COVERT-SHOOTING 263 



growth of weeds the vast papyrus-grown 

 swamps and lakes of explorers' tales ; the 

 jungles of India, the swamps of Central 

 Africa, the backwoods of America will 

 all be his if he look a-right at the reeds, 

 fern and various growths through which 

 he may push his way out shooting. A 

 swim in the pond shall show him in 

 miniature the hot and cold currents of 

 the ocean, and the deposit of a tiny 

 streamlet the delta of Ganges or Amazon. 



In winter the whole Arctic regions 

 are his to explore ; as he seeks snipe 

 in the frozen ditches he will find the 

 workings of a glacier, and when out 

 after duck on the frozen water meadows, 

 the ice mist and all the phenomena of 

 the frozen north, are there for him to 

 observe. Only the teacher is needed, to 

 give the right bent to the plastic mind 

 of youth ; only the teacher is so often 

 found wanting, unable to appreciate or 

 impart the secrets of nature. 



Read the works of such a man as 

 Richard Jefferies then, you fathers who 



