362 THE BIRD WATCHER 
satisfied with stuffe@@Snakes, when szakes are of no 
interest to one; and that, I think, is the position 
here. Those who would stand and look at the pave- 
ment, as soon as they would ata python or rattlesnake, 
say to those who have the life-loving instincts of the 
naturalist, “Oh, get rid of your live snakes, and have 
stuffed ones instead. They’re just as interesting—in 
fact, more so, because you can set them up as you 
like.” Exactly. I understand, quite, what is meant 
—only to me a live snake is much more interesting 
than a live man or woman, and a stuffed one almost 
more repugnant than a stuffed man or woman would 
be. That is the little difference—the little thing that 
makes all the difference. One is either a naturalist, 
or one is not. 
No, these are not my plans of reform for the 
Gardens, and though IJ entirely condemn certain abuses 
in the feeding of snakes, for the disappearance of 
which I am thankful, yet I cannot sympathise with 
a movement which, though it has incidentally brought 
this about, is founded upon a principle which I think 
is a false one, and calculated to produce unhappy 
results in regard to the animal kingdom at large. 
Except where it cannot be helped, I do not believe in 
altering or modifying the laws of nature, as enforced 
upon animals, by one jot or one tittle. Nature, 
nature, nature—that is the beginning and enc of my 
ideas about a collection of living wild animals. It is 
simpler even than Hamlet’s view—long since become 
obsolete—as to the office and function of the stage— 
