24 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [2 . ,- 1ANl , ARV , Ig0 b 



endeavor and which when overcome afford genuine satisfaction. 

 Where serious difficulty is presented and individual observation and 

 text-books prove inadequate, the Canadian Government has wisely 

 made provision for all emergencies by providing trained specialists, 

 who are able and willing to answer questions submitted to them and 

 to whom letters of inquiry can be sent postage free. In this connec- 

 tion my best thanks are due to Dr. Fletcher, of the Experimental 

 Farm, at Ottawa, who not only supervised the classification made, 

 but also made a personal inspection of the locality studied. 



The essential requirement of a university post-graduate dissertation 

 is that it must add something no matter how little to the sum total of 

 human knowledge. Measured by this criterion such an investigation 

 as the foregoing be it ever so limited in scope or unpretentious in 

 character at once becomes important, for one finds oneself doing that 

 which has been done by no one else, and if the work be honestly per- 

 formed and the records accurately kept the information gained 

 (although apparently trivial) may prove to be of genuine public ser- 

 vice in future interpretation. 



Another of the advantages of such definite research work is that is 

 it adapted to the stage of development reached by the adult learner 

 who although he has omitted nature-study in early life, has acquired 

 as the result of natural growth and activity in other studies a scientific 

 attitude of mind which causes him to appreciate the meaning and 

 value of the laboratory method and to prefer it to a more superficial 

 treatment. 



The experience of the Ottawa Normal students in the study of 

 birds affords practical illustration of this fact. For a number of 

 years each student has been asked to learn the identification and 

 general characteristics of sixty species and to make a careful and 

 thorough study of one species as regards life-history, life-relations, 

 care, etc. The invariable opinion expressed by the students is that 

 they find the intensive study more interesting than the more extended 

 observation. 



From the standpoint of the learner the actual knowledge gained is 

 of genuine value, being in a very especial sense his own. It is prob- 

 able however that what may be called the indirect results of such an 

 investigation are really of most worth to the student. The attention 

 is sure to be attracted to a thousand interesting phenomena which 

 otherwise would have passed unnoticed. For example in the forego- 

 ing investigation certain kinds of trees were found to be grouped in 



