PREFACE. 



Science is the green pasture of enthusiasms, and in the 

 study of it there is no denying Shakespeare's dictum, — 



" ^o 2)roJit grows where is no pleasure ta'en." 



So if we adopt bird-study as the representative of zoological 

 science, as we seem likely to do, it must be not only because it 

 is fairly illustrative of zoological principles, and because its 

 materials are abundant and easily referred to, but because it 

 is pleasurable to beginners. 



Bird-study, or any other special science, is justified in de- 

 manding an educational hearing if it contribute generously 

 either to a knowledge of the principles and methods of science 

 in general or to the training of the powers of observation. 



As far as possible I have tried to open opportunities for 

 work in both directions, dwelling upon what to see and how 

 to see it, but not neglecting those larger problems which are, 

 after all, the non-personal end of all observation ; and I have 

 tried to do this in such a way that the pupils might be led 

 to work independently and intelligently if so minded, or, at 

 the least, to acquire, even if unconsciously, some notion of 

 scientific method. 



To keei3 the nature study free from memorization of any 

 text-book, however good, to deliver it from the incubus of 

 ranking pe?- centum, to put a premium upon the child's own 

 efforts at discovery, is to make the nature work effective. If 

 the author has a message, it is that a child's value, or a man's 

 value as for that, is rated by his self-reliance, — not by what 



