Handbook of Nature Study

Handbook of Nature Study
By Anna Botsford Comstock
Link above goes to christianbook.com where you can view several pages from the book.

There is no other handbook for nature study that can compare to this one. First published in 1911 and later revised in 1939, this book has been used by countless teachers and others who wish to learn about the glorious natural world that we share.

This handbook has 887 pages and encompasses all living things except humans, as well as non-living things such as rocks and minerals, the heavens, and the weather. 

The Handbook of Nature Study has 4 parts:

• THE TEACHING OF NATURE STUDY

• ANIMALS

• PLANTS

• EARTH AND SKY

Each part is divided into topics. For example the ANIMALS part is divided into these topics:

• BIRDS

• FISHES

• AMPHIBIANS

• REPTILES

• MAMMALS

• INSECTS

• INSECTS OF THE FIELDS AND WOODS

• INSECTS OF THE BROOK AND POND

• INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OTHER THAN INSECTS

Each of the topics have numerous "articles". The topic of BIRDS is around 140 pages long  and has over 50 "articles". In each article, Anna Comstock has written in beautiful detail about the subject. There's usually a black and white photo included and a lesson at the end of the article about the subject. Some articles include a poem about the subject that was written by a published poet.

Below is an example of a typical lesson from the book, Handbook of Nature Study, by Anne Botsford Comstock

Lesson 64

The Cat

LEADING THOUGHT - The cat was made a domestic animal before man wrote histories. It gets it prey by springing from ambush and it is fitted by form and body to do this. It naturally hunts at night and has eyes fitted to see at dark.

METHOD - This lesson may be used in primary grades by asking a few questions at a time and allowing the children to make their observations on their own kittens at home, or a kitten may be brought to school for this purpose. The upper grade work consists of reading and retelling or writing exciting stories of great, wild, savage cats, like the tiger, lion, leopard, lynx, and panther.

OBSERVATIONS - 

1. How much of Pussy's language do you understand? What does she say when she wishes you to open the door for her? How does she ask for something to eat? What does she say when she feels like conversing with you? how does she cry when hurt? When frightened? What noise does she make when fighting? When calling other cats? What are her feelings when she purrs? When she spits? How many things which you say does she understand?

2. How else than by voice does she express affection, pleasure, anger? When she carries her tail straight up in the air is she in a pleasant mood? When her tail "bristles up" how does she feel? What is it a sign of when she lashes her tail back and forth ?

3. What do you feed to cats? What do they catch for themselves? What do the cats that are wild live upon? How does the cat help us? How does she injure us?

4. How does a cat catch her prey? Does she track mice by scent? Does she catch them by running after them like a dog does? Describe how she lies in ambush. How does she hold the mouse as she pounces upon it? How does she carry it home to her kittens?

5. Study a cats paws to see how she holds her prey. Where are the sharp claws? Are they always in sight like a dog's? Does she touch them to the ground when she walks? Which walks more silently, a dog or a cat? Why? Describe the cat's foot including the toe pads. Are there as many toes on the hind feet as the on front feet? What kind of track does the cat make in the snow? How does she set her feet to make such a track? How does she sharpen her claws? How does she use her claws for climbing? How far have you ever seen a cat jump? Does she use her front or her hind feet in making the jump? On which feet does she alight? Does she make much noise when she alights?

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This is not all of the questions, there are 8 more sections of cat questions.

Following the questions are some ideas for writing class and it is as follows:

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14.   Write or tell stories on the following subjects: 

1. The things which my pet cat does

2. The wild cat

3. The lion

4. The tiger

5. The leopard

6. The panther and the mountain lion

7. The lynx

8. The history of domestic cats

9. The different races of cats, describing the manx, the persian, and the angora cats

by Anne B. Comstock

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