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GOING TO BED AND GETTING UP.
As we told you before, birds do not live in houses or sleep in bedrooms; though in some parts of the country they build their cradles in little bird-houses and boxes or anything of the sort which you will give them. But here we have never succeeded in making any of them occupy a place which we have prepared for them,though we have made the prettiest little houses, and nailed boxes in cosey places. The western race of the house wren nests with us; so also does the bluebird. But these birds have not become civilized and prefer to stay in the mountains and far-off places.
Western Bluebird.
Western Bluebird.
Birds never call to one another to "Be sure to leave the window up for fresh air," and they do not try to get more than their share of the blankets, as some children do. Each bird carries his bedding about on his back, like a tramp, and he takes the first warm, sheltered nook he can find for his bed. Some birds appear to go to the same place to sleep every night. We suppose they feel more at home in one spot, if they have not been molested there. When we find a particular spot where we know the birds are in the habit of sleeping or roosting, we are careful not to disturb the bush or tree.
Some birds sleep with their heads all covered up with the bed-clothes, as if they were afraid, like foolish children. Perhaps they like a warm night-cap, though we do not see how they need one with such a thick head of hair as they have. We call it "tucking their heads under their wings."
It is a queer fashion to stand or squat on one foot all night, instead of lying down like other people. We suppose they use one foot at a time, so that the other may be rested. You have noticed that anybody who must stand for a long while usually favors one limb or foot, holding it up a little at the knee joint, and after a time changing to the other. Try it yourself and see.
One very odd position in which some birds sleep is upright on the bark of a tree trunk, clinging to the wood with their toes, and propping themselves up with their strong, pointed tail-tips, as the flickers and some of their friends do.
Going-to-bed-time and getting-up-time are happy hours with the birds. About sundown you will hear them saying, "Just one more twitter," "One moreworm, if you please," or, "One more flight to the highest tree."
While you are watching them in the soft twilight, there is a sudden hush and not a bird is in sight. If you have not been paying close attention, with your eyes wide open, it will be impossible for you to tell what has become of the birds, they go to bed so quickly and silently. Not a sound will break the stillness, unless a merry mocking-bird wakes you out of your sleep.
These mocking-birds sing to us all night long at some parts of the year. You know these birds came by their name because they deserve it. They mock or mimic every bird they hear, including the hens and turkeys. We have wondered why they do not talk as well, but we have never known them to.
One mocker in our yard gives us the postman's whistle every afternoon an hour before it is due. Strangers rush to their gates, thinking their mail has come, while the mocker laughs at them from the tip-top branch of a eucalyptus tree, seventy or eighty feet above them.
If you have just come to California, you are likely to be waked up in the middle of the night by the sound of your pet chickens peeping, or the turkeys crying as if in distress, and you imagine all the fowls in the coops are being carried off.
Perhaps you will snatch a broom or an apron and run out quickly, sure of finding the marauder. From thetop of his tree, safe out of your reach, that little rascal of a mocker will "peep" again, and then you will understand that it is only one of his jokes. Often they sing beautiful songs by the hour, and we lie awake to hear, laughing at the racket, or holding our breath to catch the last note of some wonderful melody.
Besides the mocking-bird you may hear the owl, though you cannot be quite sure that it is not the mocker again. In the dusk, when it is just light enough to see a little, you may catch a glimpse of the "Poor Will," darting about for his supper among the belated gnats and flies.
When this bird came to California he left off saying "Whip Poor Will,"[21]and so has but two notes. "Poor Will" is not whipped in this beautiful land.
[21]Phaenoptilus nuttalli californicus.
[21]Phaenoptilus nuttalli californicus.
One will have to get up very early to see the fun among the birds in the morning. A chirp in the twilight, the breakfast bell ringing from the throat of the first bird up, and then how astir are the trees and the bushes, and the whole yard or field! It is impossible for you to tell where the little songsters came from so suddenly, just as it was impossible for you to tell where they went to sleep the night before.
If there is a tub of water by the pump, the rim of it will soon be covered by the birds; or, better still, if there is a leaky hydrant, or a spring in the berry patch, or a puddle in the orchard, there you will see what is sure to make you laugh.
The swishing and the diving and the twittering and the dressing of the birds, and the flying particles of water like a shower bath, are enough to make you glad that there are birds alive.
Whip-poor-will
Whip-poor-will
Let lazy people lie in bed on a bright morning. They will never know what fun they miss, even though they may read about it. It is better to see a fine thing for yourself than to depend upon what other people have to say about it.
By the time ordinary people are up, the birds will have settled down to the business of the day. Their dresses and coats are brushed, and their hats and bonnets are on "straight."
The drip, drip, of the hydrant, or the babble of the brook do not tell what they saw an hour ago. The old sun, looking down steadily in your face, never hints at sights that made him smile so out of the corner of his eye when he first got up at call of the birds.
It is a very odd thing that the birds have to wake the sun every morning in California. Look about you early and see how it is where you live.
