Song Birds and Water Fowl 
I am quite sure that many people who, in a 
general way, are sincerely interested in the 
various attractive elements of Nature, are yet 
disposed to feel that the amount of enthusiasm 
evolved by naturalists in regard to their re- 
spective specimens—and this particularly ap- 
plies to flowers and birds—exceeds the bounds 
of reason, and is a little unworthy of mature 
and serious-minded individuals. In the super- 
ficial view of the case, it must be confessed 
that such an estimate of the value of these 
sciences is not altogether erroneous. ‘The fact 
is, such people do not know—and often the 
naturalist himself does not realize—precisely 
what are the grounds of his enthusiasm. It is 
forgotten that the admiration which one feels 
for any work of Nature or of art springs much 
more largely than is commonly supposed from 
various accessories that play an unobtrusive but 
essential part in every scene. Certainly no 
bird student, however ardent his admiration 
for his subject, will assert that his pleasure is 
derived purely and simply from the bird itself. 
Neither is the lively pleasure of the botanist 
derived exclusively from flowers. Eliminate 
every attendant enhancing circumstance, let 
the flower or bird be seen in absolute isolation 
26 
