those who did not see the
practical bearing of the subject on an ordinary school
course. But at the next meeting of the Association the
question was again brought up and unanimously adopted--to
the mutual benefit of the schools and of practical forestry.
With the advent of more progressive ideas concerning
education there is a demand for instruction 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 system is to prepare boys and girls for the
intelligent performance of the duties and labors of life,
why should not some attention be given to the study of
nature, particularly in rural schools where the farmers of
the next generation are now being educated?

The study of birds may be taken up in several ways and for
different purposes; it may be made to furnish simply a
course in mental training or to assist the pupil in
acquiring habits of accurate observation; it may be taken up
alone or combined with composition, drawing, geography, or
literature. But it has also an economic side which may
appeal to those who demand purely practical studies in
schools. Economic ornithology has been defined as the "study
of birds from the standpoint of dollars and cents." It
treats of the direct relations of birds to man, showing
which species are beneficial and which injurious, teaching
the agriculturist how to protect his feathered friends and
guard against the attacks of his foes. This is a subject in
which we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge,
but it is none the less deserving of a place in our
educational system on this account. Its practical value is
recognized both by individual States and by the National
Government, which appropriate considerable sums of money for
investigations of value to agriculture. Much good work has
been done by some of the experiment stations and State
boards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In the
United States Department of Agriculture, the Division of
Biological Survey (formerly the Division of Ornithology)
devotes much attention to the collection of data respecting
the geographic distribution, migration, and food of birds,
and to