"Get up, old Sun! get up, old Sun!" they all scream at once, and they keep right on making as much noise as they can, until the lazy old fellow is fairly out of bed. Tell your friends, if they do not believe this, that they and old Sol himself had better take to getting up earlier in the morning.
That is a queer old proverb, "Early birds get the worms." You have all heard it, and it tells the truth.
Did you ever see the ground all covered with tiny little mounds of fresh earth in the morning when it is damp? Angle-worms do not like the sunshine; they will die if exposed to it. So they come up to the surface of the ground in the night, while we and the sun are asleep, just to get a bit of fresh air and to look around the world. If they do not hurry back to their home in the ground, they will get surprised by the"early birds," who help themselves to all the worms they want.
That is a good proverb for the birds and the worms, but it has another meaning for us all. "Early birds get the worms" means "If you want to see pretty things, and hear fine music, and have a good time, you must get up early in the morning." So if you would see all the bird-fun in your yard, you must be up and out as soon as there is the least bit of light, or you will be too late.
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MRS. TOWHEE PROPOSES A GARDEN PARTY.
"Let's give a garden party," said Mrs. Towhee to Mrs. Phœbe; "it is lovely weather, and we haven't had a garden party for ever so long."
"Good! let's do it," answered Mrs. Phœbe. "You go and give out the invitations, while I get things ready."
"There is a new family up in the eucalyptus house," said Mrs. Towhee, calling her friend back. "They are little mites of people, almost as small as the Hummers. I wonder if it would be proper to invite them to our party. They are strangers here, and no one I have seen ever heard of them before. You know we ought to be careful about the new people we meet."
"Well, I don't know," the other said, smoothing herslate-colored breast. "Ask Mrs. Mocker; she knows everybody."
So they called to Mrs. Mocker. "Do you know that new family up in the great high house? They must be fine people to move into such a handsome place. The Oriole family have rented that house for years."
Phœbe.
Phœbe.
"Oh, I know them," Mrs. Mocker said; "they are Mr. and Mrs. Bush-tit from over in the mountains. They never lived in our city before. They belong to the great Tit family, and their name means a Tit-in-a-bush." Then Mrs. Mocker looked very knowing andput on airs, as she always does. She knows that she is acquainted with everybody, and she is proud of it.
Mrs. Towhee and Mrs. Phœbe nudged each other. Then they asked Mrs. Mocker if she would "introduce the new neighbors at the party."
Mrs. Mocker agreed to do this, and then Mrs. Towhee went away to invite all the people, and Mrs. Phœbe got the garden ready. She swung on all the bough-swings she could think of, to see if they were safe; and she hunted up all the nice nooks and corners to play hide-and-seek in; and she tested the food which was sent in to see if it was all right. Then she went upstairs into the top stories of the tree-houses and waved her hand to all her bird friends.
It was a busy day among the bird people. They washed themselves, and combed their frizzes, and cocked their hats, and trimmed their bonnets, and flirted their coat-tails, and fixed their best trails, and took especial pains to have their feet clean. They made their nails look neat, too; strange a bird should think of that. But birds are ladies and gentlemen, you know.
"Is my gorget all right?" asked Mr. Hummer of Mr. Sparrow.
"I don't know what you mean by your gorget," said Mr. Sparrow.
"Why, it's this shining patch I always wear under my throat. Really it is a diamond scarf-pin which has always been in our family. It is an heirloom. Ratherlarge, isn't it? but all the gentlemen in our family wear them, and that is what makes the fashion, you know." Then the vain young hummer turned his head all about in the sunshine to make his gorget shimmer.
"Oh, I see," said Mr. Sparrow. "How do you like my new garden hat? You see it is striped,—two black stripes and three white stripes. It is very costly, and I hope it will wear a whole year."
"Why, that is a beautiful hat," answered Mr. Hummer. "Do you suppose those new people up in the big house will come to our garden party?"
"Oh, I hope so," said Mr. Sparrow. "And there are some more new people here, tourists, just passing over the Southern-Pacific-free-to-all bird route. They have stop-over tickets, I understand, and I mean to ask Mrs. Mocker to invite them all. She likes to get acquainted with strangers for the chance of mocking them behind their backs. I can't help liking her, though."
"Tut, tut," said Mr. Sparrow, "it isn't right to gossip about one's neighbors." Then in a low tone he added, "If you don't know anything good to say about a person like Mrs. Mocker, it shows you do not know her very well."
Mr. Mocker heard what they were saying about his wife, and he fell to mimicking them in a low key till the gossipers all flew off.
Just then a red-shafted flicker called to his next neighbor, the humming-bird, with a loud, harsh cry, which so frightened the little hummer that he dropped straight down from the bough he was sitting on, right into the lap of a rose that happened to be spreading her skirts below.
Flicker.
Flicker.
