2 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Feb. 



this numerous class that we shall endeavour to make our 

 pages instructive and interesting ; and if, as the result of our 

 efforts, some readers are induced to become specialists, 

 something will have been gained to the cause of natural 

 science, and they will find abundance of more advanced 

 special material to encourage further study in one or other 

 of the periodicals referred to above. 



As its title indicates, this journal will be published quarterly, 

 and it is our intention, as far as possible, to treat the various 

 subjects from the point of view of the seasons. Thus, the 

 articles on animals in the present issue deal more partic- 

 ularly with the winter condition of those species. It is hoped 

 that this method will be of assistance to field-workers by 

 indicating the direction in which they devote their attention 

 to the best advantage. Out-of-door observations are obvi- 

 ously more attractive in the warmer months, when plant and 

 animal alike are in their time of highest functional activity. 

 Theoretical considerations and quiet study are perhaps more 

 agreeable companions of the winter fireside. The cycle of 

 the seasons has its counterpart in all animate nature — birth, 

 development, maturity, and decay succeeding each other 

 throughout ; and the field naturalist who keeps this sequence 

 continually before his mind, will find it far easier to " see 

 life steadily and see it whole " than by simply assimilating a 

 number of isolated facts without any evident cohesion. 



Looked at in this way, the field of Biological work will be 

 found to present successive problems for each season, though 

 the opportunity of examining these problems will largely 

 depend on whether the observer happens to live in a city or 

 in the country. In the former case, the field naturalist will 

 depend more on lectures and reading than outdoor work ; 

 while the country naturalist may investigate for himself the 

 effect of winter on the fauna and flora of his own district. 

 Thus, he will note the migrations of birds, the time of arrival 

 and departure of winter visitors, the situations in which 

 reptiles and bats pass their state of hibernation and the 

 length of this period in different species, the effect of severe 

 weather on animals and trees, and a host of suchlike ques- 

 tions. If careful notes be taken at the time the observations 



