by Ernest Thompson Seton
Bird Sharp
(Bineshi)
The Degree of Bird Sharp may be conferred on any one who takes eight of these tests
1. Identify fifty native birds in a collection. (When the sexes differ greatly, they count each as a bird.)
2. Identify twenty-five native birds in the field.
3. Identify twenty-five native birds by note.
4. Make a local list of twenty-five birds with remarks on arrival, departure, abundance, etc.
5. Mention twenty birds of great value to agriculture and say why.
6. Name ten birds that work in the orchard destroying the bark lice and other such pests.
7. Keep a journal with daily notes on the nesting of a pair of birds from setting to fledging.
8. Make and set up two successful bird boxes.
9. Make and set up a successful lunch counter.
10. Make and set up a successful bird bath.
11. Tell what bird sanctuaries are, and why they are being established.
12. Write an essay of at least 500 words giving the life history of some native bird that you know well, telling when it arrives in the spring, how the male differs from the female, what its song is like, what are its haunts, where it nests, what its nest and eggs are like, when the young are raised and fly, what they are like at first plumage, how many broods are raised each season, what are its foods, its enemies, and its peculiarities.
For "How To" Information, See: The Birch Bark Roll