"You needn't be afraid of me," said the flicker, "that is my natural voice. I was going to tell you how I scared an old lady in the white house yonder. I flew up to the gable under the eaves and began hammering away with all my might on the house-side. You know my hard, stout bill is my hammer. It went 'rap, rap,' just like a man with a hatchet.
"Out came the old lady, and she looked all around the house, thinking to see a burglar, I suppose, andthen she went back and locked the door. Soon I began to hammer again. She came out, and this time she looked straight at me and said, 'Shoo, you old bird!' Of course I flew away. All I wanted was to make a hole in the roof over the attic, so I could have a warm place to sleep in this winter."
"I don't think it was kind of you to scare an old lady," said the hummer, sitting still in the lap of the pink rose. "That is the same lady who left her pampas plumes standing in the yard when other people had cut theirs down, on purpose that my wife might have the feathers and tufts to line her nest with. They are splendid to make a cradle of, they and the spider's web. It was that same old lady's daughter who put the umbrella over our nest in the rain storm.
"That young lady thinks she can catch me. I go and sit on a low bush and doze in the sunshine, showing off my gorget as well as I can, when along comes the young lady. I blink away, and she thinks I am fast asleep. As long as her hands are behind her I know I am safe, and I let her get close to me. But the minute she puts out her hand to catch me, I am off, and you ought to see how disappointed she looks."
"That is a very long story for such a small bird as you are," said Mr. Flicker to the hummer. "I could tell one twice as long."
Mr. Flicker was beginning his yarn all about how he scared some small boys just at sundown in a grove. He said he flew up quickly, and his flame-colored winglinings looked so much like fire that the boys ran away.
Just then Mr. Mocker set up such a noise, squalling like a chicken when it is caught, that the birds all flew away to their houses, all but the hummer. He wasn't afraid of a chicken, and he sat still in the lap of the sweet rose.
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AT THE GARDEN PARTY.
The morning dew was not off from the lilacs and the sweet calamus in the garden when the birds began to come to the party.
They came in pairs, and in groups, and in whole families. They were turning their heads this way and that, whispering and chatting and showing off their new spring suits, and looking shyly at the different kinds of food, like people at a picnic.
"Good morning," said old Mrs. Goldfinch to Mrs. Hummer. "I see you have a son almost as large as yourself. I do not understand how that can be so early in the season."
"Oh, I am very proud of my son," remarked Mrs. Hummer. "I have a daughter almost as large as my son. They are both very much like their father. I had good luck in raising them. It stormed once right into the nest, when they were very small and weak,but I kept mending the cradle as well as I could with thread which I bought of Mrs. Spider. I brought both of my children to the party with me."
"Oh, I never take my children to a party," said Mrs. Goldfinch. "I leave them with their nurse."
Mrs. Goldfinch said this with a haughty air, which quite amused Mrs. Hummer. She knew very well that Mrs. Goldfinch kept no nurse, but took care of her children herself night and day. "Very likely the cats will get them to-day," Mrs. Hummer was thinking.
"Good morning," said Mrs. Warbler to Mrs. Cliff Swallow. "I did not know you had returned. Have you come to stay with us now?"
"Oh, yes; I have come to stay," answered Mrs. Cliff Swallow. "We have taken rooms under the barn eaves. We are just making a cradle for the young ones we hope to have by and by. We have had a hard time to get all the mud we wanted, and thought we should be obliged to give up nest-making for this year. There was a nice puddle in the road where we were at work; you know we like road mud best, because it is so fine and sticky. When school let out, the small boys threw stones at us, hoping to hit some of us, I suppose, and so we had to go down to the river to get our mud, and that wasn't half so good as the road mud."
"That is too bad," said Mrs. Warbler.
Mrs. Cliff Swallow went on to say, "We have just heard such a slander about our family. Mrs. Owl told us. She overheard it outside of a window in the evening.Somebody has started the story that we swallows have fleas and other vermin in our nests, and on that account we ought not to be allowed to build around houses and barns. It is a dreadful story, and so false. I wonder how it started. I felt almost too ashamed to come to the party."
"Too bad; too bad," said Mrs. Warbler again. "I would not pay any attention to it. Folks will say unkind things about us all, if they happen to find just one of us in mischief. Of course all birds do have a few little mites or fleas in their houses, and they can't help that, any more than those great human people can help having house-flies and mosquitoes about them where they live.
"Now some folks think I pick holes in the window screens, just because I love to run over them, up and down and all around, after the flies. To be sure, I do stick my toes through the meshes to hold myself on, but what of that? I love to peep through the window at people eating breakfast in the morning when the flies are stiff with cold on the outside. I can catch my game easily then."
Just then the new birds came along, and all the rest stood in a row to be introduced by Mrs. Mocker. "Mr. and Mrs. Bush-tit," she said, "let me present you to all of your neighbors."
The strangers shook hands all around, and then the birds fell to asking Mr. and Mrs. Bush-tit questions in true Yankee style.
California Bush-tit and Nest.
California Bush-tit and Nest.
