bigblow] ARE CHILDREN NATURALISTS 237 



or three of the forty pupils had made some observations on birds 

 which came near them, but the majority confessed that they did 

 not remember having seen "any birds except robins and black- 

 birds and crows." Many wrote that "there were so many 

 interesting things to do that there was no time to study brids." 

 In general, the result was just what might be expected in any 

 other school subject; namely, definite interest so long as a 

 teacher guided and stimulated. There was no evidence that 

 "nature-study is as natural as play." 



Another case: A small boy at a country home manifested 

 intense interest in my work of collecting specimens, and daily 

 brought me great quantities of plants, insects, stones, etc. I felt 

 sure that here was natural interest, but after my departure his 

 interest vanished; so much so that six months later when I 

 wrote asking him to collect some grasshoppers, for which I 

 promised one dollar, it was necessary for his elder sister to set him 

 the definite task of collecting. One hour of work was necessary. 

 I am convinced that the boy was not interested naturally in the 

 animals and plants, but that he was simply interested in me and 

 in the novel v> ork I was doing. 



These, and numerous similar examples which have come to my 

 attention in recent years have raised in my mind the question 

 which stands at the heading of this article. They have led me to 

 think back to my own boyhood and to re-interpret some of my 

 own experiences, so that I now doubt whether I was naturally 

 interested in the study of living things more than in hundreds of 

 lifeless things. Of course, as an active boy, I was interested in 

 catching butterflies and other animals; but so does my favorite 

 terrier catch moving animals for the pure joy of action, not be- 

 cause she has any spontaneous interest in study of living things. 

 I collected quantities of plant and animal specimens, and why? 

 As I now see it, not because I was really interested in definite 

 knowledge concerning the things collected, not because of an 

 instinctive tendency towards a naturalist's outlook to nature ; but 

 frankly, I must confers that I now doubt whether my motive was 

 other than the joy of getting together a bigger and better collec- 

 tion than the other fellows possessed, and especially I was stimu- 

 lated by the intense pleasure derived from showing my collections 

 to older people. Some of my naturalist friends have made to me 

 the same confessions, and so I must wonder whether the collecting 



