ANIMAL ECOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



" Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions 

 and a few synonyms ; the reason for this is plain, because all that may 

 be done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of the life and 

 conversation of animals is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, 

 and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those 

 that reside much in the country." — Gilbert White, 1771. 



I. Ecology is a new name for a very old subject. It simply 

 means scientific natural history. To a great many zoologists 

 the word '' natural history " brings up a rather clear vision 

 of parties of naturalists going forth on excursion, prepared 

 to swoop down on any rarity which will serve to swell the local 

 list of species. It is a fact that natural history has fallen into 

 disrepute among zoologists, at any rate in England, and since 

 it is a very serious matter that a third of the whole subject of 

 zoology should be neglected by scientists, we may ask for 

 reasons. The discoveries of Charles Darwin in the middle 

 of the nineteenth century gave a tremendous impetus to the 

 study of species and the classification of animals. Although 

 Linnaeus had laid the foundation of this work many years 

 before, it was found that previous descriptions of species were 

 far too rough and ready, and that a revision and reorganisation 

 of the whole subject was necessary. It was further realised 

 that many of the brilliant observations of the older naturalists 

 were rendered practically useless through the insufficient 

 identification of the animals upon which they had worked. 

 Half the zoological world thereupon drifted into museums 



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