"Yes," they answered, "we are going to stay all this season. We are making a cradle in the eucalyptus house, which we have rented."
"Oh, I saw your cradle," said Mrs. Towhee; "it issuch a queer one. It looks just like a bag with a little round hole in one side no bigger than a good-sized blackberry. What makes you build such a queer cradle as that?"
"That is the kind of a cradle all our family make. The little ones have to stay in until we boost them out, or until they are strong enough to climb out. It is very safe and warm. It is strong, too. We would not think of making such a cradle as you do, Mrs. Towhee. We felt very sorry one day when we found one of your babies dead on the ground, where it had fallen out of the nest when it was too weak to fly."
"Well, we are glad to see you, anyway," said Mrs. Towhee, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Now make yourselves at home, and let your little Tits come over and play with our little Towhees."
Mr. and Mrs. Bush-tit bowed politely, and then along came Mr. Bluebird. "Why, how do you do?" he said. "What brought you here? I thought you lived up in the mountain with the other Bush-tits."
"What brought you here?" they answered, laughing in the sweetest way. And then they agreed that our yard is a very nice place, and they thought they would "bring their friends" often and picnic.
"We never have rented a house in this street," said Mr. Bluebird, "but we may do so some day. Do you think it would be safe to try to raise a family so near those great people?"
"We think so," said Mrs. Bush-tit, "but you oughtto see them stand and stare at us. A big, kind-faced boy comes every day and writes in a note-book, looking straight into our house. Once he climbed up on a ladder and examined it. We were very much afraid, but he did us no harm. His eye was so blue and clear we could see ourselves in it. It looked just as if he couldn't hurt a bird.
"Then one day a lady came with the boy, and they both watched us and tried to make pictures of us, but we wouldn't keep still long enough. The lady is that boy's mother, and we heard her say, 'We'll tame these bush-tits some day, Jo, just as we did the humming-birds, and then we will write all about them for children to read.'"
Then Mr. Bluebird said, "Isn't it strange what queer things people do write about us? Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong. I wish some bird author would write a book about men and women and their queer ways. Wouldn't it be interesting?"
Then Madam Bush-tit laughed a merry little giggle that made Mr. Mocker look up in surprise, and he ran it over in an undertone before he should forget it.
Just then a yellow-breasted meadow lark carolled his sweet ditty on the tip-top of a pine tree. All the birds flew to welcome him to the garden party, coaxing him to stay and offering him lemonade from the cup of an orange blossom. They all loved Mr. Meadow Lark.
"No, thank you," he said; "I must be off. I love the fields better than the door-yards, and the violetsand the cream-cups look out for my drink. I just came a minute to say good morning."
Meadow Lark.
Meadow Lark.
A whole flock of wax-wings took possession of a pepper tree and began to throw the seeds down on the heads of the birds beneath. "Oh, excuse us," they said, "we are tourists, and this yard looked so inviting we stopped for a few moments. How much do you ask a dozen for these pepper berries? We do not have any in our country. They are good eating, we find, when one has learned how to manage them. You ought not to charge us a great price, for they are almost all seed. How much do you ask?"
All the birds laughed, and then Mr. Mocker imitated the wax-wings, calling out in a saucy tone, "How much do you ask? How much do you ask?" The wax-wings were offended and flew away, the bit of red wax on the tip of their wing feathers showing very plainly in the sunshine.
"As if we ever charge anybody anything for what they eat," said Mr. Warbler. "I'm hungry myself." Then Mrs. Towhee, who had really gotten up the garden party, called them to dinner.
All the birds helped themselves. The hummers dipped away down into the honey-pot of a morning-glory, and the towhees and mockers ate worms and crickets in the damp grass; the warblers snatched gnats on the wing, and the bush-tits ran up and down on the tree boughs, in search of bugs so small nobody else could see them. Each bird took the sort of food it liked best, drinking at the hydrant and breaking the bottles of the raspberry vines.
Suddenly along came Mr. Butcher-bird. "Go away, go away," all the birds cried. "Nobody invited you to our garden party."
"But I am here," said Mr. Butcher, in an impudent manner. "I should like to have a taste of that fat young hummer."
Mrs. Hummer screamed, and down swooped the butcher. Everybody thought he was going to make a meal of the baby, when he surprised them by grabbing up a great Jerusalem cricket and darting off with it.
Mr. Butcher-bird thought it was a good joke, and he laughed loudly from the peach tree. But the birds were so scared that they all flew away, and so the garden party broke up.
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OUR BIRD HOSPITAL.
Cities have their hospitals for the sick and wounded. When an accident happens to a person in the street, or a man falls from a building, or is burned, or is hurt in any way, he is taken to the hospital, where the surgeon does what he can for him. Sometimes his life is saved by the surgeon's care and the kindness of trained nurses.
If a stranger in any city is taken sick, and has no friends to care for him, he is carried to the hospital, where he is nursed back to strength. If he has no money, he is quite welcome to all this.
