THE FULMAR PETREL 297 



that this interesting question has not been satisfactorily solved 

 long ago. Where are our Watertons and Whites, our Strick- 

 lands and Montagus nowadays ? Has the pedantic professor 

 entirely taken their place ? Have the field naturalists of old 

 degenerated into the carpet professors of to-day ? who from 

 their easy-chairs at home write wise treatises on the habits 

 of birds they have never seen, and draw their stock of in- 

 formation from the observations of those who lovingly sought 

 it in the wilderness, w^ithout having the grace, the fairness, or 

 the honesty to acknowledge the source of its supply ! Verily 

 a.t the present time book-breeding is a science, and literary 

 kleptomania attains the dignity of a fine art ! 



