae family by eating their leaves. Paris-green, one part to twenty parts of pulverized gypsum (land plaster) dusted on the plants while damp, helps to destroy these insects.