A long while ago, when we first began to be interested in birds and to think of them as "people," like ourselves, we found it necessary to have a bird hospital.
Our native birds seldom meet with accidents unless they are killed outright; but the tourist birds are often found injured in some mysterious way, so that they cannot fly. We feel sorry for these strangers so farfrom home, and so we pick them up and carry them to our hospital.
We have several empty cages about, one being the big cage which used to be "Robby's" house. When Robin died, we thought it was a pity to give his cage away or to have it doing no good to anybody.
So we called it our hospital. This hospital is "In memory of Robin," as hospitals are sometimes built in "memory" of great men, or with money which rich men have left for that purpose.
We do not remember how many birds have been taken to our hospital, but there have been a great many. We use the "smaller wards"—the little cages, you know—for little solitary birds.
The last patients which we had in the large hospital were two wax-wings which we found maimed in some way so that they could not fly. They could get along pretty well low on the ground, but we were afraid the cats would steal them, and so our hospital nurse took charge of them.
At first they were very wild and would scream when we touched them. But they tamed readily, and in a day or two would sit on our fingers and eat from our hands. We knew they were berry and insect eaters; but, as it was winter, and the insects scarce, we could think of nothing they would like but the pepper berries. They lived on these for a few days, but evidently wanted other food.
We tried angle-worms, but these did not suit. Onemorning at breakfast little Sister, the hospital nurse, was holding one of the wax-wings on her finger, when it began to snatch at the bread crumbs. It was as if the little bird had been used to home-made bread all its life.
Wax-Wing.
Wax-Wing.
We kept these two beautiful patients in our hospital until they were quite strong, and just before the last of the tourists went away they joined their friends andflew off as if nothing had happened. We thought we saw them in the trees once again, but were not certain, all wax-wings look so very much alike.
At first, when we let them out of the cage, they would run back and go in at the open door; but soon they heard their mates calling and joined them. We had their photographs taken just before they went away, as people have the pictures of their friends to "remember them by."
The birds who are at liberty are very attentive to the birds in the hospitals, and hop close to them, as if they were inquiring all about their troubles.
Besides these sick birds in the hospital, we have the "out patients," young birds which we feed and look after when they happen to fall out of the nests. They cry all about at nesting time, so that it is as much as one person can do to keep the cats away and see that nothing happens to them.
Boys in our neighborhood know how we love the birds, and often bring them to us if they are hurt, so that they may have the benefit of our hospital. This is better than to leave them where they happen to fall, for the cats and dogs to worry. There are many ways in which we can show our affection for these little people.
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A SPLENDID COLLECTION.
We could never finish a book if we told all there is to know about birds. So we shall have to close our story about these people, hoping that children who read it will love the birds better than they ever did before.
The birds will stay with you wherever you live, even if it is on a lonely island or a western prairie. There will be garden parties, and morning concerts, and evening serenades, and visiting birds will drop into your yards and stop awhile. Birds are just like other people; they like to take a meal with a neighbor now and then. It makes good feeling on both sides.
Any one can have a fine collection of beautiful birds without going to the museums. Not dead, stuffed, songless creatures, who cannot say "Thank you" for a crumb, or warble you a melody in return for a home in your yard. You can have this splendid collection flying from tree to tree, and making cradles among the flowers, and giving a garden party every day in the year, even though the snow lies on the ground.
There are wise people who study birds all their lives, never killing the little things to put away in a drawer with camphor balls. Such people come to love the birds very much, and to know their sweet, wise doings in a way that a person with a gun can never knowthem. Sick people can sit in the sunshine or in the shade and study the birds, and grow stronger as well as wiser.
There are some strange collections of birds to be found in milliners' shops. The milliners are not to blame for these, for if good and kind people did not want any out of their collection, they would not keep so many.
Sometime on your way home from school, if your mother is not wanting to see you early, look in at these show windows and see the collections we are speaking of. These birds are sold to foolish women and girls, and worn to church and everywhere else on hats and bonnets.
See how distressed the poor dead creatures seem to be,—how they are twisted all out of shape. They are made to squat or perch in positions that make them look as if they were in agony. Not one of them all has a natural, happy look, because the people who put them up to sell have never loved the birds nor studied their ways. All they care about is the money they can get for them.
You will notice that some of the birds in ladies' bonnets have been cut in two. Sometimes just the head and wings are to be seen. If these ladies stopped to see what they were doing, and to think of how ridiculous they look, they would never wear these ornaments, just like savages.
Snowy Heron.
Snowy Heron.
Many of the birds that are very rare and beautiful have been nearly or quite all killed for this fashion. Some of the most delicate plumes you see have been taken from the egret, or white heron, at nesting time. The mothers are shot or stoned to death very easily, because they will not leave their young. It is said that many are left wounded and yet alive after the plumes have been stripped off. There is no one to care for the young which are left in their nests, and so they die of cold and hunger. All this suffering is just to satisfy the cruel pride of women and girls who must wear birds in their bonnets.
