11 



There are, I believe, few field clubs in whose Transactions can be 

 found even a list either of the dragon flies, or of the grasshoppers 

 of the district. Coming to vertebrate animals, I would suggest 

 that something is wanting to our knowledge of the life history of 

 our smaller fresh water and marine fishes. 



Birds, like butterflies, have many collectors ; but here, too, 

 there is room for a more scientific basis for observations. The 

 beautiful cases in the Natural History Museum, South Kensing- 

 ton, suggest the many questions of variations in a wild state, 

 seasonal variation in plumage, sexual divergence in successive 

 moultings, and protective resemblance of eggs or of plumage, and 

 the recent application of the telescopic camera to this purpose by 

 the Messrs. Kearton and others, shows us a new and valuable 

 means at our disposal for the observation of nesting and other 

 habits. 



In conclusion, I wish to say a few words as to the conditions 

 which are essential to the value of all field work, and how they 

 can best be maintained. The conditions are briefly, accuracy and 

 system. In all recorded facts in natural history it is primarily 

 essential that there shall be as little doubt as possible as to the 

 species concerning which the facts are recorded. In that 

 compilation, therefore, of local lists, which is the peculiar work 

 of Field Clubs — work in which many members should co-operate 

 — it is most desirable that specimens should be preserved in a 

 local museum, and that, before publication, any groups in the 

 least degree critical should be referred to a competent specialist. 

 It is, be it remembered, only when observations are multiplied 

 that we can obtain those statistical averages which are of so 

 much higher value than merely isolated observations, and an 

 average generally increases in value in proportion to the number 

 of items from which it is drawn. 



Among the differences of condition under which it is 

 desirable that our observations should be made, those of position 

 are, I think, of the highest importance to local field naturalists. 

 Be it merely records of the thermometer, barometer and rain 

 gauge, or the occurrence of a plant or animal, the questions of 

 altitude above sea level, distance from the sea, direction of 

 exposure, nature of soil or of surrounding vegetation, and relation 

 to river drainage systems may be of the highest importance. To 

 eliminate merely seasonal fluctuations, or those which are 

 produced by the total differences of climate in one year compared 

 with another, it is necessary that most of our observations should 

 be continuous or repeated from time to time. Thus, for instance, 

 we may become aware of secular changes in the level of land and 