If boys would resolve never to kill a bird, even though they could get money by doing it; and if girls would resolve never to wear a bird or a bird's wing on their hats, our country would be more beautiful with song and color than it has ever been.
We sat in church the other day, and in front of us was a lady with nine bird's wings on her bonnet. She was a tender-hearted lady, and probably would not hurt a fly herself. Yet her pride had really caused the death and suffering of five birds, and possibly of fifteen or twenty birdlings. She did not stop to think. Will you, kind reader, stop to think?
READING.
Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading.A manual for primary teachers. Plain and practical; being a transcript of work actually done in the school-room. $1.50.Badlam's Stepping-Stones to Reading.—A Primer.Supplements the 283-page book above. Boards. 30 cts.Badlam's First Reader.New and valuable word-building exercises, designed to follow the above. Boards. 35 cts.Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers: Plant Life.Intended to supplement the first and second reading-books. Boards. 30 cts.Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers: Animal Life.Gives lessons on animals and their habits. To follow second reader. Boards. 40 cts.Firth's Stories of Old Greece.Contains 17 Greek myths adapted for reading in intermediate grades. Illustrated. Boards. 35 cts.Fuller's Illustrated Primer.Presents the word-method in a very attractive form to the youngest readers. Boards. 30 cts.Hall's How to Teach Reading.Treats the important question: what children should and should not read. Paper, 25 cts.Miller's My Saturday Bird Class.Designed for use as a supplementary reader in lower grades or as a text-book of elementary ornithology. Boards. 30 cts.Norton's Heart of Oak Books.This series is of material from the standard imaginative literature of the English language. It draws freely upon the treasury of favorite stories, poems, and songs with which every child should become familiar, and which have done most to stimulate the fancy and direct the sentiment of the best men and women of the English-speaking race. Book I, 100 pages, 25 cts.; Book II, 142 pages, 35 cts.; Book III, 265 pages, 45 cts.; Book IV, 303 pages, 55 cts.; Book V, 359 pages, 65 cts.; Book VI, 367 pages, 75 cts.Penniman's School Poetry Book.Gives 73 of the best short poems in the English language. Boards. 35 cts.Smith's Reading and Speaking.Familiar Talks to those who would speak well in public, so cts.Spear's Leaves and Flowers.Designed for supplementary reading in lower grades or as a text-book of elementary botany. Boards. 30015.Ventura's Mantegazza's Testa.A book to help boys toward a complete self-development. $1.00.Wright's Nature Reader, No. I.Describes crabs, wasps, spiders, bees, and some univalve mollusks. Boards. 30 cts.Wright's Nature Reader, No. II.Describes ants, flies, earth-worms, beetles, barnacles and star-fish. Boards. 40 cts.Wright's Nature Reader, No. III.Has lessons in plant-life, grasshoppers, butter flies, and birds. Boards. 60 cts.Wright's Nature Reader, No. IV.Has lessons in geology, astronomy, world-life, etc. Boards. 70 cts.
Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading.A manual for primary teachers. Plain and practical; being a transcript of work actually done in the school-room. $1.50.
Badlam's Stepping-Stones to Reading.—A Primer.Supplements the 283-page book above. Boards. 30 cts.
Badlam's First Reader.New and valuable word-building exercises, designed to follow the above. Boards. 35 cts.
Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers: Plant Life.Intended to supplement the first and second reading-books. Boards. 30 cts.
Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers: Animal Life.Gives lessons on animals and their habits. To follow second reader. Boards. 40 cts.
Firth's Stories of Old Greece.Contains 17 Greek myths adapted for reading in intermediate grades. Illustrated. Boards. 35 cts.
Fuller's Illustrated Primer.Presents the word-method in a very attractive form to the youngest readers. Boards. 30 cts.
Hall's How to Teach Reading.Treats the important question: what children should and should not read. Paper, 25 cts.
Miller's My Saturday Bird Class.Designed for use as a supplementary reader in lower grades or as a text-book of elementary ornithology. Boards. 30 cts.
Norton's Heart of Oak Books.This series is of material from the standard imaginative literature of the English language. It draws freely upon the treasury of favorite stories, poems, and songs with which every child should become familiar, and which have done most to stimulate the fancy and direct the sentiment of the best men and women of the English-speaking race. Book I, 100 pages, 25 cts.; Book II, 142 pages, 35 cts.; Book III, 265 pages, 45 cts.; Book IV, 303 pages, 55 cts.; Book V, 359 pages, 65 cts.; Book VI, 367 pages, 75 cts.
Penniman's School Poetry Book.Gives 73 of the best short poems in the English language. Boards. 35 cts.
Smith's Reading and Speaking.Familiar Talks to those who would speak well in public, so cts.
Spear's Leaves and Flowers.Designed for supplementary reading in lower grades or as a text-book of elementary botany. Boards. 30015.
Ventura's Mantegazza's Testa.A book to help boys toward a complete self-development. $1.00.
Wright's Nature Reader, No. I.Describes crabs, wasps, spiders, bees, and some univalve mollusks. Boards. 30 cts.
Wright's Nature Reader, No. II.Describes ants, flies, earth-worms, beetles, barnacles and star-fish. Boards. 40 cts.
Wright's Nature Reader, No. III.Has lessons in plant-life, grasshoppers, butter flies, and birds. Boards. 60 cts.
Wright's Nature Reader, No. IV.Has lessons in geology, astronomy, world-life, etc. Boards. 70 cts.
For advanced supplementary reading see our list of books in English Literature.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,
BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.
Number.
Atwood's Complete Graded Arithmetic.Present a carefully graded course in arithmetic, to begin with the fourth year and continue through the eighth year. Part I. 200 pages. Cloth. 40 cts. Part II. 382 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.Walsh's Mathematics for Common Schools.Special features of this work are its division into half-yearly chapters instead of the arrangement by topics; the omission, as far as possible, of rules and definitions; the great number and variety of the problems: the use of the equation in solution of arithmetical problems; and the introduction of the elements of algebra and geometry. Three Book Series—Elementary, 218 pages. 35 cts. Intermediate, 252 pages. 40 cts. Higher, 387 pages. Half leather. 75 cts. Two Book Series—Primary, 198 pages, 35 cts. Grammar School, 433 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.Sutton and Kimbrough's Pupils' Series of Arithmetics.
Atwood's Complete Graded Arithmetic.Present a carefully graded course in arithmetic, to begin with the fourth year and continue through the eighth year. Part I. 200 pages. Cloth. 40 cts. Part II. 382 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.
Walsh's Mathematics for Common Schools.Special features of this work are its division into half-yearly chapters instead of the arrangement by topics; the omission, as far as possible, of rules and definitions; the great number and variety of the problems: the use of the equation in solution of arithmetical problems; and the introduction of the elements of algebra and geometry. Three Book Series—Elementary, 218 pages. 35 cts. Intermediate, 252 pages. 40 cts. Higher, 387 pages. Half leather. 75 cts. Two Book Series—Primary, 198 pages, 35 cts. Grammar School, 433 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.
Sutton and Kimbrough's Pupils' Series of Arithmetics.
Primary Book.Embraces the four fundamental operations in all their simple relations. 80 pages. Cloth. 25 cts.Intermediate Book.Embraces practical work through percentage and simple interest. 145 pages. Cloth. 30 cts.Lower Book.Primary and Intermediate Books bound together. Cloth. 45 cts.Higher Book.A compact volume for efficient work which makes clear all necessary theory. 275 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.
Primary Book.Embraces the four fundamental operations in all their simple relations. 80 pages. Cloth. 25 cts.
Intermediate Book.Embraces practical work through percentage and simple interest. 145 pages. Cloth. 30 cts.
Lower Book.Primary and Intermediate Books bound together. Cloth. 45 cts.
Higher Book.A compact volume for efficient work which makes clear all necessary theory. 275 pages. Half leather. 75 cts.
Safford's Mathematical Teaching.Presents the best methods of teaching, from primary arithmetic to the calculus. Paper. 25 cts.Badlam's Aids to Number.For Teachers. First Series.Consists of 25 cards for sight-work with objects from one to ten. 40 cts.Badlam's Aids to Number.For Pupils. First Series.Supplements the above with material for slate work. Leatherette. 30 cts.Badlam's Aids to Number.For Teachers. Second Series.Teachers' sight-work with objects above ten. 40 cts.Badlam's Aids to Number.For Pupils. Second Series.Supplements above with material for slate work from 10 to 20. Leatherette. 30 cts.Badlam's Number Chart.11 × 14 inches. Designed to aid in teaching the four fundamental rules in lowest primary grades. 5 cts. each; per hundred $4.00.Sloane's Practical Lessons in Fractions.For elementary grades. Boards 30 cts. Set of six fraction cards for children to cut. 12 cts.White's Two Years with Numbers.Number Lessons for second and third year pupils. 40 cts.White's Junior Arithmetic.For fourth and fifth year pupils. Cloth. 50 cts.White's Senior Arithmetic.In press.
Safford's Mathematical Teaching.Presents the best methods of teaching, from primary arithmetic to the calculus. Paper. 25 cts.
Badlam's Aids to Number.For Teachers. First Series.Consists of 25 cards for sight-work with objects from one to ten. 40 cts.
Badlam's Aids to Number.For Pupils. First Series.Supplements the above with material for slate work. Leatherette. 30 cts.
Badlam's Aids to Number.For Teachers. Second Series.Teachers' sight-work with objects above ten. 40 cts.
Badlam's Aids to Number.For Pupils. Second Series.Supplements above with material for slate work from 10 to 20. Leatherette. 30 cts.
Badlam's Number Chart.11 × 14 inches. Designed to aid in teaching the four fundamental rules in lowest primary grades. 5 cts. each; per hundred $4.00.
Sloane's Practical Lessons in Fractions.For elementary grades. Boards 30 cts. Set of six fraction cards for children to cut. 12 cts.
White's Two Years with Numbers.Number Lessons for second and third year pupils. 40 cts.
White's Junior Arithmetic.For fourth and fifth year pupils. Cloth. 50 cts.
White's Senior Arithmetic.In press.
For advanced work see our list of books in Mathematics.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,
BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Hyde's Lessons in English, Book I.For the lower grades. Contains exercises for reproduction, picture lessons, letter writing, uses of parts of speech, etc. 40 cts.Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II.For Grammar schools. Has enough technical grammar for correct use of language. Co cts.Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Supplement.Has, in addition to the above, 118 pages of technical grammar. 70 cts.
Hyde's Lessons in English, Book I.For the lower grades. Contains exercises for reproduction, picture lessons, letter writing, uses of parts of speech, etc. 40 cts.
Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II.For Grammar schools. Has enough technical grammar for correct use of language. Co cts.
Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Supplement.Has, in addition to the above, 118 pages of technical grammar. 70 cts.
Supplement bound alone, 35 cts.
Hyde's Practical English Grammar.For advanced classes in grammar schools and for high schools. 60 cts.Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Practical Grammar.The Practical Grammar and Book II bound together. 80 cts.Hyde's Derivation of Words.15 cts.Penniman's Common Words Difficult to Spell.Graded lists of common words often misspelled. Boards. 25 cts.Penniman's Prose Dictation Exercises.Short extracts from the best authors. Boards. 30 cts.Spalding's Problem of Elementary Composition.Suggestions for its solution. Cloth. 45 cts.Mathews's Outline of English Grammar, with Selections for Practice.The application of principles is made through composition of original sentences. 80 cts.Buckbee's Primary Word Book.Embraces thorough drills in articulation and in the primary difficulties of spelling and sound. 30 cts.Sever's Progressive Speller.For use in advanced primary, intermediate, and grammar grades. Gives spelling, pronunciation, definition, and use of words. 30 cts.Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language.Being Part I and Appendix of Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. 50 cts.Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons.A combination of object lessons with language work. 50 cts. Part I bound separately, 25 cts.Meiklejohn's English Language.Treats salient features with a master's skill and with the utmost clearness and simplicity. $1.30.Meiklejohn's English Grammar.Also composition, versification, paraphrasing, etc For high schools and colleges, go cts.Meiklejohn's History of the English Language.78 pages. Part III of English Language above, 35 cts.Williams's Composition and Rhetoric by Practice.For high school and college. Combines the smallest amount of theory with an abundance of practice. Revised edition. $1.00.Strang's Exercises in English.Examples in Syntax, Accidence, and Style for criticism and correction. 50 cts.Huffcutt's English in the Preparatory School.Presents advanced methods of teaching English grammar and composition in the secondary schools. 25 cts.Woodward's Study of English.From primary school to college. 25 cts.Genung's Study of Rhetoric.Shows the most practical discipline. 25 cts.
Hyde's Practical English Grammar.For advanced classes in grammar schools and for high schools. 60 cts.
Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Practical Grammar.The Practical Grammar and Book II bound together. 80 cts.
Hyde's Derivation of Words.15 cts.
Penniman's Common Words Difficult to Spell.Graded lists of common words often misspelled. Boards. 25 cts.
Penniman's Prose Dictation Exercises.Short extracts from the best authors. Boards. 30 cts.
Spalding's Problem of Elementary Composition.Suggestions for its solution. Cloth. 45 cts.
Mathews's Outline of English Grammar, with Selections for Practice.The application of principles is made through composition of original sentences. 80 cts.
Buckbee's Primary Word Book.Embraces thorough drills in articulation and in the primary difficulties of spelling and sound. 30 cts.
Sever's Progressive Speller.For use in advanced primary, intermediate, and grammar grades. Gives spelling, pronunciation, definition, and use of words. 30 cts.
Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language.Being Part I and Appendix of Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. 50 cts.
Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons.A combination of object lessons with language work. 50 cts. Part I bound separately, 25 cts.
Meiklejohn's English Language.Treats salient features with a master's skill and with the utmost clearness and simplicity. $1.30.
Meiklejohn's English Grammar.Also composition, versification, paraphrasing, etc For high schools and colleges, go cts.
Meiklejohn's History of the English Language.78 pages. Part III of English Language above, 35 cts.
Williams's Composition and Rhetoric by Practice.For high school and college. Combines the smallest amount of theory with an abundance of practice. Revised edition. $1.00.
Strang's Exercises in English.Examples in Syntax, Accidence, and Style for criticism and correction. 50 cts.
Huffcutt's English in the Preparatory School.Presents advanced methods of teaching English grammar and composition in the secondary schools. 25 cts.
Woodward's Study of English.From primary school to college. 25 cts.
Genung's Study of Rhetoric.Shows the most practical discipline. 25 cts.
See also our list of books for the study of English Literature.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,
BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.